Earth news stories

Was North America populated by ‘stepping stone’ migration across Bering Sea?
29th April 2021 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

For thousands of years during the last ice age, generations of maritime migrants paddled skin boats eastward across shallow ocean waters from Asia to present-day Alaska.

Climate change: A small green rock’s warning about our future
28th April 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Earth, Humans

It’s an unassuming rock, greenish in colour, and just over 4cm in its longest dimension. And yet this little piece of sandstone holds important clues to all our futures.

Pink supermoon set to brighten UK night skies
26th April 2021 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans, Space

Celestial event due to take place shortly before sunset on Tuesday and will be visible until next morning

Stalagmites Embody Clock-Like Chronicles of Time Over Thousands of Years
26th April 2021 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth

Deep underground, in mysterious caverns that seem almost measureless to humans, caves have devised their own strange ways of keeping time as the eternities pass by.

Secrets of a tree whisperer: ‘They get along, they listen – they’re attuned’
26th April 2021 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans

When Suzanne Simard made her extraordinary discovery – that trees could communicate and cooperate through subterranean networks of fungi – the scientific establishment underreacted.

April’s Full Moon Is 2021’s First Supermoon! Here’s When to Look For It
24th April 2021 | sciencealert.com | Earth, Humans, Space

The Pink Moon – the second largest full moon of 2021 – will light up the night sky shortly before midnight on Monday (April 26), according to NASA.

Our Planet Is Travelling Through The Debris of Ancient Supernovae
21st April 2021 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

Radioactive dust deep beneath the ocean waves suggests that Earth is moving through a massive cloud left behind by an exploded star.

Untouched nature was almost as rare 12,000 years ago as it is now
21st April 2021 | newscientist.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

As early as 12,000 years ago, nearly three-quarters of land on Earth was inhabited and shaped by human societies, suggesting global biodiversity loss in recent years may have been driven primarily by an intensification of land use rather than by the destruction of previously untouched nature.

Andean glaciers are melting, reshaping centuries-old Indigenous rituals
21st April 2021 | nationalgeographic.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

At night, believers would use the reflection from the moon that cascaded atop snow-capped peaks as a guide to make their way up the sacred Colque Punku glacier.

Image from: Hugo Pedel (Wiki Commons)

How the laws of physics constrain the size of alien raindrops
19th April 2021 | sciencenews.org | Earth, Space

Whether they’re made of methane on Saturn’s moon Titan or iron on the exoplanet WASP 78b, alien raindrops behave similarly across the Milky Way. They are always close to the same size, regardless of the liquid they’re made of or the atmosphere they fall in, according to the first generalized physical model of alien rain.

NZ to launch world-first climate change rules
15th April 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

New Zealand is to become the world’s first country to bring in a law forcing its financial firms to report on the effects of climate change.

How to Survive a Killer Asteroid
12th April 2021 | wired.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The impact that wiped out the dinosaurs would probably have killed you too—unless you were in the exact right place and had made the exact right plans.

Asteroid, Volcano or Both? Scientists Can’t Agree on the True Dinosaur Killer
9th April 2021 | discovermagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

A 6-mile-wide space rock and colossal eruptions racked Earth at the same fateful moment. Scientists have tried for decades to determine the primary suspect behind the Cretaceous Extinction.

String theorist Michio Kaku: A ‘theory of everything’ is within our grasp
6th April 2021 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans, Space, Tech

The physicist on Newton finding inspiration amid the great plague, how the multiverse can unite religions, ‘reaching out to aliens is a terrible idea’ and why a ‘theory of everything’ is within our grasp.

The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Created the Amazon Rain Forest
3rd April 2021 | scientificamerican.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Fossilized pollen and leaves reveal that the meteorite that caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs also reshaped South America’s plant communities to yield the planet’s largest rain forest

Antarctica asteroid impact from 430,000 years ago discovered by scientists
2nd April 2021 | imperial.ac.uk | Ancient, Earth

Space scientists have discovered extra-terrestrial particles which point to a medium-sized asteroid impact in Antarctica 430,000 years ago.

News stories covering the environment, plant life, and the Earth itself.