Osedax worms, or the 'bone eating' worms are little soft sacks resembling snotty little flowers. The "bone devourer" is now quite accurate as the worms do not actually feed on the bone mineral, but rather the fats within the bone matrix.   It just the Osedax females that do the feeding ... and have no mouth, anus, or gut. The females extend roots into the bones to tap the fats within.  With roots to delve into the bone, a trunk of main body, and a crown of reparatory organs extending from the trunk, the flower moniker is appropriate.  Perhaps that's why one of the first named species got the Latin name of Osedax mucofloris, literally bone-devouring, mucus flower. The males? Female Osedax worms have harems of dwarf males, up to 114 in one species, that inhabit her trunk.  

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Maxine Bédat advocates for improved transparency and sustainability goals within the apparel industry....

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Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The April 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting. The lo...

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The worlds of our Solar System run the gamut of temperatures. Here are some of the hottest and coldest places we know of....

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We continue our theme of the Greenhouse effect with 'Is the greenhouse effect happening outside today? A classroom discussion to consolidate understanding about the greenhouse effect'.

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The best way to achieve environmental sustainability is to develop a circular economy with services and products that have the least possible impact on the environment. Attacking consumption is futile and a waste of effort....

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It may sound tongue-in-cheek, but after my 24-day journey Around the World on a private jet, a mere 13-day trip to Antarctica meant a lot less packing and unpacking and staying the same cabin every night. Yes, I flew all the way to Tierra del Fuego and back to Flagstaff without ever having to unpack in a single hotel room - my flight connections were that tight. This trip marked my 31st journey to 'The Ice' and it was one of my best! Have a look.

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I've decided to rename the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I now think a better name is the Agency for Fertility and Population Decline. I say this after reports that the EPA is thinking about adding even more chlormeq...

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Steffen Glacier is the largest south flowing outlet of the 4000 km2 Northern Patagonia Icefield (NPI). Several key research papers have reported on the spectacular retreat of this glacier in recent years.  Glasser et al (2016) reported that Steffen Glacier proglacial lake area expanded from  12.1 km2 to 20.6 km2 from 1987 to 2015, due in part to a 100 m snowline rise. Dussaillant et al (2018) determined annual mass loss of NPI at ~-1 m/year for the 2000-2012 period, with Steffen Glacier at -1.2-1.6 m/year. The result Steffen Glacier retreat from 1987-2019 was 4.4 km, ~137 m/year (Pelto, 2019).

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In Part I of this post, I introduced the recent (April 5) New Jersey earthquake felt here in the Hudson Valley. In Part II, I talked a little about the geologic setting. Let's now finish up by discussing the Ramapo Fault.

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Olivia Colton reflects on her experience in the military and how it connects with her education in environmental conservation....

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On 4 April 2024, AGU sent a letter of endorsement to leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate for the National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024.   On behalf of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and our global community of more than half a million?Earth and space scientists and allies,?I am writing to thank you for introducing H.R.7003, the National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of ...

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On the desolate Antarctic peninsula, a colony of penguins creates a hub of biodiversity. One may ask, how exactly do those aquatic birds help maintain and enrich the variety of different kinds of organisms from plants and animals, to a wide range of insects and micro-organisms that live on our planet?

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The latest news on missions to search for ice and water beneath planetary surfaces....

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Clarisa Marambio, a soon-to-be graduate of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program, discusses her upbringing in Chile and how her two older sisters helped shape her interest in sustainability....

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It has been a while since we've had a giant explosive volcanic eruption, but Ruang off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi appears to have changed that....

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AWG Mid-Career Excellence Award Nomination Information

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On a ranch in the Texas hill country, members of The Planetary Society gathered to marvel at the 2024 total solar eclipse as a community....

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When stars explode, supernova-style, the explosion sets off streams of high energy particles across the universe, mainly protons and alpha particles, that after millions of years reach us here on Earth. Secondary cosmic rays pass through our bodies and almost everything around us, and they penetrate a few meters into the ground where they interact with atoms in soil and rock. This produces new isotopes called cosmogenic nuclides, in tiny but measurable quantities.

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You know what your hump day needs? Some absolute stunning photos of deep-sea animals. Look at this one. Look at that one. You gotta get yourself some of these deep-sea animals.

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Geologists are combing the New Jersey countryside for signs of earthquakes past and present....

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Each year, we honor Earth Day by sharing some amazing photos celebrating the beauty and magic of our planet from our campuses to the far corners of the world as captured by the Columbia community....

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In July 2021, the Benelux area, Germany, and France experienced heavy rainfall followed by mass flooding, causing widespread damage. Along the vast quantities of plastic swept along the riverbanks, Rahel Hauk, a researcher from Wageningen University, conducted fieldwork to assess the impact of the flood event on plastic deposition. Amidst the debris, Hauk and her colleagues noticed a large volume of specific plastic butter tubs. She noted them separately and over the following two years asked citizen scientists from the Schone Rivieren project who contribute to plastic deposition monitoring to do the same. Two years later, the extra data offered new insight into understanding plastic transport in rivers; a field that, particularly during floods, presents many unknowns.

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Laundry is the biggest source of microplastic fibers in our waterways. These Columbia researchers are working on a solution....

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The EGU General Assembly provides ground for formal presentations and sessions conveying a body of knowledge. However, science is so much more. It is a social process driven by shared values, such as openness and integrity, and established customs, like peer review. As such, working in science is inherently a collaborative effort, and the EGU supports that by giving participants plenty of opportunities to connect and interact with the diverse community. But how to make the most of it?

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