Science & Earth

A study in Nature found about 90% of reviewed assessments underestimated coastal water baselines by roughly 1 foot on average, which could increase land inundation and place tens of millions more people at risk if seas rise a little more than 3 feet.

A satellite study finds Antarctica lost nearly 5,000 square miles of grounded ice from 1992 to 2025, and about 77% of the continent’s coastline showed no detectable grounding-line migration over the same period.

The World Meteorological Organization retired the name Melissa after the destructive 2025 Atlantic hurricane, marking the 100th Atlantic name retired; it will be replaced by Molly in the 2031 season.

U.N. data reports about 4,510 objects were launched in 2025, and there are roughly 12,000 active satellites orbiting Earth today.

Researchers released the first known video of a southern sleeper shark filmed in near-freezing Antarctic waters; the animal was recorded at about 1,640 feet in water near 34°F. Scientists say the shark’s slow metabolism and tissue chemistry help it tolerate cold, and that warmer water corridors or broader ocean warming may explain the sighting.

Singapore has designated 2026 as the "year of climate adaptation" and will begin a national plan to strengthen resilience to heat, floods and potential water and food shortages; Environment Minister Grace Fu warned that global tensions are raising the urgency of adaptation.

Environment Minister Andrew Muir has proposed withdrawing special regulatory arrangements for NI Water and introducing stronger pollution fines as part of wider water quality reforms.

The Supreme Court of Colombia dismissed a cassation appeal after AI-detection software flagged the filing as largely AI-generated, and subsequent tests using the same and other detectors returned high AI scores for the court's own ruling and for older documents.

A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon red and will be visible Tuesday across parts of the Americas, eastern Asia and Australia; totality is expected to last about an hour.

Italian historian Ivan Malara identified handwriting likely belonging to Galileo in a 1551 copy of Ptolemy's Almagest held by the National Central Library of Florence, and handwriting experts said the annotations resemble Galileo's writing; Malara plans to submit a paper to the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

Blue Skies Space's Mauve satellite captured a five-second visible and ultraviolet observation of the star eta Ursa Majoris on Feb. 9, and the company says science operations and data delivery will begin after instrument checks are completed.

San Diego County's Water Authority approved an initial agreement to explore selling some Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada, drawing on supplies tied to the Carlsbad desalination plant; further approvals from regional and federal agencies are required.

A TikTok video posted Feb. 22 by user @michellemaradiaga8 shows Horsetail Fall glowing orange like a firefall and has more than 1.4 million views; the National Park Service says the effect appears in mid-to-late February when the waterfall is flowing and the setting sun backlights it.

A Johns Hopkins study found a hardy desert bacterium survived pressures intended to simulate ejection from Mars and could withstand conditions associated with interplanetary transfer.

Researchers described Acanthochitona feroxa, a newly identified chiton species from specimens collected off South Korea, based on differences in shell features and mitochondrial genomes.

Russia has finished repairs to a damaged Baikonur launch pad and is preparing it for a March 22 Progress cargo launch to the International Space Station. Roscosmos said new equipment was installed at the service cabin complex and that the restoration met its winter deadline.

Perseverance is collecting and caching rock and surface samples at Jezero Crater for eventual return to Earth, and NASA is preparing missions to study icy moons such as Europa, Enceladus and Titan.

Ahead of World Wildlife Day on 3 March, IUCN specialists highlighted the importance of medicinal and aromatic plants for ecosystems, medicines and livelihoods, and reported that many species face threats from habitat loss, unsustainable harvesting and climate change.

A total lunar eclipse on March 3 will turn the Moon red and will be visible across parts of eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and much of the Americas; Venus and Saturn appear about one degree apart in the evening sky on March 8.

Phoenix experienced consecutive record-warm winter days around Feb. 27–March 1, and experts attribute the stretch to a combination of La Niña conditions and long-term climate warming.

A Yale School of the Environment study published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences reports the 1.5‑million‑acre Everglades removes about 13.7 million metric tons of CO2 per year and that mangroves capture more carbon while freshwater marshes emit proportionally more methane.

Preliminary data show meteorological winter 2025–26 was the warmest on record across a large part of the western United States, based on 131 years of climate data. The contiguous U.S. recorded its second-warmest meteorological winter as cooler conditions in the East limited a nationwide record.

Florida's Space Coast recorded 109 orbital launches in 2025, and by the end of February 2026 fourteen rockets had flown from the region. Cape Canaveral's March slate begins with SpaceX Starlink missions on March 1 and March 4, while Blue Origin New Glenn and NASA's Artemis II are listed as later missions with windows to be announced.

A new study reports nearly 3 billion fewer wild birds in the United States and Canada since 1970, a decline of about 29% from roughly 10.1 billion to 7.2 billion, based on weather radar, long-term surveys and modeling.

March brings nine notable night-sky events, led by a total lunar eclipse visible across parts of Asia, Australia and North America, alongside multiple planet pairings, zodiacal light near the spring equinox, and the vernal equinox on March 20.

The article reports that herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and treated seeds can damage beneficial soil organisms and reduce soil fertility; a 2021 review of nearly 400 studies is cited as finding that pesticides can harm soil ecosystems.

Research links sustained social engagement to preserved memory and brain structure in some adults over 80, and recent studies and reviews describe ways AI could help identify isolation, connect people to services, and provide cognitive interaction.

Experts report that old potting soil is usually safe to add to garden beds when the plants grown in it were healthy; soil from containers with known pests or disease should be sanitized first, for example by solarization or occultation.

A planetary alignment involving six planets is expected to be best visible in Arizona on the evening of Feb. 28, with twilight timing, cloud cover and local light pollution affecting whether all planets can be seen.

Patagonia stopped selling Atlantic mackerel after local stocks declined and has switched to smoked Chilean jack mackerel sourced from recovering South Pacific fisheries.