By making clear-cut forests patchier, moose create a reflective surface that bounces back sunlight and keeps temperatures down.
Rebecca Dzombak
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The World’s Roots Are Getting Shallower
Root-filled soils are hot spots of nutrient cycling and carbon storage. New research finds that the world has lost millions of cubic meters of rooted soil volume—and we’re on track to lose much more.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Satellites Can Accurately Take Earth’s Temperature
Satellite-based measurements of land surface temperature may prove to be an essential pairing with near-surface air temperatures to understand global warming and cooling trends.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Plants Need a Lot of Power to Pump Sap
A novel calculation reveals how much power plants need to move water through their stems—and how plants gain energy from the process.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Map of Proposed Mantle-Driven Topography Stirs the Pot
The role the deep Earth plays in creating topography is hotly debated. A new study uses subtle elevation changes around the globe as evidence that the mantle plays a key role in building topography.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Plant-Nibbling Insects May Make It Cloudier and Cooler
Insects that eat plant leaves could change the local atmosphere, but current climate models do not account for this impact.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Steep Mountain Slopes Have Surprisingly Long Lifetimes
New models of eastern Tibetan hillsides show that steep slopes with “excess” rock last longer on average than their shallower counterparts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Climate and Currents Shaped Japan’s Hunter-Gatherer Cultures
New climate records from a peat bog show how two neighboring cultures responded differently to shifts in climate and ocean currents.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Trees Wearing Accelerometers Help Track Snowstorms
This device allows scientists to measure how much snow is trapped in canopies and predict changes to snowpack—a critical factor in annual water availability.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lightning Had Difficulty Forming in Early Earth’s Atmosphere
Lightning could have sparked the beginnings of life, but the primordial atmosphere might have made it more difficult for lightning to initiate.