Mysterious Link between Earth’s Magnetism and Oxygen Baffles Scientists The strength of Earth’s magnetic field and the amount of oxygen in its atmosphere seem to be correlated—and scientists want to know why By Davide Castelvecchi & Nature magazine A group of Dimetrodon’s hunting in a Permian era environment. Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo The strength…
Asteroid 2024 YR4 could result in the largest impact on the moon for the past 5000 years MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images The asteroid 2024 YR4, which was once thought to be on a collision course with Earth, may still pose a threat to the planet. There is still a chance the space rock could…
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This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Over the last couple of decades, few science topics have made a bigger mainstream splash than the microbiome. Our growing understanding of the microbes that live…
Artistic reconstruction of Bolg amondol Cullen Townsend An extinct monstersaur discovered in North America is shedding new light on life in the area around 75 million years ago. The creature looks “like a goblin that sprang from the rocks”, says Hank Woolley at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The species is a…
Ole Ginnerup Schytz, an engineer in Denmark’s sleepy Vindelev agricultural area, had used a metal detector only a handful of times when he found a bent clump of metal in a friend’s barley field. He figured it was the lid from a container of tinned fish and tossed it in his junk bag with the…
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/A. Pizarro D I have never been to a watch party, unless you count me and two of my friends getting together to watch Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (complete with themed snacks). But now, it seems, I will have my chance – as watch parties are no longer…
Hot weather during UK summers is likely here to stay HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images The UK should urgently prepare for summer temperatures in excess of 40°C (104°F), according to the Met Office, the country’s national weather service, which warns the likelihood of extremely high summer temperatures is increasing rapidly as the climate warms. Temperatures…
Why iNaturalist Users Freaked Out over a Google AI Grant The nonprofit iNaturalist announced that it received a $1.5-million grant from Google’s philanthropic arm to develop generative AI tools for species identification. The news didn’t go over well By Kate Wong edited by Jeanna Bryner Can artificial intelligence help people learn about nature? And if…
