Environment

  1. buildings of Lyon, France under a cloudy sky
    Environment

    Underground heat pollution could be tapped to mitigate climate change

    Data from thousands of groundwater well sites in Europe reveal that more than half of the locations possess usable underground heat.

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  2. Flood after Hurricane Sandy
    Science & Society

    In the battle of human vs. water, ‘Water Always Wins’

    In her new book, environmental journalist Erica Gies follows people who are looking for better solutions to extreme droughts and floods.

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  3. photo of a bumblebee on a coneflower
    Environment

    Flower shape and size impact bees’ chances of catching gut parasites

    Bumblebees have higher chances of contracting a gut parasite from short, wide flowers than from blooms with other shapes, experiments show.

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  4. photo of an ice stupa fountain in India’s Ladakh region
    Environment

    How to build better ice towers for drinking water and irrigation

    “Ice stupas” emerged in 2014 as a way to cope with climate change shrinking glaciers. Automation could help improve the cones’ construction.

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  5. image of 430-million-year-old fossil of the fungus Prototaxites
    Environment

    Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago

    430-million-year-old fossilized charcoal suggests atmospheric oxygen levels of at least 16 percent, the amount needed for fire to take hold and spread.

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  6. An outdoor view of an apparatus that removes chemicals from the public water supply. Two men in hardhats look on.
    Ecosystems

    Just 3 ingredients can quickly destroy widely used PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

    Ultraviolet light, sulfite and iodide break down enduring PFAS molecules faster and more thoroughly than other UV-based methods.

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  7. image of the ground around succulent plants in South Africa showing lichens and cyanobacteria
    Ecosystems

    Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent

    Lichens and other microbes construct biological soil crusts that concentrate nutrients and slash global dust emissions.

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  8. Mussels on dinner plate
    Agriculture

    These six foods may become more popular as the planet warms

    Millet, kelp, Bambara groundnut and cassava are resilient, sustainable and nutrient dense — good options for future dinner plates.

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  9. cows grazing on a patch of cleared rainforest
    Climate

    Replacing some meat with microbial protein could help fight climate change

    Just a 20 percent substitution could cut deforestation rates and land-use CO2 emissions by more than half by 2050, a new study suggests.

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  10. Manila, Philippines
    Climate

    Coastal cities around the globe are sinking

    Of 99 coastal cities, nearly one-third are sinking in some places at more than a centimeter per year, making them more vulnerable to rising seas.

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  11. photo of a tractor tilling a field
    Agriculture

    More than 57 billion tons of soil have eroded in the U.S. Midwest

    Researchers discovered startling soil erosion rates in the Midwest. Farming has worsened erosion, but no-till practices and cover crops can help.

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  12. aerial photo of floating solar panels on a lake in Haltern, Germany
    Climate

    A UN report says stopping climate change is possible but action is needed now

    We already have a broad array of tools to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, a new report finds. Now we just have to use them.

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