Reference Terms
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Soil
Soil is material capable of supporting plant life. Soil forms through a variety of soil formation processes, and includes weathered rock "parent material" combined with dead and living organic matter and air.Soils can be divided into two general layers: topsoil, the topmost layer, where most plant roots, microorganisms, and other animal life are located, and subsoil, which is deeper and often more dense and contains less organic matter.
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Earth & Climate News
November 16, 2025
Nov. 16, 2025 Penn State scientists identified a striking rise in melanoma across several Pennsylvania counties dominated by cropland and herbicide use. The elevated risk persisted even after factoring in sunlight, suggesting an environmental influence beyond the ...
Nov. 15, 2025 Scientists discovered that a week of full submergence is enough to kill most rice plants, making flooding a far greater threat than previously understood. Intensifying extreme rainfall events may amplify these losses unless vulnerable regions adopt ...
Nov. 15, 2025 A new floating droplet electricity generator is redefining how rain can be harvested as a clean power source by using water itself as both structural support and an electrode. This nature-integrated design dramatically reduces weight and cost ...
Nov. 14, 2025 Researchers in Greenland used a 10-kilometer fiber-optic cable to track how iceberg calving stirs up warm seawater. The resulting surface tsunamis and massive hidden underwater waves intensify melting at the glacier face. This powerful mixing effect ...
Nov. 14, 2025 Hektoria Glacier’s sudden eight-kilometer collapse stunned scientists, marking the fastest modern ice retreat ever recorded in Antarctica. Its flat, below-sea-level ice plain allowed huge slabs of ice to detach rapidly once retreat began. Seismic ...
Nov. 13, 2025 Arctic sea ice is disappearing fast, and scientists have turned to an unexpected cosmic clue—space dust—to uncover how ice has changed over tens of thousands of years. By tracking helium-3–bearing dust trapped (or blocked) by ancient ice, ...
Nov. 13, 2025 Researchers discovered that living horsetails act like natural distillation towers, producing bizarre oxygen isotope signatures more extreme than anything previously recorded on Earth—sometimes resembling meteorite water. By tracing these isotopic ...
Nov. 12, 2025 Researchers discovered that continents don’t just split at the surface—they also peel from below, feeding volcanic activity in the oceans. Simulations reveal that slow mantle waves strip continental roots and push them deep into the oceanic ...
Nov. 9, 2025 Researchers from the University of Vienna discovered MISO bacteria that use iron minerals to oxidize toxic sulfide, creating energy and producing sulfate. This biological process reshapes how scientists understand global sulfur and iron cycles. By ...
Nov. 9, 2025 In Death Valley’s relentless heat, Tidestromia oblongifolia doesn’t just survive—it thrives. Michigan State University scientists discovered that the plant can quickly adjust its photosynthetic machinery to endure extreme temperatures that ...
Nov. 9, 2025 Around 9,000 years ago, East Antarctica went through a dramatic meltdown that was anything but isolated. Scientists have discovered that warm deep ocean water surged beneath the region’s floating ice shelves, causing them to collapse and ...
Nov. 8, 2025 Scientists have discovered that deep-sea mining plumes can strip vital nutrition from the ocean’s twilight zone, replacing natural food with nutrient-poor sediment. The resulting “junk food” effect could starve life across entire marine ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Nov. 14, 2025 A massive, well-preserved impact crater has been uncovered in Guangdong, revealing the signature of a powerful meteorite strike during the Holocene. ...
Nov. 8, 2025 A new study shows that the Southern Ocean releases far more carbon dioxide in winter than once thought. By combining laser satellite data with AI analysis, scientists managed to “see” through the ...
Nov. 6, 2025 Researchers warn Antarctica is undergoing abrupt changes that could trigger global consequences. Melting ice, collapsing ice shelves, and disrupted ocean circulation threaten sea levels, ecosystems, ...
Nov. 5, 2025 A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of ...
Nov. 5, 2025 Scientists discovered 6-million-year-old ice in Antarctica, offering the oldest direct record of Earth’s ancient atmosphere and climate. The finding reveals a dramatic cooling trend and promises ...
Nov. 4, 2025 When Surtsey erupted from the sea in 1963, it became a living experiment in how life begins anew. Decades later, scientists discovered that the plants colonizing this young island weren’t carried ...
Nov. 4, 2025 Once considered geologically impossible, earthquakes in stable regions like Utah and Groningen can actually occur due to long-inactive faults that slowly “heal” and strengthen over millions of ...
Nov. 4, 2025 Even with futuristic geoengineering methods like Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, the fate of wine, coffee, and cacao crops remains uncertain. ...
Nov. 4, 2025 Beneath the ocean’s surface, bacteria have evolved specialized enzymes that can digest PET plastic, the material used in bottles and clothes. Researchers at KAUST discovered that a unique molecular ...
Nov. 3, 2025 In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas known as Moctezuma’s pod has developed a chillingly precise technique for hunting young great white sharks — flipping them upside down to paralyze and ...