Environment
A fire’s rumble reveals where it’s burning
Researchers tracked a prescribed grassland fire using infrasound, sound waves pitched too low for people to hear.
Environment
More Stories in Environment
- Microbes
New science on algae die-offs is too late for the Reflecting Pool
Iron and hydrogen peroxide trigger cell death via ferroptosis, which cascades killer molecules through the population, causing mass die-offs of algae.
- Archaeology
Ötzi the Iceman’s remains yielded ‘viable’ yeasts in the lab
The cold-loving yeasts from Ötzi’s remains suggest the Iceman’s microbiome may not be completely frozen in time.
- Earth
The crust under Africa is thinning in a way that hasn’t been seen before
Africa’s Turkana Rift Zone, a hotbed of hominin fossils, is caught in the act of “necking," a critical transition toward continental breakup.
- Environment
Hawaii is turning ocean plastic into roads to fight pollution
The ocean plastic that washes up on Hawaii’s beaches is recycled into asphalt to pave roads. The roads are then tested for microplastic pollution.
- Climate
Extreme heat is cutting the time people can safely be active outdoors
Heat and humidity now severely limit light physical activity for millions of people around the world, with older adults facing the greatest burden.
- Climate
Lakes are growing in Alaska. That’s not entirely a bad thing
Alaska’s glacial lakes are growing as glaciers retreat out of basins. These lakes will change desolate glacial rivers into thriving salmon habitat.
- Oceans
Combining western science with Indigenous knowledge could help the Arctic
Polar marine ecologist Marianne Falardeau investigates how Arctic ecosystems are shifting under climate change.
- Plants
A special shape shift helps a shrub thrive in blistering heat
A microscope reveals an algae-like adaptation that might future-proof crop photosynthesis in extreme heat.
- Environment
How a Yurok family played a key role in the world’s largest dam removal project
In The Water Remembers, Amy Bowers Cordalis shares her family’s account of the Indigenous-led fight to restore the Klamath River in the Pacific Northwest.
