Whether the coronavirus that’s quickly spreading around the world will follow the flu season and subside with spring’s arrival is unsatisfyingly uncertain, and many scientists say it’s too soon to know how the dangerous virus will behave in warmer weather. Dozens of viruses exist in the coronavirus family, but only seven afflict humans. Four are known to cause mild colds in people, while others are more novel, deadly, and thought to be transmitted from animals like bats and camels. Health officials have labeled this new virus SARS-CoV-2 and its disease COVID-19. The prospect that summer...…Whether the coronavirus that’s quickly spreading around the world will follow the flu season and subside with spring’s arrival is unsatisfyingly uncertain, and many scientists say it’s too soon to know how the dangerous virus will behave in warmer weather. Dozens of viruses exist in the coronavirus family, but only seven afflict humans. Four are known to cause mild colds in people, while others are more novel, deadly, and thought to be transmitted from animals like bats and camels. Health officials have labeled this new virus SARS-CoV-2 and its disease COVID-19. The prospect that summer...WW…

Something was nagging at William Hawley, and it was more about what was missing than what was there. As a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, Hawley is fascinated with the geologic complexities of the Cascadia subduction zone, a giant fault off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. There, the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate plunges under the North American plate, building strain throughout the region and prompting fears of the massive earthquake that could strike when it releases. Hawley, however, was distracted by a peculiar region below central Oregon where it appears...…Something was nagging at William Hawley, and it was more about what was missing than what was there. As a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, Hawley is fascinated with the geologic complexities of the Cascadia subduction zone, a giant fault off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. There, the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate plunges under the North American plate, building strain throughout the region and prompting fears of the massive earthquake that could strike when it releases. Hawley, however, was distracted by a peculiar region below central Oregon where it appears...WW…

A fungus that has wreaked havoc on banana plantations in the Eastern Hemisphere has, despite years of preventative efforts, arrived in the Americas. ICA, the Colombian agriculture and livestock authority, confirmed on Thursday that laboratory tests have positively identified the presence of so-called Panama disease Tropical Race 4 on banana farms in the Caribbean coastal region. The announcement was accompanied by a declaration of a national state of emergency. The discovery of the fungus represents a potential impending disaster for bananas as both a food source and an export commodity....…A fungus that has wreaked havoc on banana plantations in the Eastern Hemisphere has, despite years of preventative efforts, arrived in the Americas. ICA, the Colombian agriculture and livestock authority, confirmed on Thursday that laboratory tests have positively identified the presence of so-called Panama disease Tropical Race 4 on banana farms in the Caribbean coastal region. The announcement was accompanied by a declaration of a national state of emergency. The discovery of the fungus represents a potential impending disaster for bananas as both a food source and an export commodity....WW…

The Amazon rainforest—home to one in 10 species on Earth—is on fire. As of last week, 9,000 wildfires were raging simultaneously across the vast rainforest of Brazil and spreading into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. The blazes, largely set intentionally to clear land for cattle ranching, farming, and logging, have been exacerbated by the dry season. They’re now burning in massive numbers, an 80 percent increase over this time last year, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The fires can even be seen from space. For the thousands of mammal, reptile, amphibian,...…The Amazon rainforest—home to one in 10 species on Earth—is on fire. As of last week, 9,000 wildfires were raging simultaneously across the vast rainforest of Brazil and spreading into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. The blazes, largely set intentionally to clear land for cattle ranching, farming, and logging, have been exacerbated by the dry season. They’re now burning in massive numbers, an 80 percent increase over this time last year, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The fires can even be seen from space. For the thousands of mammal, reptile, amphibian,...WW…

On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a mysterious rumble rolled around the world. The seismic waves began roughly 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte, a French island sandwiched between Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. The waves buzzed across Africa, ringing sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away. These waves didn't just zip by; they rang for more than 20 minutes. And yet, it seems, no human felt them. Only one person noticed the odd signal on the U.S....…On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a mysterious rumble rolled around the world. The seismic waves began roughly 15 miles off the shores of Mayotte, a French island sandwiched between Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. The waves buzzed across Africa, ringing sensors in Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across Chile, New Zealand, Canada, and even Hawaii nearly 11,000 miles away. These waves didn't just zip by; they rang for more than 20 minutes. And yet, it seems, no human felt them. Only one person noticed the odd signal on the U.S....WW…

On September 27, 1971, a nuclear bomb exploded on Russia’s Novaya Zemlya islands. The powerful blast sent waves rippling so deep inside Earth they ricocheted off the inner core, pinging an array of hundreds of mechanical ears some 4,000 miles away in the Montana wilderness. Three years later, that array picked up a signal when a second bomb exploded at nearly the same spot. This pair of nuclear explosions was part of hundreds of tests detonated during the throes of Cold War fervor. Now, the records of these wiggles are making waves among geologists: They have helped scientists calculate...…On September 27, 1971, a nuclear bomb exploded on Russia’s Novaya Zemlya islands. The powerful blast sent waves rippling so deep inside Earth they ricocheted off the inner core, pinging an array of hundreds of mechanical ears some 4,000 miles away in the Montana wilderness. Three years later, that array picked up a signal when a second bomb exploded at nearly the same spot. This pair of nuclear explosions was part of hundreds of tests detonated during the throes of Cold War fervor. Now, the records of these wiggles are making waves among geologists: They have helped scientists calculate...WW…

Our passion for cheeseburgers isn’t doing the planet any good. All those Holsteins and Jerseys and relations—the ultimate sources of burgers, T-bone steaks, milkshakes, and ice cream—are wreaking havoc with Earth’s climate. But it looks like there’s a cure in sight, and it just might be seaweed. Specifically, a red alga known to scientists as Asparagopsis taxiformis. A major environmental problem with cows is their insistence on spewing out methane, a greenhouse gas that packs, ton for ton, thirty times the disastrous punch of CO2. This isn’t a deliberate plot on the part of Earth’s 1.5...…Our passion for cheeseburgers isn’t doing the planet any good. All those Holsteins and Jerseys and relations—the ultimate sources of burgers, T-bone steaks, milkshakes, and ice cream—are wreaking havoc with Earth’s climate. But it looks like there’s a cure in sight, and it just might be seaweed. Specifically, a red alga known to scientists as Asparagopsis taxiformis. A major environmental problem with cows is their insistence on spewing out methane, a greenhouse gas that packs, ton for ton, thirty times the disastrous punch of CO2. This isn’t a deliberate plot on the part of Earth’s 1.5...WW…

ByPUBLISHED February 4, 2019© 1996-2019 National Geographic Society.…ByPUBLISHED February 4, 2019© 1996-2019 National Geographic Society.WW…

At midnight on Mars, the red planet’s magnetic field sometimes starts to pulsate in ways that have never before been observed. The cause is currently unknown. That’s just one of the stunning preliminary findings from NASA’s very first robotic geophysicist there, the InSight lander. Since touching down in November 2018, this spacecraft has been gathering intel to help scientists better understand our neighboring planet’s innards and evolution, such as taking the temperature of its upper crust, recording the sounds of alien quakes, and measuring the strength and direction of the planet’s...…At midnight on Mars, the red planet’s magnetic field sometimes starts to pulsate in ways that have never before been observed. The cause is currently unknown. That’s just one of the stunning preliminary findings from NASA’s very first robotic geophysicist there, the InSight lander. Since touching down in November 2018, this spacecraft has been gathering intel to help scientists better understand our neighboring planet’s innards and evolution, such as taking the temperature of its upper crust, recording the sounds of alien quakes, and measuring the strength and direction of the planet’s...WW…

As the summer swimming season arrives, aquatics managers are coming up with creative ways to deal with the challenges of the coronavirus crisis. U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Andrew is coached by his father as he trains in a residential pool in San Diego, California. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the routines of top athletes as well as recreational swimmers. If you are a swimmer, a regular at water exercise class, or a bad-back person who depends on pool water as the only surroundings in which the pain reliably lets go, then the pandemic has probably taken that away from you too....…As the summer swimming season arrives, aquatics managers are coming up with creative ways to deal with the challenges of the coronavirus crisis. U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Andrew is coached by his father as he trains in a residential pool in San Diego, California. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the routines of top athletes as well as recreational swimmers. If you are a swimmer, a regular at water exercise class, or a bad-back person who depends on pool water as the only surroundings in which the pain reliably lets go, then the pandemic has probably taken that away from you too....WW…