ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE

The Pope's Forward-thinking Climate Stance Faces Conservative Opposition

POLICY Pope Francis has been finding himself in warm―not holy―waters with conservatives ever since he recently announced the Catholic Church's stance on climate change. He's gone on to publicly state that our planet's altering landscape and atmosphere composition is not just a political issue, but a "human" one as well. The currently appointed pontiff is in the midst of drafting an encyclical, a papal letter to be sent to the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, which will highlight how the church can catalyze positive climate change. But those within the church are questioning whether or not the leader of the faith should be getting involved.

Researchers in Scottland Find Remnants of Nessy’s Relatives—Or So It Seems

While tales of the cryptid, the Loch Ness monster more colloquially known as Nessy, have gone largely unsubstantiated in the past, archaeologists in Scotland believe that they may now have found creature that fits the bill. The only problem is, that the dolphin-like marine reptile which grew to lengths of up to 14 feet went extinct nearly 170 million years ago.

Demystifying Archaic 1500 Year Old Palindromic Amulet

Time is the one constant variable in all of our lives. Minutes push by, hours pass over, and years ring around the trunks of senior trees. 1,500 years is a time scale that may seem almost immeasurable at times, but a new discovery reveals that it has been written down, recorded to a tee. An excavation near the ancient city of Nea Paphos had unearthed an amulet of such an age that inscribed written language on one side and curiously depicted both Greek and Egyptian gods on the other.

Can You Really Smell When It’s About to Rain? Scientists Now Know Why

Do you always know before and after it rains simply because of the smell? Now, researchers have discovered the origin of the earthy, sweet smell that lingers in the air. And though scientists have been baffled by the source of this aroma, known as Petrichor, for many years now researchers from MIT have found its origin with the help of high-speed photography.

Marine Mammals Can Suffer from Irregular Heartbeats When Diving Deep

Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz have found that marine mammals like seals and dolphins can suffer from irregular heartbeats when they dive deep in the search for food. According to researchers, who believed they have evidence of cardiac rhythm complications in both Weddell seals and bottlenose dolphins, said the problem takes place as they hold their breath during deep dives.

Sea Turtles Use Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS

Female sea turtles will swim for thousands of miles to return to their place of birth to lay eggs. For years, how they found their home has remained a mystery to researchers. However, according to a new study, these sea turtles find their way home by relying on the unique magnetic signatures along the coast.

2014 Is Officially the Warmest Year on Record

Scientists from both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that in 2014 the world experienced its hottest year in the 135 total years of record keeping. The Japanese weather agency and an independent group from the University of California Berkeley also measured 2014 and determined it was the hottest year on record.

Don’t Believe In Climate Change? NOAA Says 2014 Brought Hottest Summer To Date

In the midst of the United Nation's Climate Change Summit, held in New York City late last summer, many skeptics bolstered their opinions about the current climate change issues at hand. But with heat waves well into the 100's, the sounds of skepticism were silenced by the buzzing of air conditioners hanging near the window. And as it so happens, when researchers and politicians turned to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistration (NOAA) for answers, a new study revealed that the blistering heat we felt was unlike anything we had ever seen before.

Alarming New Study Reveals Rising Sea Levels is Happening Faster Than Researchers Thought

It could be time to sound the alarm, as a new study reveals that the rise in global sea levels from the end of the 20th century until the last two decades is accelerating much faster than scientists previously believed. It was discovered that there were loopholes in the estimates made for an earlier period which has caused the rest of the readings to be off.

Pushed to the Brink—Humans Put Earth in 'The Danger Zone'

With unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, widespread species extinction, habit destruction, and increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in the oceans courtesy of polluting fertilizers, the Earth is being pushed to the brink and could one day make it unsafe for the continuation of life. The rate at which humans are destroying the environment is entirely unprecedented, and with such a devastating effect unseen in the last 11,700 years, life is facing an uncertain future ahead.

Human Activity May Lead to a Bleaker Life Under the Sea

A new study has found that human activity is having a drastic impact on the creatures under the sea, with many on the verge of extinction thanks to humans. However, swift intervention could still prevent a "disaster of the magnitude observed on land."The study published this week in the journal Science analyzes the impact humans are having on the oceans. According to the group of researchers who developed the study, several marine species could soon be gone forever if changes are not quickly made.

Giant Sea Animals Are Not So Giant After All

The oceans largest creatures aren't quite as large as we often image, according to a new study. According to a report published in the journal Peer J, humans are not very good at visualizing the size of creatures like the giant squid or whales, and media reports usually exaggerate their size too. The team of researchers from the U.S. and Canada compared popular reports and scientific reports for 25 different species of marine creatures, including whales, sharks, squids and other giant ocean dwellers, and found that most of the animals were actually smaller than what was reported.

How Zebras Got Their Stripes & Why Climate Change is Likely to Blame

While they're not alone in the vast wonders of Africa's abundant plains, zebras in particular have posed quite a quandary to scientists in past decades. Their unique striping of black and white have always sparked interest in their study, but the ever failing hypotheses quickly discouraged the discovery of their significance-if any at all. But while many researchers have failed in associating the stripes with social order of a herd or even as camouflaging tactics in the wild, a new study published this month in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers have discovered that the stripes are much more like a tan than we think.

Sea Turtles Reveal A Sixth Sense—Finding Their Way Home & Sensing The Seasons

As a migratory species, Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochely coriacea) are a rare oddity of nature that spend their lives mostly in travel, between their breeding grounds in open ocean and their tropical places of birth. Travelling back and forth between the tropics and their hunting grounds to the north, the unique species follows the cool waters, as they flow throughout the oceans they inhabit. But that doesn't even begin to unravel their mysterious origins or how they know to traverse the seas.
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