Science & Earth

A prehistoric dugout canoe recovered at Lake Mendota is reported as about 5,200 years old, and officials link the discoveries to Ho-Chunk ancestral ties and ceremonial significance.

A new study reviewed eight climate intervention methods and found each could alter ocean chemistry and ecosystems; electrochemical ocean alkalinity enhancement showed the lowest direct risk among the approaches reviewed, but no method is free of uncertainty and more research is needed before large-scale ocean deployment.

Researchers introduced a framework called 'marine darkwaves' to identify short, intense periods of underwater darkness that in some cases nearly eliminate light reaching the seafloor, and they found events lasting days to months in California and New Zealand data.

The World Meteorological Organization says 2025 ranked among the three warmest years on record, extending an 11-year run of unusually high global temperatures.

Several national and international climate agencies report that 2025 ranked as the second- or third-warmest year on record, with the last three years the warmest on record and greenhouse gas concentrations rising.

Forecasters say an Arctic blast may push cold air into far northern Florida this weekend, with a chance of a rain-and-snow mix and little to no accumulation. Freeze watches are in effect across much of northern and central Florida for late Thursday through Friday morning.

Human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, are driving a long-term rise in global temperatures, and 2024 was recorded as the hottest year, with that calendar year exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

UC Berkeley's SETI@home project ran from 1999 to 2020, using volunteers' home computers to analyze Arecibo radio data and collecting more than 12 billion potential signals; researchers have narrowed the results to 100 radio candidates that merit closer study.

A Karolinska Institutet study in Nature Communications shows that the frequency of alpha waves in the parietal cortex affects how precisely people judge timing between sight and touch, shaping the sense that a body part belongs to oneself; shifting alpha frequency with mild electrical stimulation altered these timing judgments.

A Nature study reports that disturbances in tropical humid forests caused nearly 16 billion tonnes of carbon loss from 1990 to 2020, and that small-scale clearings — about 5% of disturbed area — accounted for 56% of net carbon losses.

Greenland's ice sheet is losing mass rapidly, with scientists reporting 105 billion metric tons lost in the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2025, and longer-term thinning that has reduced ice area since the 1980s; U.S., Greenland and Danish officials are due to meet about related issues.

The EPA announced it will stop assigning dollar values to health benefits from fine particles (PM2.5) and ozone in its regulatory analyses, a change written into a new rule that relaxes turbine-related standards at fossil-fuel power plants.

China banned residential coal heating in much of Hebei to cut winter pollution, and Beijing officials report large improvements in air quality; at the same time, many rural residents say subsidies were cut this winter and they face higher heating bills and rationed heat.

Copernicus data from ECMWF shows 2025 ranked as the third-warmest year on record with a global average surface air temperature of 14.97°C, and the 2023–2025 three‑year mean exceeded the 1.5°C warming threshold relative to pre‑industrial levels.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a memorandum to collaborate on research and development of a fission surface power system for the Moon, with a goal of deploying a lunar surface reactor by 2030.

Pandora launched on January 11 and will observe exoplanets and their host stars to determine whether detected molecules originate in planetary atmospheres or in starlight.

The EPA announced it will no longer monetize health harms from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone when assessing regulations, saying current models do not reliably support dollar estimates; critics say that choice could make it easier to relax pollution limits.

Kīlauea is not erupting after episode 40, which ended Jan. 12, and webcams show continuing incandescent flows and recent small earthquakes; monitoring data and inflation suggest another episode may occur in about two weeks but forecasts remain uncertain.

Kīlauea is not erupting following episode 40 on January 12, which produced lava fountains up to about 800 feet (250 m); scientists report another episode is likely about two weeks away but more data are needed to forecast.

Researchers studied T7 bacteriophages and E. coli on the International Space Station and found infections began more slowly and that both microbes developed unusual mutations under microgravity. The results were published in PLOS Biology.

The EPA proposed narrowing Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to restrict state and tribal reviews to direct water quality effects and to impose a one-year deadline for certification requests. The agency is seeking public comment for 30 days and aims to finalize the rule by spring.

EPA Region 6 issued an administrative compliance order on consent with Smitty's Supply after an inspection found concerns about hazardous waste handling at the Roseland, Louisiana, facility; the order requires the company to address alleged violations within 60 days and the company has begun taking corrective steps.

Researchers with the Wisconsin Historical Society have identified 16 ancient dugout canoes in Lake Mendota, with carbon dating indicating ages ranging roughly from 5,200 to 700 years ago.

NASA launched the international "Mars to Table" competition to develop systems for growing and producing food on Mars, offering a $750,000 prize for U.S. winners; proposals are due Aug. 21 and winners will be announced in September.

The Parkfield Experiment on the San Andreas Fault forecasted a quake for 1985–1993 but the magnitude-6.0 event occurred in 2004; scientists continue to deploy instruments, satellites, laboratory studies and computing methods to study faults and improve probabilistic forecasts.

An MIT study found that astronauts' brains tend to move backward, upward and rotate after time in microgravity, with some positional changes still detectable up to six months after return; a head‑down bed‑rest analog produced similar but not identical shifts.

A PNAS study using MRI data found that the brain tends to shift upward and backward and rotate after spaceflight, with larger changes after longer missions; most movement recovered over about six months though some differences persisted.

Researchers identified Paradoxophidion richardoweni from 31 vertebrae collected at Hordle Cliff in 1981 and archived at London's Natural History Museum; the fossils are about 37 million years old and show a mix of features not matching any single known snake lineage.

Helio announced it is positioning to lead the emerging space-based solar power market and highlighted a microwave power‑beaming architecture and its work with agencies including NASA and the European Space Agency.

A Nature Microbiology study linked excess alcohol-producing gut bacteria — including Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae — to auto-brewery syndrome, and reports one patient whose symptoms waned after repeated oral fecal-transplant capsules over 16 months.