ScIence

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its seasonal maximum extent on March 22, 2025, 10 days later than the 1981-2010 average. Despite the late peak, it was the lowest maximum extent of the 47-year satellite era, which began in 1979. Sea ice concentration across the Northern Hemisphere on March 22, 2025, ranged from 15 percent (medium

Antarctica’s Blood Red Waterfall Blood Falls seeps from the end of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation One of the world's most extreme deserts might be the last place one would expect to find a waterfall, but in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valley, a five-story fall pours slowly out of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. And it's not just the idea o

The climate on such a world must be beyond bizarre. (Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO) A super-Earth planet that dips in and out of its star's habitable zone has been discovered just 19.7 light-years away. The planet, known as HD 20794d, gets farther out from its star than Mars is from the sun and, on the other end of its orbit, as close as Venus. Each orbit the plan

An entire ecosystem has been discovered nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed recently covered by ice. (ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute) A colossal iceberg the size of Chicago has broken from a floating glacier in Antarctica, and like a retractable roof at a stadium, the drifting structure has opened up a hidden habitat to the elements. Researchers working on a ship in

Earth's history is a roller-coaster of climate fluctuations, of relative warmth giving way to frozen periods of glaciation before rising up again to the more temperate climes we experience today. The Getz Ice Shelf in Antarctica. (Jeremy Harbeck/NASA) What triggers these periods of glaciation – aka Quaternary ice ages, which punctuate the much longer Quaternary glaciation

The Cretaceous is the third and last Period of the Mesozoic Era geological period that lasted from approximately 145 to 66 million years ago. It was a geologic period with a relatively warm climate, culminating in high eustatic ocean levels that formed many shallow inland water bodies. The Earth was without ice, and forests extended to the poles. Oceans and water bodies were inhabited by no

In a breathtaking encounter that has captured the world’s attention, a British research vessel has crossed paths with the largest iceberg on Earth. This monumental ice formation, known as A23a, has been drifting through Antarctic waters for decades, serving as a silent sentinel of the continent’s changing climate The Giant Awakens A23a, a colossal ice mass three times the size of New Yor

Aurora borealis over Canada, as seen from the International Space Station in 2017. The spectacular display is caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.Credit...JSC/NASA The north magnetic pole is restless. Distinct from the geographic North Pole, where all the lines of longitude meet at the top of the world, the magnetic pole is the point that a compass

Researchers at Japan’s RIKEN Centre for Emergent Matter Science have unveiled a groundbreaking biodegradable plastic that could offer a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. Unlike traditional plastics, this new material dissolves in seawater within hours and degrades in soil within days, enriching it with essential nutrients. A Sustainable Alternative to Traditional Plastics Traditional