Aurelia Butler

More stories

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Heart

    Migrating whale sharks make pit stops at oil and gas rigs

    Like rolling into a gas station during a road trip, whale sharks use oil and gas rigs as a pit stop during their migrations of thousands of kilometers across the oceans. The human-made structures attract marine life — including the sharks’ favorite snack: plankton. But experts worry that this lure could put the endangered behemoths at risk of ship strike or chemical pollution.

    Satellite tracking of whale sharks off the coast of western Australia shows how oil and gas platforms influence the movements of these gentle giants, marine ecologist Ben D’Antonio and colleagues report January 18 in Diversity and Distributions. “As they migrate across the ocean, they are stopping over and moving between features to presumably grab an easy meal before continuing with their migration,” says D’Antonio, of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and University of Western Australia in Perth. More

  • 125 Shares179 Views

    in Heart

    Historical writings reveal how people weathered the Little Ice Age

    “Dear diary, it was freezing outside today…” If someone today wrote that in their journal, it might seem like an innocuous enough line, perhaps never to be carefully considered again. But what if, 500 years from now, scientists used that entry about the weather to answer climate mysteries?

    Researchers looking to the past have done just that, combing through diaries and other old documents to reconstruct the climate of 16th century Transylvania, part of modern-day Romania. What they found offers a glimpse at how a cooling period called the Little Ice Age may have affected people in the region, the team reports February 12 in Frontiers in Climate. More

  • 125 Shares119 Views

    in Heart

    Just a small rise in global temperatures could be deadly

    Meghan Rosen is a staff writer who reports on the life sciences for Science News. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology with an emphasis in biotechnology from the University of California, Davis, and later graduated from the science communication program at UC Santa Cruz. More

  • 125 Shares159 Views

    in Physics

    The best way to cook an egg, according to science

    When egg prices are hard-boiling your temper, it’s important to make sure that each egg you make is the best it can possibly be. But when your egg white is cooked, your egg yolk is often still a runny mess. Once the yolk is cooked, the white is rubbery. The solution is a method of periodic cooking, researchers report February 6 in Communications Engineering. And true eggcellence, they say, requires only boiling water, slightly warm water, an egg — and 32 minutes of patience.

    The challenge of cooking an egg is that the yolk and the albumen — or white — have different compositions, says Emilia Di Lorenzo, a chemical engineer at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. The result is that the proteins in each part of the egg denature — or fall apart — at different temperatures. Yolk proteins cook at 65° Celsius, while those in the white cook at 85° C. More

  • 125 Shares199 Views

    in Heart

    Can geoengineering plans save glaciers and slow sea level rise?

    Citations

    H. Seroussi et al. Evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet over the next three centuries from an ISMIP6 model ensemble. Earth’s Future. Vol. 12, September 4, 2024. doi: 10.1029/2024EF004561.

    M. Wolovick, J. Moore and B. Keefer. The potential for stabilizing Amundsen Sea glaciers via underwater curtains. PNAS Nexus. Vol. 2, April 2023, pgad103. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad103.

    B. Keefer, M. Wolovick and J.C. Moore. Feasibility of ice sheet conservation using seabed anchored curtains. PNAS Nexus. Vol. 2, March 2023, pgad053. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad053.

    K. Yamazaki et al. Multidecadal poleward shift of the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current off East Antarctica. Science Advances. Published online June 11, 2021. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf8755.

    R. DeConto et al. The Paris Climate Agreement and future sea-level rise from Antarctica. Nature. Vol. 593, May 6, 2021, p.83. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03427-0.

    A.K. Wåhlin et al. Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica. Science Advances. Vol. 7, April 9, 2021, eabd7254. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7254.

    O. Gürses et al. A submarine wall protecting the Amundsen Sea intensifies melting of neighboring ice shelves. The Cryosphere. Vol. 13, September 6, 2019, p. 2317. doi: 10.5194/tc-13-2317-2019.

    M.J. Wolovick and J.C. Moore. Stopping the flood: Could we use targeted geoengineering to mitigate sea level rise? The Cryosphere. Vol. 12, September 20, 2018, p. 2955. doi: 10.5194/tc-12-2955-2018.

    J.C. Moore et al. Geoengineering polar glaciers to slow sea-level rise. Nature. Vol. 555, March 15, 2018, p. 303. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-03036-4.

    I. Joughin et al. Marine Ice Sheet Collapse Potentially Under Way for the Thwaites Glacier Basin, West Antarctica. Science. Vol. 344, May 16, 2014, p. 735. doi: 10.1126/science.1249055.

    I. Joughin et al. Changes in west Antarctic ice stream velocities: Observation and analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. Vol. 17, November 2002, p. EPM 3-1. doi: 10.1029/2001JB001029. More

  • 125 Shares199 Views

    in Physics

    Quantum mechanics was born 100 years ago. Physicists are celebrating

    A century ago, science went quantum. To celebrate, physicists are throwing a global, year-long party.

    In 1925, quantum mechanics, the scientific theory that describes the unintuitive rules of physics on very small scales, began to crystallize in the minds of physicists. Beginning in that year, a series of monumental papers laid out the theory’s framework. Quantum physics has since permeated a wide range of scientific disciplines — explaining the periodic table, the lives and deaths of stars and more — and enabled technologies from the laser to the smartphone. More

  • 75 Shares189 Views

    in Heart

    Hotter cities? Here come the rats

    If your city is getting rattier, climate change may be partially to blame.

    In an analysis of 16 cities around the world, those that saw the biggest temperature rises over the years also had more rat complaints over time, researchers report January 31 in Science Advances. Increased urbanization was also connected with more rat reports. The results suggest that higher temperatures may make rats — and the diseases they can spread — even harder to keep at bay. More

  • 125 Shares139 Views

    in Heart

    Another danger looms after the LA fires: Devastating debris flows

    The Los Angeles wildfires were still burning when scientists started scouting the freshly charred burn scars to search for signs of another danger that’s yet to come — roaring torrents of rock and mud and water that can sweep downhill with deadly momentum.

    Triggered by intense bouts of rainfall, these debris flows — as well as flash floods — become more likely to occur after an intense wildfire has scorched an area’s slopes and vegetation. While flash floods can be devastating, debris flows surge with even greater ferocity. At least half of their volume is sediment, and it’s mixed with burned trees, cars and boulders. More