Environment

For decades, Antarctica seemed to defy global warming. Since satellites began monitoring the poles in the late 1970s, the seasonal growth and retreat of Antarctic sea ice—frozen seawater that expands around the continent each winter—appeared remarkably resilient. It was often described as the "heartbeat of the planet."... Read more

Accurate experiments on how ocean warming affects marine life are vital to ensure we can best prepare for the future, protect our food sources, and help safeguard ocean ecosystems. But some of these experiments may miss how species actually respond to rising temperatures. According to a meta-analysis published in the... Read more

Photosynthesis is the oldest carbon-capture technology on Earth. For eons, plants have pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locked carbon—the building block of life on our planet—into their bodies and roots.... Read more

Nearly 4 in 10 packaged food products on Australian supermarket shelves carry a sustainability claim but new research shows many of those claims are vague, unverified, and potentially misleading.... Read more

On the western side of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, sits Myuna Bay, a quiet bay with meadows of seagrass waving beneath the water. The most common marine plant species you find there is Zostera muelleri. It has long ribbon-like leaves that grow from stems (called rhizomes) buried... Read more

On the evening of Aug. 9, 2025, passengers on the Hanse Explorer finished taking selfies and videos of the South Sawyer Glacier, and the ship headed back down the fjord. Twelve hours later, a landslide from the adjacent mountain unexpectedly collapsed into the fjord, initiating the second-highest tsunami in recorded... Read more

A key Atlantic Ocean current system that helps regulate the planet's climate could weaken more than expected by 2100, with potentially devastating consequences worldwide, a new study has found.... Read more

India faces challenging heat waves each year, but few places endure conditions as searing as the country's western desert salt pans, where workers rely on simple techniques to survive almost unbearable temperatures.... Read more

How are cold air masses advancing in the United States connected to fertilizers carried by "flying rivers" from Africa that nourish the soils of the Brazilian Amazon? An article published in Geophysical Research Letters reveals an atmospheric connection between these distant regions.... Read more

We replaced the stove with plywood, turning the kitchen of the dive boat into an impromptu research lab. Plugging in wires and connecting tubing, we assembled a scientific instrument within the cramped cabin. Then we cast off into Halifax Harbor, Canada, surveying the turquoise waters for signs of an unusual... Read more

Seasonal models are predicting an El Niño climate pattern that could be the strongest on record, bringing with it more extreme weather.... Read more

Imagine being tasked with counting every blade of grass in a field, noting every single species as you go. This is not far from the challenge many scientists face when analyzing microscopic samples packed with thousands of tiny particles.... Read more

What's the link between the global economy and the climate? Consumption drives extraction and carbon emissions. But there is more. The inequalities of the global economy don't just shape what goes into the atmosphere. They affect our understanding of the climate and our perspectives when it comes to possible solutions.... Read more

When Cyclone Gabrielle tore through New Zealand's Tairāwhiti region in 2023, it left behind more than silt and floodwaters.... Read more

Antarctica is being ravaged by a triple-whammy of climate chaos that has melted sea ice to record lows, a new study has revealed. For decades, the frozen wilderness at the bottom of the world defied global warming trends, with ice levels actually growing—until 2015 when it suddenly reversed.... Read more