Environment

Animals

Power lines may mess with honeybees’ behavior and ability to learn

Under power lines, honeybees might suffer neurological effects from exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Ecosystems

Can forensics help keep endangered rosewood off the black market?

Timber traffickers are plundering the world’s forests, but conservationists have a new set of tools to fight deforestation.

Life

Michelle O’Malley seeks greener chemistry through elusive fungi

Michelle O’Malley studies anaerobic gut fungi, microbes that could help make chemicals and fuels from sustainable sources.

Climate

How climate change is already altering oceans and ice, and what’s to come

A new IPCC report gives the lowdown on how climate change is already wreaking havoc on Earth’s oceans and frozen regions, and how much worse things could get.

Agriculture

Birds fed a common pesticide lost weight rapidly and had migration delays

Scientists have previously implicated neonicotinoid pesticides in declining bee populations. Now a study suggests that songbirds are affected, too.

Earth

Brazil’s Amazon has burned this badly before. This year’s fires are still bad

An environmental scientist discusses possible impacts from the thousands of fires burning across the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.

Earth

Decades of dumping acid suggest acid rain may make trees thirstier

Acidified soil loses calcium, which can affect trees’ ability to hang on to water.

Tech

Tiny magnetic coils could help break down microplastic pollution

Carbon nanotubes designed to release plastic-eroding chemicals could clear the long-lasting trash from waterways.

Particle Physics

How a 2017 radioactive plume may be tied to Russia and nixed neutrino research

A botched attempt at producing radioactive material needed for a neutrino experiment may have released ruthenium-106 to the atmosphere in 2017.

Tech

This solar-powered device produces energy and cleans water at the same time

Someday, the two-for-one machine could help curb electricity and freshwater shortages.

Oceans

The world’s fisheries are incredibly intertwined, thanks to baby fish

A computer simulation reveals how one nation's management of its fish spawning grounds could significantly help or hurt another country's catch.

Chemistry

How seafood shells could help solve the plastic waste problem

Chitin and chitosan from crustacean shells could put a dent in the world’s plastic waste problem.