Arctic

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700K-Year-Old Horse Yields World's Oldest DNA

Pushes back their evolution to 4M years ago

(Newser) - Woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and... horses? According to research using the oldest DNA ever found, horses have been trotting around for millions of years—about 4 million, to be exact. The study, published in Nature , explains how scientists used DNA from a 700,000-year-old horse foot bone found in Canada'...

Tourists Rescued From Drifting Arctic Ice Floe

20 people had been adrift for 2 days

(Newser) - Ten tourists and 10 guides were rescued last night after spending almost two days drifting on an ice floe in the Canadian Arctic, LiveScience reports. The group, including two Americans, was on an expedition on Baffin Island in Canada's far north when the chunk of ice they were on...

Mosses Survive Centuries Under Arctic Glaciers

Tough plants regrew after glacier retreated

(Newser) - The Arctic mosses that thrive in some of the world's most inhospitable locations are even tougher than scientists thought. Researchers found that the hardy mosses on Canada's Ellesmere Island managed to survive being crushed under a glacier for centuries, NPR reports. They were amazed to find green sprigs...

Inside Russians' 6mph Road Trip to Canada

Journey took 70 days, passes through North Pole

(Newser) - Talk about a road trip: Russian explorers spent the past two-and-a-half months driving from Russia to Canada via the North Pole. But instead of car bingo and the alphabet game, they passed their time clearing the route with a pickaxe, gazing upon the aurora borealis, and spotting the occasional polar...

'Frankly Nutty' Arctic Adventure Ends in Tragedy

Philip Goodeve-Docker dies just days into trek across ice cap

(Newser) - Three British friends set out on "one of the great polar challenges"—a 400-mile trek across the planet's second largest ice cap—last Thursday. By Saturday, one of them was dead, reports the Telegraph . Philip Goodeve-Docker and his companions planned what Goodeve-Docker referred to as a "...

Shell Drilling Ship Runs Aground off Alaska

Ship is carrying 150K gallons of diesel

(Newser) - Royal Dutch Shell's foray into Arctic offshore drilling has suffered a serious setback after one of its two Alaskan drilling rigs ran aground off a small island while trying to escape a fierce storm. The Kulluk drilling ship grounded last night on rocks off the southeast side of Sitkalidak,...

Arctic Town to Offer Space Flights

Spaceport Sweden wants to launch people like clockwork

(Newser) - A company in a tiny Arctic town plans to launch people into space like clockwork, on two-hour trips four times a day. But a little more work—or even a lot—is required first, AFP reports. The company, Spaceport Sweden , is building a unique vessel that combines a space shuttle...

Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster
 Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster 
Huge study
Nov 30, 2012 7:56 AM CST

Polar Ice Sheets Melting Faster

Process to blame for a fifth of sea-level rise

(Newser) - The most expansive study yet is helping to clarify long-held uncertainties about polar ice. The melting of polar ice sheets has sped up since 1992, raising sea levels 0.43 inches—a fifth of their total rise since then. And while the melting ice sheets accounted for 10% of the...

China Muscles In on Race for Piece of Arctic Pie

Beijing increasingly aggressive as stakes get higher

(Newser) - As Arctic ice continues to melt at a disturbing pace , the "Cold War" in the region is heating up. Global superpowers, excited about the oil, gas, minerals, and shipping lanes that are being made newly available thanks to the melting ice, are vying for position in the region—and...

Uh-Oh, This Winter Might Be Nasty
 Uh-Oh, This Winter 
 Might Be Nasty 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 16, 2012 8:30 AM CDT

Uh-Oh, This Winter Might Be Nasty

Study blames melting Arctic ice

(Newser) - Get your winter coats ready. Thanks to melting Arctic ice , this year's hot summer could be matched by a harsh winter, reports Business Insider , picking up on a study in Nature . Sea ice levels in the late summer appear to be linked to the distribution of high and low...

Record Arctic Melt 'Like Doubling CO2'

Oblivion looms for summer sea ice, expert warns

(Newser) - The accelerating loss of Arctic sea ice is having an effect equivalent to doubling the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the problem in the first place, warns one of the world's leading sea ice experts. The ice reflects sunlight, but as it disappears, the energy is absorbed by...

Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt
 Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt  
Aug 21, 2012 3:16 AM CDT

Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt

It 'just doesn't look like the Arctic Ocean any more'

(Newser) - The amount of sea ice in the Arctic is on course to hit a record low well before the end of melting season, scientists warn. The previous record was set in 2007, but that was a result of a "perfect storm" of conditions, while this year's melt is...

Huge Algae Blooms Found ... Under Arctic?

Discovery stuns scientists who figured it couldn't grow under ice

(Newser) - Scientists studying algae for NASA have discovered it in the most unusual of places: beneath the Arctic ice, reports AFP . What's more, there's a lot of it, defying the conventional belief that it couldn't grow there because there was too little light. The discovery, outlined in the...

The Arctic: The New Cold War?

Militaries vie for advantage as region heats up

(Newser) - To the world's military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes, and a slew of potential conflicts. By...

Xena Actress Arrested After 3 Days on Oil Ship

Lucy Lawless, five other Greenpeace activists busted in New Zealand

(Newser) - Lucy Lawless was arrested today in New Zealand along with five other Greenpeace members, three days after they boarded an oil-drilling ship that had been contracted by Shell. Lawless, aka Xena: Warrior Princess, occupied the vessel to protest its plan to do exploratory drilling off Alaska. "This chapter has...

32K-Year-Old Plant Brought Back to Life

Arctic plant found by Russian scientists may be oldest ever revived

(Newser) - A flower that last bloomed when saber-toothed cats roamed the Earth is once again alive and growing. Russian scientists say they've dug up remnants of a 32,000-year-old plant from Siberia's frozen wasteland and successfully cloned 36 more of them from its fruit tissue, the New York Times...

Freshwater 'Bulge' Spotted in Arctic

If bulge 'breaks,' colder currents could hit Europe

(Newser) - Scientists have detected an enormous freshwater "bulge" in the Arctic Ocean. The bulge measures nearly 2,000 cubic miles and has risen some six inches in the last nine years. Researchers speculate that the bulge is the result of strong winds whipping up a clockwise current, raising the water...

Queen's Cousin: I Cut Off My Toes on Arctic Trip

Rosie Stancer recounts horrific surgery on Antiques Roadshow

(Newser) - A distant cousin of the queen of England visited Antiques Road Show recently and revealed a personal anecdote—that she had cut off her own toes on an Arctic expedition, the Daily Mail reports. Rosie Stancer, 52, said she was trying to be the first woman to trek to the...

Polar Bear Cannibalism May Be Rising

Bears now seen eating cubs on sea ice

(Newser) - Male polar bears have long been known to prey on cubs and even females, but bear cannibalism is more widespread than earlier thought, and may be on the increase because of climate change, researchers warn. Most previous sightings of bear eating bear involved animals on shore late in the year,...

Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low
 Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low 
Sep 7, 2011 6:22 AM CDT

Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low

Ice area last year tied 2007 for lowest since measuring begin in 1979

(Newser) - A set of dubious honors for the volume of ice covering the Arctic: It hit a record low in 2010, according to researchers, breaking the 2007 record—and those same scientists say this year may be a record-breaking one, too, reports the Alaska Dispatch . Since researchers began measuring Arctic ice...

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