Science Now

From extreme wildfires in the Western United States to melting ice sheets in Antarctica, the effects of rising temperatures on Earth have not gone unnoticed.

On Wednesday, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced 2016 was the hottest year on record. Before that, the record was set in 2015. Before that, it was 2014.

It’s official: 2016 was the hottest year on record since scientists began tracking Earth’s temperature more than 100 years ago, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The 1.69-degree jump over the 20th-century average, according to NOAA, marks the third year in a row that global temperatures have reached record-shattering levels.

A blue light affixed to a mouse’s skull flicks on. In less than a second, the rodent charges toward a scuttling plastic bug, grabs the toy and ferociously nibbles at it.

Researchers at Yale University used this blue light to hijack the brains of mice. With the flip of a switch, the indifferent critters are transformed into determined hunters.

In humans, the distance between the brain and heart can be a foot or more. But when it comes to processing such raw emotions as fear and racial prejudice, new research finds the two organs are closer than we may want to believe.

Here’s a social networking site you can find with your nose. Scientists studying the communal pooping areas of white rhinos in South Africa have found that the animals use them like social messaging boards — to leave notes about their status and to read the “posts” of others.

A new forecasting tool will help scientists predict blue whale traffic, as the ocean behemoths make their annual migration.

The tool allows researchers to post online maps showing likely “hot spots” for blue whales that will help ship captains avoid collisions with the animals.