The Sciences
Giant Bird Driven Extinct by Egg-Eating Humans
About 47,000 years ago, newcomer humans to Australia helped to wipe out an enormous flightless bird by collecting and cooking its eggs.
EARTH909 articles archived since 1845
Environment
Climate Change Most Affects Nations That Didn't Produce It
Developed nations that drive climate change incur relatively few of the costs whereas countries that produce few greenhouse gas emissions will be hard-hit, like nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke...
The Sciences
Seed-Scattering Birds May Help Trees Cope with Climate Change
A new review paper emphasizes the crucial role birds play in helping trees colonize new habitats—especially in the face of a changing climate. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Environment
Plastic Pollution Perturbs Oyster Offspring
Laboratory tests suggest that when the shellfish suck in tiny plastic particles, their reproductive success suffers. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Environment
Climate Visions Clash in Iowa Caucuses
Democrats push clean energy, Republicans vow to dismantle emissions cuts
The Sciences
Sweet Song Gives Away New Bird Species
The newly discovered Himalayan forest thrush looks a great deal like the alpine thrush, but its far silkier song stylings gave it away as a potential new species.
Environment
In Coal-Powered China, Electric Car Surge Fuels Fear of Worsening Smog
EVs charged in China produce two to five times as much smog-forming particulate matter and chemicals as gas-engine cars, studies find
Environment
Geoengineering Would Not Work in All Oceans
Sediment cores show that in the past, higher iron concentrations in the equatorial Pacific did not enhance growth of carbon-storing algae
The Sciences
The World's Grandest Canyon May Be Hidden beneath Antarctica
Newly discovered giant rifts and lakes mean that ice sheets could become surprisingly unstable as climate changes
Space & Physics
Pluto Killer Thinks He Has New Ninth Planet
Caltech astronomer Mike Brown, the driving force for demoting Pluto, now claims evidence for a massive, distant replacement ninth planet in our solar system.
Climate Change
The Future of Epic Blizzards in a Warming World
What does global warming mean for extreme snowfall?
Environment
New Rules Cut Methane Vented from U.S. Lands
The federal government has proposed new guidelines to reduce methane pollution from public lands
Environment
Can Germany Ditch Coal?
The powerhouse of the European Union struggles to cut the dirtiest fossil fuel
Environment
Deep Ocean Waters Are Trapping Vast Stores of Heat
A new study shows that much of the heat from global warming is reaching deep into the ocean
Environment
Obama Halts Federal Coal Leasing Citing Climate Change
The U.S. temporarily halts coal leasing on federal lands to reassess its policy in light of global warming
Environment
Top Economic Risk of 2016 Is Global Warming
The World Economic Forum suggests climate change remains the most severe challenge to global business
The Sciences
Mammoth Find Moves Humans in Arctic Back 10,000 Years
The remains of a clearly butchered woolly mammoth in Siberia date to 45,000 years ago, 10 millennia earlier than when humans were thought to have crossed north of the Arctic circle. ...
Environment
Warming May Mean Major Thaw for Alaskan Permafrost
Continued warming is melting down frozen ground, surprising scientists
Environment
Obama Forecasts Economic Opportunity in Fighting Global Warming
American businesses have a chance to produce and sell critical clean energy technology
Environment
Ask the Experts: Is El Niño to Blame for So Much Weird Weather?
Winter heat, pounding rains, tornadoes—a climatologist explains which extremes can be attributed to El Niño and which cannot
