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Hottest ever March

March 2016 has been the warmest on record, continuing monthly records set by January and February this year. The record for the warmest year may also fall in 2016, according to early estimates, beating 2015, which in turn broke 2014’s record.

A new Dawn

NASA’s Dawn probe is the first ever spacecraft to visit two asteroids, Vesta and Ceres, and now it may fly to another destination. It’s mission at Ceres is set to end this summer, but the mission team has sent a proposal to NASA for an extension to explore a third asteroid, although which one remains a secret.

Coal goes bankrupt

The decline of the global coal industry claimed its biggest victim last week when US giant Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, filed for bankruptcy. The coal boom of the early century is turning to bust as China burns less and renewables slowly take over new investment.

Greenland melts early

Spring has begun with an unprecedented early melt of land ice on Greenland. Temperatures soaring above 10 °C caused more than a tenth of the island’s vast ice sheet to start melting last week — a month before significant melt usually begins.

Social trips

Psilocybin – a key hallucinogen in magic mushrooms – helps people cope with being socially excluded. When playing a game that led to the volunteer being left out, those given psilocybin said they felt less excluded – and showed less activity in brain regions associated with social cognition – than those given a placebo (PNAS, ). Similar compounds could be developed for people with mental health disorders, for whom social ties are vital, says the study’s team.