Invasions, armed conflict, sanctions, and economic distress correlate with cleaner air in high-resolution satellite data that reveal air quality at the individual city level.
News
Chinese Cave Inscriptions Tell Woeful Tale of Drought
Researchers use the graffiti to extrapolate future drought risk in central China.
Priorities for Antarctic Research: Glaciers, Genomes, and Cosmic Waves
The next decade of research should focus on the need to understand the changing Antarctic environment and how organisms adapt to it, a high-level report says.
Guidelines Updated for Field Trip Guidebooks
A geoscience organization recently revised guidelines for preparing the field trip guidebooks and updated its online searchable database for the guides.
Geoscientists: Focus More on Societal Concerns
The unprecedented toll from a powerful tsunami shocked a theoretical geophysicist, now an international geoscience organization leader, into action and advocacy to use science to aid society.
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Largest Since 2002
Downpours in June drove nutrients into the Mississippi River that ultimately deprived a much larger portion of the Gulf of oxygen than had been expected.
Hearing Sparks Concerns About Planetary Science Funding
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle questioned the administration's proposed cuts and whether support for future missions would be adequate.
Comet Lander Makes a Hard Discovery
The Philae probe, dropped onto a comet by the Rosetta spacecraft, has made contact with a surface thought too hard to be on a comet and has detected a few organic molecules new to comet exploration.
Fungus, Physics Explain Weird Tresses of Ice
Alfred Wegener, of plate tectonics fame, proposed a link nearly 100 years ago between fungi and "hair ice" on dead wood. A new study has identified the fungus and how it may influence ice structure.
