After months of summer, the sea ice fringing Antarctica has shriveled to its annual minimum. And for the third year running, scientists are shocked by just how much ice has gone missing.The annual minimum likely occurred on Feb. 20, tying with 2022 for second lowest in the 46-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The all-time record low occurred last year.This year’s minimum is 328,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average summer minimum extent in Ant ...read more
Giant hornets, Burmese pythons and, perhaps less obviously, fig buttercups all pose threats to North American ecosystems. (Images public domain, via Flickr Creative Commons. Python: NPS, R. Cammauf; Giant Hornet: USDA, Lance Cheung; Fig Buttercup: John K. Thorne)Burmese Pythons! Northern Giant Hornets! Fig Buttercups! Okay, not all invasive species sound frightening. But all of them destabilize ecosystems, threaten native species, and/or spread pathogens. That’s why, in honor of Invasive Speci ...read more
Do you ever feel spacey, distracted and worn down toward the end of a long work-related task – especially if that task is entirely a mental one? For over a century, psychologists have been trying to determine whether mental fatigue is fundamentally similar to physical fatigue or whether it is governed by different processes.Some researchers have argued that exerting mental effort depletes a limited supply of energy – the same way physical exertion fatigues muscles. The brain consumes energy ...read more
Orcas know there is strength in numbers. The whales typically hunt in packs and ambush larger prey like seals, other whales, and sea lions. But, in an odd case, researchers have recently observed orcas hunting alone — and attacking the apex predator, the great white shark.An orca could attack great white sharks for their liver, which is rich in fats, as explained in a press release by Alison Towner, marine biologist and study author. Researchers have seen killer whales attack sharks before in ...read more
In January 2024, the tidy work of a Welsh mouse, caught on video cleaning the work bench inside a man’s shed, went viral.Night after night the mouse gathered up clothespins, corks, and other miscellaneous objects, stashing them inside a rectangular wooden box for safekeeping. Each time the man laid the items back out, the mouse had cleaned them up again by the following morning.While people across the world found the video adorable, many also asked the question: Why did the mouse keep doing th ...read more
Just over five years ago, on 22 February 2019, an unmanned space probe was placed in orbit around the Moon. Named Beresheet and built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, it was intended to be the first private spacecraft to perform a soft landing. Among the probe’s payload were tardigrades, renowed for their ability to survive in even the harshest climates. The mission ran into trouble from the start, with the failure of “star tracker” cameras intended to determine the spacecraft ...read more
For a brief moment in February, the world collectively held its breath upon discovering the plight of an orca pod trapped in sea ice. The frantic scene unfolded near the town of Rausu, off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture. According to Japanese media organization NHK, a local fisherman first contacted the town’s Coast Guard station on the morning of Feb. 6, 2024 to report an orca stuck between sheets of ice. Footage from later that afternoon revealed more orcas — abo ...read more
Astronomers may have found a dark, primordial galaxy — an enormous, undisturbed mass of cold hydrogen gas that has yet to form any stars — sitting in the modern-day universe.If confirmed, the object could offer astronomers a look at an early stage of galactic evolution. “I’ve been in this field for quite a few decades, and we’ve wanted to find something like this for a very long time,” study leader Karen O’Neil, an astronomer at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, tells As ...read more
Venturing into the ocean's depths unveils a world akin to science fiction. Encompassing seventy percent of our planet's surface, the ocean potentially harbors over two million species – most of which have yet to be discovered. Beneath the surface, in realms devoid of sunlight, the cold, high-pressure environment unveils an astonishing diversity of ecosystems and animals, each uniquely adapted to thrive in extreme conditions."Animals have evolved the ability to tolerate extreme conditions,” ...read more
As you may have heard, the El Niño that has been contributing to severe weather in California and elsewhere is expected to fade between April and June. Moreover, its sibling, La Niña — which also can have a big impact on our weather — stands a good chance of taking center stage in the fall.But does this means a significant change in weather patterns will be happening soon? That's what the Weather Channel recently told its viewers: “El Niño giving way to La Niña means a warmer than aver ...read more
