The newly discovered mechanism triggering the blooming of countless microscopic plant plankton, or phytoplankton, in the North Atlantic helps explain the timing of the spring and summer bloom, known to mariners and fishers for centuries and clearly visible in satellite images.
The world has seen seven global cholera outbreaks since 1817, and the current one seems to have come to stay. Rising temperatures and a stubbornly persistent, toxic bacteria strain appear to have given the disease the upper hand.