For the first time, scientists have redirected lightning using a laser beam. And that’s just the start of what’s possible.
Earth science
Posted inEditors' Vox
The Seven-Ages of Earth as Seen Through the Continental Lens
The 4.5-billion-year record contained in Earth’s continental crust reveals a seven-phase evolution, from an initial magma ocean to the present-day environment in which we live.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Prospecting for Copper with Machine Learning and Zircons
Using artificial intelligence, researchers can now identify zircons derived from valuable copper deposits.
Posted inNews
Decoding the Secrets of Shifting Sediments
In the small-scale details of grain shape, researchers have found a new way to understand how sediment flows in a river, a process shaping Earth’s landscapes.
Posted inAGU News
New Discoveries in Old Records
Scientists take fresh approaches to seemingly familiar data in timbers and sediments.
Posted inFeatures
Finding Climate History in the Rafters of New York City Buildings
When renovating in the Big Apple, you might acquire a several-hundred-year-old climate database along with your new kitchen and bath.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Small-Scale Convection Shuffles the Oceanic Lithosphere
Seafloor spreading organized lithospheric minerals into a lattice, but small-scale convection jumbled up the innermost layer.
Posted inNews
Ants Aren’t Adapting to Warmer Temperatures
Foraging in hotter-than-desired temperatures could negatively affect ants’ biology and the forest ecosystems that they support.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Can Now Map Lightning in 3D
A new approach enables meter-scale localization of lightning strikes. And it’s already illuminating the basic physics of the phenomenon.
Posted inNews
Mapping Rwanda’s Trees from Above
Researchers used both aerial and satellite imagery, as well as machine learning, to map the carbon stock of every overstory tree in Rwanda—the first such inventory in the world.