All articles tagged with #sciencenature
After 20 years of waiting, Shruti Thaker finally witnessed the Aurora Borealis from her balcony in Milwaukee due to a rare geomagnetic storm. The northern lights are expected to become more frequent and intense as the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, providing more opportunities for sightings in the coming years. Solar storms can impact Earth's infrastructure, but no significant damage was reported from the recent event.
A sexually transmitted fungus called Massospora cicadina is expected to infect millions of cicadas in the US, causing them to exhibit hyper-sexual behavior and spread the infection as they emerge from the ground. The fungus takes over the insects' bodies, causing their genitals to fall off and making males pose as females to pass on the infection through sex. While less than 5% of the trillion cicadas expected to emerge will likely be infected, scientists are concerned about the potential impact on other wildlife that consume the infected bugs.