Scientists have discovered a thriving population of Mediterranean earthworms in an urban farm in Dublin, Ireland. Scientists suggest that rising soil temperatures due to climate change may be extending the geographical habitat range of the earthworm Prosellodrilus amplisetosus.

Many of the world’s tropical protected areas are struggling to sustain their biodiversity, according to a study by more than 200 scientists from around the world.

A newfound gene may help bacteria survive in extreme environments. In the days following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, methane-eating bacteria bloomed in the Gulf of Mexico, feasting on the methane that gushed, along with oil, from the damaged well. The sudden influx of microbes was a scientific curiosity: Prior to the oil spill, scientists had observed relatively few signs of methane-eating microbes in the area.

Using new techniques, scientists have developed ultra-high resolution maps of the carbon stocks locked in tropical vegetation for 40 percent of the Colombian Amazon, an area about four times the size of Switzerland. Until now, the inability to accurately quantify carbon stocks at high spatial resolution over large areas has hindered the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program aimed at creating a financial value for storing carbon in tropical forests.

Local weather patterns temporarily influence people’s beliefs about evidence for global warming, according to new research. People living in places experiencing warmer-than-normal temperatures at the time they were surveyed were significantly more likely than others to say there is evidence for global warming.

Researchers could have a new method to rebuild wetlands of the Louisiana delta, thanks to a chance finding during severe flooding of the Mississippi River. Civil engineers and geologists found that when the Bonnet Carre spillway was opened in 2011, a high percentage of the river’s sand load diverted into the spillway – a goal of research work to build up wetlands.