Carolyn Gramling

Washington, D.C.

Earth and Climate Writer at Science News

Writer at Science News. I write about geology and climate and oceanography and paleontology and I like Tom Weller (pic).

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Articles

Sloths once came in a dizzying array of sizes. Here’s why

2 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

The sloth family tree once sported a dizzying array of branches, body sizes and lifestyles, from small and limber tree climbers to lumbering bear-sized landlubbers. Why sloth body size was once so diverse, while today’s sloths are limited to just two diminutive tree-dwellers, has been a long-standing question.
Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost

2 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Penguins’ poop may be making Antarctica cloudier — and helping mitigate the regional impacts of climate change. Gases emitted from the birds’ guano are supplying key chemical ingredients to form the seeds of clouds — the tiny particles that clouds coalesce around, researchers report May 22 in Communications Earth & Environment. What penguin guano primarily contributes to the equation is ammonia.
This exquisite Archaeopteryx fossil reveals how flight took off in birds

3 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

An exceptionally preserved specimen of the ancient bird Archaeopteryx offers the most detailed window yet into the evolution of flight, researchers report online May 14 in Nature. The remarkable preservation of the specimen — the 14th Archaeopteryx ever unearthed — means that researchers can study aspects of the ancient bird that were previously difficult to discern, from the anatomy of its skull to the arrangement of its feathers to the soft tissues on its hands and feet.
Could Spinosaurus swim? That would make it a game changer

1 month ago | snexplores.org | Carolyn Gramling

Scene: A patrol boat cruises through the water, just off a Caribbean island. Cue the pounding drums — a movie-trailer signal that danger approaches. Enter Spinosaurus. Three large, spiny sails slice through the deep blue sea and begin to circle the boat. The water roils. A worried passenger wonders what they are. Cut to another passenger who clings to the boat as it lurches. Suddenly, a spiny-sailed terror surges from the ocean, jaws snapping.
Losing a key U.S. climate report would hurt future disaster prep

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

This year may already be on track to be the second hottest on record, after 2024. Floods and tornadoes are wracking wide swathes of the United States. And more wild weather is expected to be on the horizon. But the federal government’s ability — and long-standing charge — to warn the nation about the future impacts of climate change is in jeopardy.
Wetland bacteria could make more methane in a warming world

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Warming temperatures may cause methane emissions from wetlands to rise — by helping methane-producing bacteria thrive. Higher temperatures favor the activity of wetland soil microbes that produce the potent greenhouse gas, at the expense of other microbes that can consume it, researchers report April 23 in Science Advances.
Earth’s landmasses lost trillions of tons of water this century

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Earth’s landmasses are holding onto a lot less water than they used to — and this loss is not just due to melting ice sheets. Terrestrial water storage, which includes water in underground aquifers, lakes, rivers and the tiny pore spaces within soil, declined by trillions of metric tons in the early 21st century, researchers report in the March 28 Science.
Could Spinosaurus swim? The fierce dinosaur ignites debate

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Scene: A small patrol boat cruises through the water, just offshore of an island somewhere in the Caribbean. Cue the pounding drums, movie-trailer speak for danger approaching. Enter: Spinosaurus. Three large spiny sails slice through the cerulean sea and begin to circle the boat. The water roils. “What the hell are those!?” a passenger asks with trepidation. Cut to: Another passenger clinging precariously to the rigging as the boat lists.
Scotland’s Isle of Skye was once a dinosaur promenade

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye was once a bustling dinosaur thoroughfare. A newly discovered set of at least 131 fossilized footprints dating to between 170 million and 166 million years ago reveals that both long-necked sauropods and carnivorous theropods splashed through the shallow waters of what was then a balmy, subtropical lagoon, imprinting their tracks onto the soft sands.
Solar geoengineering moves into the spotlight as climate concerns grow

2 months ago | sciencenews.org | Carolyn Gramling

Earth’s average temperature is continuing to tick inexorably upward as the world’s nations stall at reducing their atmosphere-warming emissions. In the face of that grim future, strategies to try to turn down the planet’s thermostat are gaining traction. One strategy in particular — solar geoengineering, which aims to cool the planet by reflecting solar radiation back into space — may be having a moment in the sun.