7 Newly Discovered Facts About the Earth

A "listicle"-style post by Brad Plumer commemorates the 45th occasion of Earth Day by noting seven of "the most surprising, encouraging, and worrisome things we've learned since the last Earth Day about the only planet where life is known to exist."

The list includes:

• A mapping program run through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego announced that they'd found 15,000 new seamounts as thet used satellite measurements and gravity modeling " to publish the most detailed maps ever of the ocean floor."
• "A major study by the World Wildlife Fund estimated that the overall number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish has declined 52 percent between 1970 and 2010 — far more than anyone realized."
• According to Plumer, "in July 2014, we learned that there are at least five of these floating garbage patches around the world." In addition, a 2015 study in Science calculated that between 5 and 13 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year.
• As a final point, Plumer also details the ongoing debate about the commencement of the Anthropocene era. Was it 1610, when residents of the Old World began quickly colonizing and altering the human and natural landscapes of the New World, or was it 7,000 years ago when humans first began clearing forests for agriculture?