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EarthSky Voices

How plants manage the shift from winter to spring

How plants tolerate cold spells, and the effects of climate change on how plants manage the transition from winter to spring.

Billions of cicadas may be coming soon to trees near you

One of the largest groups of 17-year cicadas, Brood X, last emerged from underground in 2004. The next generation will begin arriving in April 2021.

Scientists discover 4 new particles

On March 3, scientists at CERN in Geneva - which operates the the Large Hadron Collider, largest particle physics laboratory in the world - announced the discovery of 4 brand-new elementary particles.

What’s the coldest Earth has ever been?

Our planet’s history includes episodes of cold so extreme that glaciers reached sea level in equatorial regions.

Astrophysicists design ‘radically different’ world map

You know the old problem of how to portray the round globe of Earth on a flat map? Now a trio of map experts has worked together to solve this problem. Their new map is 2-sided and round.

Hundreds of fish species, including many we eat, are consuming plastic

As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, microplastics are making their way into fish and shellfish, and potentially into humans.

Has the polar vortex arrived? What is it?

The polar vortex is an enormous, 3-dimensional ring of winds that surrounds the North and South poles during each hemisphere’s winter. The polar vortex influences the jet stream, which can bring cold winter weather to the U.S. and Europe.

How to prevent crashes between orbiting satellites

Thousands more satellites will soon orbit Earth. We need better rules to prevent space crashes.

Why is there something instead of nothing?

Why is there is a universe at all? The question is a challenging one because it seems perfectly possible that there might have been nothing whatsoever – no Earth, no stars, no galaxies, no universe.

Earth is losing ice at a record rate

The rate at which ice is disappearing across the planet has been speeding up, by 65% since the 1990s, a survey of global ice loss using European Space Agency satellite data reveals.

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