Environment

The Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction: Does anything seem familiar here?

Environment / /

Approximately 252 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction was the deadliest event to ever take place in Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history. Over the course of 15 million years, the “Great Dying” wiped out nearly 70 percent of terrestrial plant and animal species and over 95 percent of marine species. It consisted of three phases […]

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Dropping like flies: Human threats to insects and the desperate need for more data

Biology, Environment / /

But, like so many other animals, these six-legged, exoskeleton-clad creatures are facing a crisis at the hands of human activity. Our planet is teeming with bugs. Over 1 million insect species are described, and scientists estimate that another four to 7.5 million have yet to be classified. Insects account for a large proportion of animals

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Climate confusion: Inconsistencies in greenhouse gas monitoring

Environment / /

Numerous research institutions have taken the initiative to document the concentrations, distributions, and rates at which greenhouse gases are emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere. The accumulation of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, and fluorinated gases from fossil fuel burning, industrial processes, and the agricultural industry poses a major threat to the already-depleting ozone layer. This

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The great unconformity: The billion-year gap in Earth’s geological history

Environment / /

In many ways, planet Earth is very much like a toxic relationship. It is beautiful in some moments, has destructive episodes via natural disasters, and is very secretive. Geologists have long been pondering a particular secret that the Earth has kept from us known as the Great Unconformity— a billion years missing from geological records.

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The Big Rip: the universe’s final stand

Environment, Physics / /

As infinite as our universe may seem, everything is destined to come to an end. The question physicists are asking themselves is exactly what that end will look like. With the continuous, accelerating expansion of the universe, one of those theoretical endings predicts the universe will eventually hit a limit where matter will deconstruct into

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Dangerously ubiquitous: The negative effect of nanoplastics on human health

Biology, Environment / /

From the deepest ocean trenches to the tap water in our kitchen, nanoplastics have pervaded virtually every last crevice of Earth. The minuscule particles, resulting from the degradation of plastic objects, are less than 100 nanometers (nm) and can be ingested, inhaled, or incorporated by dermal contact. It is estimated that just by eating, drinking,

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