New Scientist - Earth

1. Huge earthquake shook Seattle 1100 years ago and it could happen again
   Analysis of tree rings shows that two faults near Seattle, Washington ruptured at the same time or soon after each other more than 1000 years ago – a repeat today would cause a major disaster in the region
2. Nearly all mammals will go extinct in 250 million years as Earth warms
   If humans still exist millions of years from now, they will face inhospitably warm conditions on a supercontinent centred at the equator. Most land mammals won't be able to survive
3. Rare Australian pink diamonds emerged when a supercontinent broke up
   Understanding how the world’s largest-known collection of pink diamonds came to the surface in Australia around 1.3 billion years ago could help us find hidden deposits elsewhere in the world
4. NASA’s UFO task force has released its final report – it’s not aliens
   An independent task force formed by NASA to look into unidentified anomalous phenomena found no evidence of alien craft, and suggests that if we want to find proof of visitors we need better data
5. Tonga volcano unleashed underwater flows that reshaped the seafloor
   The destruction of telecommunications cables during the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano in 2022 shows that underwater debris currents can travel at 122 kilometres per hour
6. Sea level may have been higher than it is now just 6000 years ago
   Climate researchers thought that current global average sea levels were the highest in more than 100,000 years, but new models suggest oceans just 6000 years ago may have been higher than at the beginning of the industrial revolution, and possibly even higher than today
7. Earth is coated in ancient space dust that could be from the moon
   A 33-million-year-old layer of Earth's crust is laced with helium-3, which is normally only found in space. Now we might have an explanation for how it got there
8. GPS could predict earthquakes two hours ahead, but there's a catch
   An analysis of GPS data has revealed a slow and otherwise undetectable slip of tectonic plates that begins two hours before an earthquake - but detecting this in advance would require more accurate sensors
9. Stunning image of erupting volcano reminds us of Earth’s violent past
   This photo of Tungurahua, a volcano exploding in the Ecuadorian night, comes from an illustrated book to accompany a TV series about Earth’s deep history
10. Canadian lake selected as site to mark the start of the Anthropocene
    Geologists hoping to declare a new epoch dominated by humanity’s influence on Earth have chosen Crawford Lake in Canada as the location where the start of the Anthropocene is defined