In climate news, a major new study published in the journal Science finds the world’s oceans are absorbing heat at a far faster rate than previously predicted—a finding with troubling implications for the future of life on Earth. The study found greenhouse gas emissions are warming the oceans 40 percent faster than even the dire predictions made by the U.N.’s top climate scientists five years ago. The authors write, “This warming has contributed to increases in rainfall intensity, rising sea levels, the destruction of coral reefs, declining ocean oxygen levels, and declines in ice sheets; glaciers; and ice caps in the polar regions.”