Though scientists have long understood how lightning strikes, the precise atmospheric events that trigger it within thunderclouds have remained a perplexing mystery. The mystery may now be solved, thanks to a team of researchers ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 28, 2025
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207
Like Earth, Mars is surrounded by an ionosphere—the part of its upper atmosphere where radiation from the sun knocks electrons off of atoms and molecules, creating charged particles. The Martian ionosphere is complex and ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 23, 2025
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6
Before they take the long journey to another planet, humans will have to find the right place to land. New findings from a University of Mississippi researcher may point to just such a place on Mars.
Space Exploration
Jun 19, 2025
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47
Submarine canyons around Antarctica tend to have less sea ice, higher sea surface temperatures, and more biomass such as phytoplankton blooms than the shelves they cut into. Phytoplankton blooms feed Antarctic krill, making ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 18, 2025
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0
Mud is messy. For some, it's a plaything. To many, it can mean real hardship. Mud, though, is often overlooked, particularly when it lies out of sight. Deep down at the bottom of the sea, it is one of the most important natural ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 9, 2025
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0
The sediments underlying the Salt Lake Valley are thicker in places than previously thought, indicating that current seismic hazard models likely underestimate the amount of shaking Utah's population center could experience ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2025
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0
The near-bottom water in the U.S. Northeast continental shelf provides a critical cold-water habitat for the rich regional marine ecosystem. This "cold pool" preserves winter temperatures, even when waters become too warm ...
Earth Sciences
May 19, 2025
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18
In high-latitude Arctic fjords, warming seas and reduced sea ice are boosting seaweed growth. This expansion of seaweed "forests" could alter the storage and cycling of carbon in coastal Arctic ecosystems, but few studies ...
Earth Sciences
May 19, 2025
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33
A team of planetary scientists has developed a promising new way to peer beneath the dusty surface of Mars and other planetary bodies.
Planetary Sciences
May 14, 2025
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42
Over the past decade, the Curiosity rover has repeatedly detected methane on the surface of Mars. This gas is often produced by microbes, so it could herald the presence of life on the red planet. But skeptics have postulated ...
Astrobiology
May 12, 2025
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