Caving News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

Plants’ Secret Second Roots Rewrite the Climate Playbook

June 21, 2025 — Beneath the forest floor lies an overlooked secret: many plants grow a second set of roots far deeper than expected sometimes over three feet down tapping into hidden nutrient stores and potentially locking away carbon. A new study using deep-soil ...

How Life Endured the Snowball Earth: Evidence from Antarctic Meltwater Ponds

June 19, 2025 — During Earth's ancient Snowball periods, when the entire planet was wrapped in ice, life may have endured in tiny meltwater ponds on the surface of equatorial glaciers. MIT researchers discovered ...

The AI That Writes Climate-Friendly Cement Recipes in Seconds

June 19, 2025 — AI researchers in Switzerland have found a way to dramatically cut cement s carbon footprint by redesigning its recipe. Their system simulates thousands of ingredient combinations, pinpointing those that keep cement strong while emitting far less ...

83% of Earth’s Climate-Critical Fungi Are Still Unknown

June 15, 2025 — Underground fungi may be one of Earth s most powerful and overlooked allies in the fight against climate change, yet most of them remain unknown to science. Known only by DNA, these "dark taxa" make up a shocking 83% of ectomycorrhizal species fungi ...

Earth's Core Mystery Solved: How Solid Rock Flows 3,000 Kilometers Beneath Us

June 8, 2025 — Beneath Earth s surface, nearly 3,000 kilometers down, lies a mysterious layer where seismic waves speed up inexplicably. For decades, scientists puzzled over this D' layer. Now, groundbreaking ...

Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor

May 29, 2025 — The fossils of ancient salamander-like creatures in Scotland are among the most well-preserved examples of early stem tetrapods -- some of the first animals to make the transition from water to land. Thanks to new research, scientists believe that ...

When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements

May 28, 2025 — Many bat species native to Germany, such as the Leisler's bat, are forest specialists. However, as it is becoming increasingly hard for them to find tree hollows in forest plantations, so they are ...

Research Team Traces Evolutionary History of Bacterial Circadian Clock on Ancient Earth

May 20, 2025 — To better understand the circadian clock in modern-day cyanobacteria, a research team has studied ancient timekeeping systems. They examined the oscillation of the clock proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC ...

Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk

May 20, 2025 — A new report identifies the top 12 emerging threats that could accelerate pollinator losses within the next 5-15 years, according to ten of the world's leading ...

Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away

May 16, 2025 — Natural ecosystems comprise groups of species capable of living in the specific conditions of a biological system. However, if we visit a specific natural area, we will not find all the species capable of living in it. The proportion of species that ...

Internal Clocks Determine the Ups and Downs of Antarctic Krill

May 9, 2025 — Antarctic krill do not only react to external environmental influences such as light or food. They also use their internal clock to adapt to the extreme conditions of the polar ...

Palatable Versus Poisonous: Eavesdropping Bats Must Learn to Identify Which Prey Is Safe to Eat

May 1, 2025 — Scientists found that the fringe-lipped bat, known to eavesdrop on frog and toad mating calls to find its prey, learns to distinguish between palatable and unpalatable frogs and toads through ...

Latest Headlines

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Lava Flow Jigsaw Puzzle Reveals the Secrets of Shifting Continents

May 1, 2025 — Analysing lava flows that solidified and then broke apart over a massive crack in the Earth's crust in Turkey has brought new insights into how continents move over time, improving our understanding ...

A Step Toward Harnessing Clean Energy from Falling Rainwater

Apr. 16, 2025 — When two materials come into contact, charged entities on their surfaces get a little nudge. This is how rubbing a balloon on the skin creates static electricity. Likewise, water flowing over some ...

Sunscreen, Clothes and Caves May Have Helped Homo Sapiens Survive 41,000 Years Ago

Apr. 16, 2025 — A study suggests that Homo sapiens may have benefited from the use of ochre and tailored clothing during a period of increased UV light 41,000 years ...

Inside Yellowstone's Fiery Heart: Researchers Map Volatile-Rich Cap, Offering Clues to Future Volcanic Activity

Apr. 16, 2025 — Beneath the steaming geysers and bubbling mud pots of Yellowstone National Park lies one of the world's most closely watched volcanic systems. Now a ...

Missing Nitrogen: A Dramatic Game of Cosmic Hide-and-Seek Deep Within Our Planet

Apr. 16, 2025 — Earth's rocky layers are mysteriously low in nitrogen compared with carbon and argon. A scientific team explored our planet's molten youth using ...

8 Million Years of 'Green Arabia'

Apr. 9, 2025 — A new study reveals the modern arid desert between Africa and Saudi Arabia was once regularly lush and green with rivers and lakes over a period of 8 million years, allowing for the occupation and ...

Researchers Explore Using Soil for Heat Storage

Apr. 2, 2025 — When spring arrives and the heating season comes to an end, keeping warm becomes less of an issue. However, scientists remind us that it is not just a seasonal necessity -- heat is also a valuable ...

Scientists Solve 'Cocktail Party' Mystery of Bat Echolocation

Mar. 31, 2025 — Every night, bats emerge out of roosts in massive numbers, creating what scientists have called a 'cocktail party nightmare' of clashing echolocations. Nobody knew how bats managed this severe ...

Introduced Pacific Oysters Provide Biodiversity Benefits in Port River

Mar. 26, 2025 — The introduction of exotic species can pose significant challenges in the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems, yet researchers have found that Pacific oysters introduced to the Port River in ...

5,700-Year Storm Archive Shows Rise in Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the Caribbean

Mar. 24, 2025 — A storm, even once it has passed, can leave traces in the ocean that last for thousands of years. These consist of sediment layers composed of coarse ...

Recycled Cements Drive Down Emissions Without Slacking on Strength

Mar. 20, 2025 — Engineers have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry ...

Unknown Microorganisms Used Marble and Limestone as a Habitat

Mar. 19, 2025 — In the desert areas of Namibia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, research work has revealed unusual structures that are probably due to the activity of an unknown microbiological life form. Unusually small ...

Researchers Quantify the Way Rivers Bend, Opening Up the Possibility for Identifying Origins of Channels on Other Planets

Mar. 5, 2025 — Whether it's rivers cutting through earth, lava melting through rock, or water slicing through ice, channels all twist and bend in a seemingly similar back-and-forth manner. But a new study has ...

Heat from the Sun Affects Seismic Activity on Earth

Mar. 4, 2025 — Researchers explore the likelihood that Earth's climate, as affected by solar heat, plays a role in seismic activity. Using mathematical and computational methods, they analyzed earthquake data ...

Genomic Tools Provide Clearer View of Health for Endangered Bats

Feb. 26, 2025 — How do wildlife researchers know when an endangered population is sick? They can detect infectious microbes in animal waste, but the presence of a microbe doesn't always equate to impactful ...

Urban Environments Promote Adaptation to Multiple Stressors

Feb. 19, 2025 — Animal populations from urban areas show significantly higher resilience to stressful environmental conditions. The mussel and crustacean species studied were able to adapt to disturbed environments, ...

Evidence of Cannibalism 18,000 Years Ago

Feb. 11, 2025 — An international research team has gained new insights into the burial rituals of Late Ice Age societies in Central Europe. Signs of human remains from the Maszycka Cave in southern Poland being ...

California's Marine Protected Areas Boost Fish Populations Across the State

Feb. 10, 2025 — It's 1999, the 21st century is on the horizon, and California has big plans for marine conservation. New legislation has presented a mandate to establish an ambitious network of marine protected ...

Examining the Potential Environmental Effects of Mining the World's Largest Lithium Deposit

Feb. 10, 2025 — A trove of lithium-rich brine exists underground in Bolivia. Researchers conducted the first comprehensive chemical analysis of wastewater associated with mining the ...

Bats Play a Key Role in Combating Rice Pests in Southeast Asia

Feb. 10, 2025 — Scientists have demonstrated that Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats not only travels great distances, but also hunt at impressive altitudes of up to 1,600 meters above ground -- the altitude at which ...

White Shark Liver Is on Australian Killer Whales' Menu, Genomic Evidence Confirms

Feb. 1, 2025 — DNA evidence has confirmed killer whales in Australia hunted a white shark for its liver. Based on DNA analysis from the bite wounds on the carcass of a large white shark washed ashore near Portland ...

Burn Grasslands to Maintain Them: What Is Good for Biodiversity?

Jan. 31, 2025 — As grasslands get abandoned, controlled burning is discussed as a labor-saving method of keeping forests at bay. A research team found that this method results in higher biodiversity and a higher ...

Preserving Asian Horseshoe Crab Populations Through Targeted Conservation Strategies

Jan. 27, 2025 — Biologists conduct the first comprehensive population study of all three Asian horseshoe crab species, mapping their population distribution, evolutionary histories and vulnerabilities to climate ...

Approaching the Red Planet from the Kitchen

Jan. 26, 2025 — Using syrup and baking soda, research has demonstrated the formation mechanism of rootless cones, small volcanic landforms commonly found on Earth and Mars. The study clarified, through an ...

Subterranean 'Islands': Strongholds in a Potentially Less Turbulent World

Jan. 22, 2025 — Deeply hidden in Earth's mantle there are two huge 'islands' with the size of a continent. New research shows that these regions are not only hotter than the surrounding graveyard of ...

Researchers (Plus Dogs) Discover New Truffle Species

Jan. 17, 2025 — Researchers, citizen scientists and their 'truffle dogs' -- have discovered two new species of truffle. Tuber canirevelatum, meaning the 'dog-found' truffle, was named in honor of ...

Asteroid Impact Sulfur Release Less Lethal in Dinosaur Extinction

Jan. 16, 2025 — Previous studies have posited that the mass extinction that wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the Earth was caused by the release of large volumes of sulfur from rocks within the Chicxulub impact ...

Speleothem and Ice Cores: Natural Climate Archives Offer New Insights Into the Climate History of Central Europe

Jan. 16, 2025 — The synchronization of data from two natural climate archives -- a speleothem from the Herbstlabyrinth Cave in Hesse (Germany) and ice cores from Greenland -- offers new insights into the chronology ...

Wind Turbines Impair the Access of Bats to Water Bodies in Agricultural Landscapes

Jan. 13, 2025 — Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival in the increasingly hot and dry summers caused by ...

Atop the Oregon Cascades, Team Finds a Huge Buried Aquifer

Jan. 13, 2025 — Scientists have mapped the amount of water stored beneath volcanic rocks at the crest of the central Oregon Cascades and found an aquifer many times larger than previously estimated -- at least 81 ...