Category: science
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Greenland’s Disappearing Glaciers—A Tale of Fire and Ice
PBS-NOVA — Jason Box, a glaciologist who grew up in Colorado, watched the High Park wildfire disaster play out on television at LaGuardia Airport, waiting for a flight that would take him to Greenland. He suddenly had a thought: Could soot from the wildfires melt Greenland’s ice sheet?
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Dept. of Household Sciences
THE LAST WORD ON NOTHING — There is an entire arm of physics devoted to the science of rubbing and scrubbing–and which has slipped into all aspects of life, including my kitchen. Today, these scientists study friction, lubrication and wear mostly because they’re interested in keeping machines running smoothly, not because they care about my…
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Caribou genetics reveal shadow of climate change
Nature Ancient ice ages that shaped modern caribou populations may foretell animals’ fate in a warmer world. When ice sheets marched across North America 20,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum, they devoured liveable areas for caribou and isolated them from their Eurasian relatives for thousands of years. Now researchers have evidence that such…
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Lyme bacteria show that evolvability is evolvable
Nature Natural selection favours those with a greater capacity to generate genetic variation. Some gamblers succeed by spiriting cards up their sleeves, giving them a wider range of hands to play. So do some bacteria, whose great capacity for genetic variability helps them evolve and adapt to rapidly changing environments. Now research on Borrelia burgdorferi, the…
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Ozone-hole treaty slowed global warming
Montreal Protocol helped to curb climate change and so did world wars and the Great Depression. Human actions that were not intended to limit the greenhouse effect have had large effects on slowing climate change. The two world wars, the Great Depression and a 1987 international treaty on ozone-depleting chemicals put a surprising dent in…