A peek into the curious geology of the Pacific Northwest helps tease apart what may happen when the last bits of an oceanic plate get swallowed up.Something was nagging at , 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 , 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 when it releases.Hawley, however, was distracted by a peculiar...…A peek into the curious geology of the Pacific Northwest helps tease apart what may happen when the last bits of an oceanic plate get swallowed up.Something was nagging at , 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 , 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 when it releases.Hawley, however, was distracted by a peculiar...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a .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, , and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across , , , and even 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. Geological...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.On the morning of November 11, just before 9:30 UT, a .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, , and Ethiopia. They traversed vast oceans, humming across , , , and even 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. Geological...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.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...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.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...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.A fungus that has 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...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.A fungus that has 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...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.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...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.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...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…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Read this story in Spanish .The Amazon rainforest—home to one in 10 species on Earth—. 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, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The fires can even...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Read this story in Spanish .The Amazon rainforest—home to one in 10 species on Earth—. 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, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The fires can even...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Another day, another 500 mouths for Sanjukta Lal to feed.Each day, Lal prepares chicken and rice for scores of street . Then she ventures out, during a nationwide stay-at-home order, to drop off the meals at various places around the southern Indian city of Puducherry.Lal is one of the animal lovers looking after ’s , many of which can’t find food during the world's largest lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. With shops and restaurants shuttered from March 25 until at least May 18, the canines’ main source of...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Another day, another 500 mouths for Sanjukta Lal to feed.Each day, Lal prepares chicken and rice for scores of street . Then she ventures out, during a nationwide stay-at-home order, to drop off the meals at various places around the southern Indian city of Puducherry.Lal is one of the animal lovers looking after ’s , many of which can’t find food during the world's largest lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. With shops and restaurants shuttered from March 25 until at least May 18, the canines’ main source of...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.While countries around the world began to lock down workplaces, schools, and public gatherings in response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus, the United Kingdom’s initial strategy sent many into an uproar.At first, the U.K. chose not to shut down large gatherings or introduce stringent social distancing measures. In a plan that surprised many in the medical community, officials instead described a plan to suppress the virus through gradual restrictions, rather than trying to stamp it out entirely.The strategy, an attempt...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.While countries around the world began to lock down workplaces, schools, and public gatherings in response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus, the United Kingdom’s initial strategy sent many into an uproar.At first, the U.K. chose not to shut down large gatherings or introduce stringent social distancing measures. In a plan that surprised many in the medical community, officials instead described a plan to suppress the virus through gradual restrictions, rather than trying to stamp it out entirely.The strategy, an attempt...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.In northwestern Wyoming, in the center of Yellowstone National Park, a bubbling caldera is the . The park encompassing the caldera is filled with geologic wonderlands of sprouting geysers and effervescing pools, all ultimately driven by magma and superheated fluids churning in the rock below the surface.One of these areas, to the northwest of the caldera, contains more than 500 hydrothermal features. These tempestuous geysers and pools often change from day to day, but a much larger transformation has been taking place as...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.In northwestern Wyoming, in the center of Yellowstone National Park, a bubbling caldera is the . The park encompassing the caldera is filled with geologic wonderlands of sprouting geysers and effervescing pools, all ultimately driven by magma and superheated fluids churning in the rock below the surface.One of these areas, to the northwest of the caldera, contains more than 500 hydrothermal features. These tempestuous geysers and pools often change from day to day, but a much larger transformation has been taking place as...WW…