Mineral deposits in limestone caves show that the now arid interior of Saudi Arabia repeatedly experienced increased rainfall over the last eight million years. An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz supported by the Saudi Heritage Commission, Ministry of Culture, reconstructed the climate of the Saharo-Arabian Desert using isotope analysis of stalagmites. They conclude that the vast desert belt between Africa and Eurasia was not always an impermeable barrier for humans and animals.

Locals at Lake Siljan in northern Sweden have told of persistent winter ice holes that often occur in the same place year after year. Now, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have examined the area with a completely new measurement method and discovered unexpectedly strong methane emissions from several places on the lakes in the area – which is the cause of the holes in the ice.

This type of long-term and concentrated methane emission has never been observed by a lake, and the researchers will now investigate whether the emissions are unique to Siljan – or a phenomenon that can occur in lakes all over the world.

Utah's locally sourced dust pollution carries far more hazardous elements than natural dust blown in from Great Basin, potentially threatening Salt Lake City’ water supplies, according to new research led by University of Utah.