Another year, another set of climate records. Here are the top ten signs you are living in a warming world, 2012 edition:
A Princeton University-led team of scientists has shown how electrons moving in certain solids can behave as though they are a thousand times more massive than free electrons, yet at the same time act as speedy superconductors. The observation of these seemingly contradictory electron properties is critical to the understanding of how certain materials become…
If you want a glimpse of some of the worst of global warming, scientists suggest taking a look at U.S. weather in recent weeks. Horrendous wildfires. Oppressive heat waves. Devastating droughts. Flooding from giant deluges. And a powerful freak wind storm called a derecho. These are the kinds of extremes climate scientists have predicted will…
Parasites look set to become more virulent because of climate change, according to a study showing that frogs suffer more infections from a fungus when exposed to unexpected swings in temperatures. Parasites, which include tapeworms, the tiny organisms that cause malaria and funguses, may be more nimble at adapting to climatic shifts than the animals…
Hints of the Higgs boson detected last year by a US “atom smasher” have become even stronger, scientists have said. The news comes amid fevered speculation just two days before an announcement by researchers at the Large Hadron Collider. Finding the particle would fill a glaring hole in the widely accepted theory of how the…
Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought. Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new…
Failing to reduce methane leaks from fracking largely eliminates the environmental advantage of natural gas over coal. Yet If the leaks are reduced to 1 percent, the decrease in greenhouse gases jumps to 14 percent.