Warmer world

Recent heat waves, long dry spells and heavy bursts of rain and snow hint at longer-term changes to come, according to a new study based on several advanced climate models. Much of the world will face an enhanced risk of heat waves, intense precipitation, and other weather extremes, conclude scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Texas Tech University, and Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre. The new study is due to appear in the December issue of the journal Climatic change.

Strange bacteria

A Princeton-led research group has discovered an isolated community of bacteria over three kilometres underground that derives all of its energy from the decay of radioactive rocks rather than from sunlight. The bacterial community, which thrives in nutrient-rich groundwater found near a South African gold mine, represents the first group of microbes known to depend exclusively on geologically produced hydrogen and sulphur compounds for nourishment. The finding, published in the journal Science, suggests life might exist in similarly extreme conditions even on other worlds.

Atomic clock

A team of researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno, has been able to isolate and explain a significant portion of the error in atomic clock output. The portion of error that the team studied has now been cut to one-fiftieth of its original size, according to the journal Physical Review Letters. The improved technology might even be accurate enough to provide evidence related to the controversial theory that universal constants are changing.