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Climate tipping points: Frozen peatlands could begin releasing carbon sooner than thought

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We had calculated that frozen peatlands would remain stable until the 2070s, but a new analysis suggests they may begin thawing as early as the 2040s Environment 14 March 2022 By Adam Vaughan Scandinavian mountain range, above the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images Vast expanses of peatland in frozen soil … Read more

Extremely Hot, Humid Weather Could Kill a Person Far More Easily Than We Thought

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The human body might not cope with nearly as much heat and humidity as theory predicts. One of the first studies to directly assess humid heat stress among young people has found that when humidity is at an absolute max, the upper limit of human adaptability is just 31°C (87 °F).   That’s four degrees … Read more

Eating More Bugs Could Help The Environment Even More Than We Thought

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Insects have been touted as a food of the future, not least because of the sustainability benefits. An excellent protein source, they take up significantly fewer resources to produce when compared to traditional farming. Give your farm of mealworms around 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of food and you’ll get a kilogram of edible protein; with beef, … Read more

Lost Photos Suggest Europeans Were Mummifying Their Dead Far Earlier Than We Thought

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Archaeologists may have just uncovered evidence for the oldest known practice of mummification. Human remains interred 8,000 years ago in the Sado Valley in Portugal, during the Mesolithic, appear to have been deliberately treated for mummification prior to burial. This is the first evidence for Mesolithic mummification in Europe.   It’s also possibly the oldest … Read more

Stunning Loops of Plasma Observed on The Sun May Not Be What We Thought

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A well-studied solar phenomenon may not be quite as simple as we we thought it was. New simulations suggest that what we thought were loops of plasma known as coronal loops erupting out from the surface of the Sun along magnetic field lines may, at least sometimes, be wrinkles in corrugated sheets of plasma.   … Read more

The Closest ‘Black Hole’ to Earth Isn’t What We Thought at All

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What astronomers had concluded to be a black hole a mere 1,120 light-years from Earth instead appears to be something quite different: a two-star system where one of the stars is sucking the life out of the other.   Far from disappointing, though, the conclusion gives astronomers an exciting opportunity to explore how these ‘vampiric’ stars … Read more

Greenland: Base of the ice sheet is melting faster than we thought

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As meltwater trickles down through the Greenland ice sheet, it heats up – which means that some areas at the base of the ice sheet are melting 100 times faster than we thought Environment 21 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins Water flowing down to the bed of Store glacier, Greenland Poul Christoffersen A new source … Read more

Weird, Extinct Animal Species Identified in First Such Finding in Over 100 Years

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Peering back hundreds of millions of years into the past can turn up some astonishing findings – as it has with the discovery of a second species of opabiniid, a soft-bodied arthropod with a segmented exoskeleton that lived on the seafloor during the Miaolingian (509-497 million years ago).   The original opadiniid, Opabinia regalis, was … Read more

Mountain Glaciers Have Less Ice than Previously Thought

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Many of the world’s glaciers contain significantly less ice than scientists previously estimated. That means some mountain communities that rely on melting ice may run out of fresh water faster, according to new research. Glaciers in the Andes Mountains of South America, in particular, may contain far less ice than previous studies suggested. That means … Read more