Science Daily

• Scientists find water was fueling volcanoes 3 billion years ago

  Ancient rocks from Western Australia suggest water was reaching deep inside Earth more than three billion years ago, long before modern plate tectonics may have fully developed. Researchers propose that water-rich pieces of crust periodically sank into the mantle through a process they call “dripduction.” The buried water then helped produce magma and volcanic eruptions.

• Wasps are disappearing this summer, and scientists are worried

  Britain’s wasps have become mysteriously scarce this summer, and scientists suspect an unusual combination of temperature swings, heatwaves, and food shortages may be responsible. Even the wasps that remain appear unusually small, potentially offering a glimpse of how extreme heat could reshape insect populations.

• The secret to longer life may be hidden in bat DNA

  Long-lived bats appear to combine powerful immune defenses with unusual strategies for eliminating damaged cells, potentially helping them avoid cancer and disease for decades. Researchers hope these genetic tricks could eventually reveal new ways to protect human health during aging.

• 66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived the asteroid

  A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The extinct bird it came from had more primitive insulating feathers, suggesting superior plumage may have helped the ancestors of living birds endure the deadly impact winter.

• UNESCO warns there’s close to a 100% chance of a Mediterranean tsunami

  The Mediterranean may seem far removed from the world’s major tsunami zones, but history and modern modeling show that destructive waves can strike the French Riviera with surprisingly little warning. Some tsunamis could reach shore in under 10 minutes, while past events have produced waves around two meters high, powerful currents, damage, and deaths.