Environment

Reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered an explosion during a technical test on April 26, 1986. As a result of the accident, in the then Soviet Union, more than 400 times more radiation was emitted than that released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan) in 1945. It remains the

The news this week was shocking: Earth’s atmosphere hit a catastrophic new peak of carbon pollution. But one company wasn’t shocked. It saw this dark future coming a long time ago. As far back as 1982 – 37 years ago – scientists working for oil and gas giant Exxon expertly predicted the shape of climate

Ninety-six million. That’s how many black plastic ‘shade balls’ it takes to cover the Los Angeles reservoir. Why, you ask? Well, despite what has often been reported as the main purpose of these balls, the idea didn’t actually start with just protecting the reservoir from evaporation. In a new episode from Veritasium, Derek Muller investigates the story behind

What happened to Hiroshima? Everybody thinks they know the answer, and yet, strangely, nobody does. History tells us Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb deployed in war on 6 August 1945. But what happened to the actual city when it was consumed in its awful, unforgettable fire? Where did Hiroshima go? We might

Bill Nye frolicked in a ball pit to explain how the planet’s populations compete for resources. He took a chain saw to a loaf of bread, comparing it to Earth’s crust, and he was nearly blown away in a wind tunnel while shouting “science!” But he’s talking about global warming now – and he’s in

Yet another alarming milestone of humanity’s damaging effect on the environment has now officially been reached – crossing a barrier into a hot, polluted future like the planet hasn’t witnessed in millions of years. This weekend, sensors in Hawaii recorded Earth’s atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) passing 415 parts per million (ppm) for the

If you want to know how far radioactive particles can travel, here’s the answer: all the way to the Mariana Trench, which at 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) is the deepest natural trench in the world. A new study shows that radioactive carbon from Cold War nuclear bomb tests is still present in the crustaceans living

As the content of Earth’s atmosphere changes over time, the course of animal evolution itself might change. An international team of researchers now thinks that swinging oxygen levels somehow orchestrated the boom and bust of our planet’s fauna, like the conductor of a living symphony. For the first time, their research has linked the rapid

Torrential rains that have brought flooding to regions across Romania are also highlighting the horrifying human impact on the planet. A video posted to Facebook shows a literal river of garbage surging downstream in the commune of Micești in Argeș County. It’s hard not to gasp in dismay at a frankly shocking amount of plastic

The pattern of El Niño has changed dramatically in recent years, according to the first seasonal record distinguishing different types of El Niño events over the last 400 years. A new category of El Niño has become far more prevalent in the last few decades than at any time in the past four centuries. Over

British power plants have broken a new record for the longest continuous coal-free streak since the distant era of the Industrial Revolution. At time of writing, it’s been over six days (and counting) since the UK relied upon coal-burning for electricity generation: establishing a modern record of 159+ continuous hours without coal, eclipsing a previous-best

Whenever I visit the Sahara I am struck by how sunny and hot it is and how clear the sky can be. Aside from a few oases there is little vegetation, and most of the world’s largest desert is covered with rocks, sand and sand dunes. The Saharan sun is powerful enough to provide Earth

One million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival, according to a United Nations report released Monday. The landmark report by seven lead co-authors from universities across the world goes further than previous studies by directly linking the loss of species to human activity. It also

Scientists have identified what they say could be the first evidence of a tectonic plate peeling into two separate layers under the ocean. This epic but still hypothetical division phenomenon – to the extent we can detect it in computer modelling – could be responsible for the birth of a new subduction zone, where one

An ever-growing body of evidence suggests the planet may be in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. The phrase “mass extinction” typically conjures up images of the asteroid crash that led to the twilight of the dinosaurs. But another devastating (though perhaps less obvious) extinction event appears to be taking place today. The trend is

In the early 1970s, when satellites first began snapping photos of Earth, scientists noticed a mysterious hole in one of Antarctica’s seasonal ice packs, floating on the Lazarev Sea. Come summertime the gap had disappeared, and for decades the strange event went unexplained. Then, a year and a half ago, during the continent’s coldest winter months, when

Most of us know the Great Barrier Reef is facing a major crisis. A rapidly warming planet and a series of disastrous bleaching events have left this natural wonder a mere skeleton of its former self, with half the coral it contains already dead. What many do not know, is that running parallel to the

We humans have been impacting our environment for longer than you might think: new NASA research shows human influence on drought can be traced as far back as the start of the 20th century, and continues to get stronger over time. Looking at data from soil, tree rings and climate models, researchers suggest the impact

The push away from needless plastic use is a noble and necessary one, but new research casts doubt over just how environmentally friendly some forms of biodegradable plastic actually are. Researchers found that bags labelled biodegradable and compostable were still able to carry a full load of shopping after being left to degrade in the

It may soon be legal for the dead to push daisies, or any other flower, in backyard gardens across Washington state. The state legislature recently passed a bill that, if signed by the governor, allows human bodies to be composted – and used for mulch. As the nation ages, US funeral practices are changing. Rates

The oceans hide all kinds of secrets and unknowns in the deep – like the 195,728 viruses that scientists just found lurking underwater, during the course of a pole-to-pole expedition carried out to survey marine life. The researchers say the vast majority have never been seen before.  Prior to this, we only definitively knew about

We now know what it looks like when a spacecraft lobs a bomb at an asteroid. Earlier in April, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) directed its Hayabusa2 spacecraft to toss an explosive at the Ryugu asteroid from about 1,640 feet (500 meters) above its surface. Now, JAXA has released a video of the launch

In 2015, NASA revealed that Earth’s oceans are rising faster than expected, and the space agency projected that we’re now “locked in” to at least 90 cm of sea level rise in the coming decades. That in itself would be enough to displace millions of people around the world, but if this trend continues and

Greenland, home to the Earth’s second largest ice sheet, has lost ice at an accelerating pace in the past several decades – a nearly sixfold increase that could contribute to future sea level rise, according to a new study based on nearly a half century of data. The findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of

Bryan Thomas doesn’t want any more “wishy-washy conversations about climate change.” For four years, he has served as station chief of the Barrow Atmospheric Baseline Observatory, America’s northernmost scientific outpost in its fastest-warming state. Each morning, after digging through snow to his office’s front door, Thomas checks the preliminary number on the observatory’s carbon dioxide monitor.

The Pacific Ocean off the California coast is mixed up, and so are many of the animals that live there. The violet, thumbnail-size snails washing up here in Horseshoe Cove have never been seen this far north. By-the-wind sailors, a tiny relative of warm-water jellyfish, sprinkle the tideline by the dozen. And in the tide

There’s more to the wind than meets the eye. As it whips around the world, this invisible force can carry dangerous passengers to some of the most untouched regions, including dust particles, microbes, and maybe even plastic. A small pilot study now suggests that tiny fragments of this synthetic material are raining down in some

The Sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), the most comprehensive environmental assessment produced by the UN in five years, brought us both good and bad news. The environment has continued to deteriorate since the first GEO-6 report in 1997, with potentially irreversible impacts if not effectively addressed. But pathways to significant change do exist, and a

Interest is surging in tiny homes – livable dwelling units that typically measure under 400 square feet (37 square meters). Much of this interest is driven by media coverage that claims that living in tiny homes is good for the planet. It may seem intuitively obvious that downsizing to a tiny home would reduce one’s

As we continue to see warming glaciers collapse and melt into the ocean, we’re potentially looking at a ticking time bomb of buried nuclear material, according to new research. Scientists have analysed 17 glacier sites and found fallout radionuclides (FRNs) trapped within ice surface sediment called cryoconite at all of them – covering the Arctic,

Things are not looking good for Earth’s glaciers. Usually, when it comes to climate change and melting ice, we think of the Earth’s polar regions. But they’re not the only important ice formations, and they’re not the only ice that’s melting due to climate change. New research published on 8 April 2019 shows that the

Lately, the Weather Channel has been splashing out on some seriously disturbing graphics, and the channel’s most recent immersion experience is absolutely brimming with disaster. The roughly two-minute-long, mixed-reality segment takes viewers on a journey to the year 2100, when the streets of Charleston, South Carolina are perennially flooded, rendering parts of the city uninhabitable.

There are a lot of different ways to look at our planet’s warming climate – such as more extreme weather events, increasing levels of vegetation in the Arctic, and even shifting seasons. Now we just got a new metric showing the severity of the situation. A group of scientists have came together to discuss what

When it comes to the weather systems controlling rain and shine across the planet, nothing happens in isolation – everything plays into everything else. Now, for the first time, scientists have explained how volcanic eruptions can influence the formation of hurricanes. Investigating this mechanism has been tricky until now, because in the age of sophisticated

President Donald Trump of the United States of America has made quite the interesting claim. At the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner earlier this week, he took a tilt at windmills. “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value,” he said. “And they

It could be a landscape on an alien world. Strange optical effects and dazzling mineral formations bloom on the edge of water so hot it would be steam if not for the pressure of all that deep ocean above it. Researchers on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor recently captured some amazing snapshots

Denali National Park in Alaska is home to North America’s highest peak, attracting long queues of humans who are keen to commune with nature.  Unfortunately, nature’s call doesn’t always align with convenient amenities, and decades of toilet breaks have added up. Now hiking companies are making it their business to fix the peak’s poo problem.

Alaska just finished one of its most unusually warm Marches ever recorded. In its northern reaches, the March warmth was unprecedented. Part of a rapid and troubling warming across the Arctic, the month concluded feverishly in the northern part of the state, with widespread temperatures 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Many areas finished

Since 1978, Garfield the lazy, lasagna-loving feline has been one of the world’s most recognised and iconic comic strip characters. But for almost as long as the comic has been in print, a bizarre environmental mystery featuring the cantankerous cat has been polluting the shorelines of western France, and finally we have an explanation for

We just got some massive news in the ongoing drive to switch to renewable energy: scientists have identified 530,000 sites worldwide suitable for pumped-hydro energy storage, capable of storing more than enough energy to power the entire planet. Pumped-hydro is one of the best technologies we have for storing intermittent renewable energy, such as solar

It started off as an enigma. Biologists at field sites around the world reported that frogs had simply disappeared. Costa Rica, 1987: the golden toad, missing. Australia, 1979: the gastric brooding frog, gone. In Ecuador, Arthur’s stubfoot toad was last seen in 1988. By 1990, cases of unexplained frog declines were piling up. These were

Few places have served as a locus for the public’s anxiety about climate change as much as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The global seed ark, popularly known as the “Doomsday Vault”, is embedded deep in the permafrost of a northerly Norwegian island and stores nearly a million samples from around the world for safekeeping

Global energy experts released grim findings Monday, saying that not only are planet-warming carbon-dioxide emissions still increasing, but the world’s growing thirst for energy has led to higher emissions from coal-fired power plants than ever before. Energy demand around the world grew by 2.3 percent over the past year, marking the most rapid increase in

When tropical cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira, Mozambique on March 14, a spokesperson for the UN World Meteorological Organization called it possibly the the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere. This massive and horrifying storm caused catastrophic flooding and widespread destruction of buildings and roads in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Mozambique’s President

The fastest-shrinking glacier in Greenland has made an unexpected turn. Although it’s been melting for 20 years, the Jakobshavn Glacier in West Greenland – famous for producing the iceberg that sank the Titanic – has now started growing again. Since the 1980s, waters have been growing warmer around Baffin Bay, where the glacier meets the

Mount Everest’s glaciers are melting – and the remnants buried for decades below the surface are beginning to reemerge. Most alarming, expedition operators are starting to find the dead bodies of climbers who attempted to scale the mountain. Hundreds of people have died while attempting to climb the mountain since the 1990s, and the majority

It all looked so promising. Ten years ago, a survey of mother humpbacks and their calves showed their numbers were on the up off the coast of Maui, Hawaii. Something has changed, with encounters plummeting by three quarters since 2013.  Of course, there could be a number of reasons behind the apparent decline in whale

Last November, a huge seismic event that shook the planet left experts wondering about its possible source. Researchers now think they know what might have caused it: an offshore volcanic event unlike any other in recorded history. If the hypothesis is right, and there has been a massive movement of magma underneath the sea floor,