Wild animals expend 76,000 gigajoules of energy—the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of monsoons or floods—shaping our planet’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
Carolyn Wilke
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Wildfires Raise Concern About Remobilized Radioactive Contamination
Researchers collected soil and ash after the 2020 wildfires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Chemical tests suggested that the fires made it easier for contaminants to wash into nearby rivers.
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Many of the World’s Cities Have Gotten Wetter
Dense populations, aerosols, and cities’ tendency to raise temperatures contribute to higher levels of precipitation in urban areas than surrounding rural areas.
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Earthquakes May Lace Quartz Veins with Gold
Seismic activity may kick off chemical reactions that seed nuggets of gold.
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La transmisión de la malaria en África varía con el clima y la hidrología
Los datos sobre las precipitaciones por sí solos no pueden predecir dónde puede aparecer la malaria. Si se tienen en cuenta los procesos hidrológicos, los investigadores pueden hacerse una imagen más precisa de la transmisión.
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Wildfire Smoke Affects the Function of Lake Ecosystems
Smoke-covered lakes see shifts in biological and energy processes that influence food webs, carbon storage, and more.
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Malaria Transmission in Africa Shifts with the Climate—and Hydrology
Rainfall data alone can’t predict where malaria may pop up. Factoring in hydrological processes helps researchers paint a more nuanced picture of transmission.
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Swift Quakes Caused by Stomping Feet, Not Booming Beat
Concert tunes don’t make the same seismic noise as the exuberant crowd does.
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Volcanic Lightning May Have Retooled the Nitrogen Needed for Life
Early Earth’s volcanoes could have spurred lightning that transformed atmospheric nitrogen, creating molecules that would have been necessary for life to emerge.
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The Best Way to Kill Trees to Create Habitat
Standing dead trees—or snags—shelter animals, store carbon, and cycle nutrients. A long-term monitoring study found that lopping off a tree’s top branches is a good way to turn it into a snag within about 20 years.