Crane Glacier lost the protective floating ice shelf at its lower edge in 2002. Since then, the glacier has more than tripled its original speed. As the glacier sped up, it also splayed out. This caused its ice to thin in some places by 100 meters (325 feet).
Erin Pettit/Oregon State University
WEATHER & CLIMATE
The big melt: Earth’s ice sheets are under attack
Melt ponds form on Arctic sea ice during the summer. Their being dark increases how much of the sun’s heat they will absorb (not reflect), speeding the rate at which they melt.
Kathryn Hansen/NASA
WEATHER & CLIMATE
Why Antarctica and the Arctic are polar opposites
Warm summers are melting large amounts of snow on the Devon Ice Cap, in the Canadian Arctic. As this melt water gathers into rivers, it carves deep channels in the ice, like the one shown here.
A. Gardner/NASA/JPL-Caltech
EARTH
Climate change cripples planet’s glaciers and ice caps
ICESat-2’s bright green lasers can monitor Earth’s glaciers and ice sheets by detecting changes in their heights.
NASA
EARTH
ICESat-2 measures ice and more from space
Rising seas eroded the coastline of this resort region in Hoi An, Vietnam, causing its buildings to crack apart and start tumbling into the water. Climate change is threatening low-lying regions across the globe with similar destruction.
xuanhuongho/iStockphoto
OCEANS
Climate change makes seas rise faster and faster
TOP STORY
Rare-plant hunters race against time to save at-risk species
Scientists rappel down cliffs and trek through forests to collect plants and seeds
Army officers Ethan Diven and Evan Lewandowski soldier through frigid winter weather toward a pickup point after a successful training exercise at Deadhorse, Alaska in February 2017.
Staff Sgt Daniel Love, U.S. Army
MATERIALS SCIENCE
U.S. Army is developing high-tech underwear
This artist’s illustration depicts what a possible mission to Mars might look like. To make it reality, though, scientists must first solve a lot of problems.
e71lena/iStockphoto
SPACE
Preparing for that trip to Mars
BRAIN
The distracted teenage brain
TRENDING
Crane Glacier lost the protective floating ice shelf at its lower edge in 2002. Since then, the glacier has more than tripled its original speed. As the glacier sped up, it also splayed out. This caused its ice to thin in some places by 100 meters (325 feet).
Erin Pettit/Oregon State University
WEATHER & CLIMATE
The big melt: Earth’s ice sheets are under attack
A new bandage uses electrical pulses to help wounds heal faster. It’s powered by the patient’s natural body motions.
Sam Million-Weaver/Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
MATERIALS SCIENCE
This bandage uses electrical zaps to heal wounds faster
If school starts later in the morning, teenagers are more ready to learn. In a new study, students wore wrist activity trackers that pinpointed when they fell asleep and woke up. The results confirmed the benefit of later start times.
monkeybusinessimages/iStockphoto
HEALTH
Later school starts linked to better teen grades
BEHAVIOR
Zombies are real!
FOSSILS
These fuzz-covered flying reptiles had catlike whiskers
Delicate fossils reveal a new look for pterosaurs
MATERIALS SCIENCE
SCIENTISTS SAY
Scientists Say: Zirconium
MATERIALS SCIENCE
This bandage uses electrical zaps to heal wounds faster
Would you eat one of these for science? Six doctors did.
Ekaterina79/iStockphoto
SCIENCE EDUCATION
These researchers swallowed Legos for science
We inherit genes from our parents. Genes are like a recipe that’s passed along from one generation to the next. But the number of genes doesn’t explain why we are more complex than simple animals or bacteria.
digitalskillet/iStockphoto
GENETICS
Explainer: What are genes?
If school starts later in the morning, teenagers are more ready to learn. In a new study, students wore wrist activity trackers that pinpointed when they fell asleep and woke up. The results confirmed the benefit of later start times.
monkeybusinessimages/iStockphoto
HEALTH
Later school starts linked to better teen grades
Keep your cool. If you expect someone sticking a needle into your arm will not hurt much, you may actually experience less pain, a new study shows.
AlexRaths/iStockphoto
BRAIN
Expecting pain? That could really make it hurt worse
EARTH
Climate change cripples planet’s glaciers and ice caps
Ice in the world’s Arctic and on mountains is thinning, which could pose a threat to people
EARTH
ICESat-2 measures ice and more from space
SCIENCE & SOCIETY
School bullying has risen in areas that supported Trump
Researchers 3-D print a green spiral of cyanobacteria onto a mushroom. The microbes give off electrons when exposed to light. Those electrons flow into the black graphene ink to produce an electric current.
American Chemical Society
TECHNOLOGY
This bionic mushroom makes electricity
A new bandage uses electrical pulses to help wounds heal faster. It’s powered by the patient’s natural body motions.
Sam Million-Weaver/Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
MATERIALS SCIENCE
This bandage uses electrical zaps to heal wounds faster
A special pen heats the blue ink on this rewritable paper. As the ink warms, it turns clear. The white paper beneath reveals a written message.
Luzhuo Chen
CHEMISTRY
This rewritable paper depends on disappearing ink
A soft and squishy robo-jellyfish pumps its way gently through the ocean, providing little or no disturbance to local sea life.
Jennifer Frame, Nick Lopez, Oscar Curet and Erik D. Engeberg/IOP Publishing
ROBOTICS
This robotic jellyfish is a climate spy
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