Chipmunk and vole skulls from over 125 years reflect changes in diet and noise exposure In general, evolution is a long, slow process of tiny changes passed down over generations, resulting in new adaptations and even new species over thousands or millions of years. But when living things are faced with dramatic shifts in the world around them, they sometimes rapidly adapt to better survive. Scientists recently found an example of evolution in real time, tucked away in the collection…

Discovery reveals pulsing mantle plume beneath Ethiopia, where a new ocean is forming Research led by Earth scientists at the University of Southampton has uncovered evidence of rhythmic surges of molten mantle rock rising from deep within the Earth beneath Africa. These pulses are gradually tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, reveal that the Afar region in Ethiopia is underlain by a plume of hot mantle that pulses upward like a…

Research shows these channels allow seawater and nutrients to flow in and out, helping to maintain reef health over millions of years. Volcanic islands, such as the islands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, are surrounded by coral reefs that encircle an island in a labyrinthine, living ring. A coral reef is punctured at points by reef passes — wide channels that cut through the coral and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients to filter in and out. These…

A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute has for the first time gained insights into a current in the Barents Sea which affects Arctic sea ice In the last few decades, the Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe’s Norwegian Sea into the…