Environment

The changes and wonders of the natural world—and how human interaction influences animals, the ocean, and the rest of the environment.

Latest in Environment

A hogfish swims near the Florida Keys. It has spikes on top and a pointy snout.
Animals

Hogfish ‘see’ using their skin

By Laura Baisas

This is what happens when feral cows take over a remote Alaskan island
Agriculture

This is what happens when feral cows take over a remote Alaskan island

By Jude Isabella/Hakai Magazine

A lineup of the best handheld vacuums on a white background
Animals

The best handheld vacuums of 2024

By Carsen Joenk

Inside the fight to reclaim California’s biggest freshwater lake from algae
Climate Change

Inside the fight to reclaim California’s biggest freshwater lake from algae

By Tien Nguyen/Knowable Magazine

The best invisible dog fences composited
Animals

The best invisible dog fences

By John Alexander

Shipping container used as passive cooling test chamber
Climate Change

Ancient Egyptian ‘air conditioning’ could help cool modern buildings

By Andrew Paul

Illustration of two elephants on one side and an ant holding up other ants on the other side.
Animals

Is bigger better? Not when it comes to the world’s strongest animals.

By Annie Roth

A coral reef just off of an island in Palau. Coral reefs in Palau provide critical habitats for a number of species and provide a storm barrier.
Animals

Some Pacific coral reefs can keep pace with a warming ocean

By Laura Baisas

Pyxis Ocean retrofitted with WindWings setting sail for its maiden voyage, August 2023
Energy

A cargo ship with 123-foot ‘WindWing’ sails has just departed on its maiden voyage

By Andrew Paul

A vehicle drives through a flooded street as Tropical Storm Hilary moves through the area on August 20, 2023 in Cathedral City, California. A wave of water pushes onto the street and palm trees shake in the wind.
Environment

Tropical Storm Hilary soaks the Southwest

By Laura Baisas

The new ethanol? Biogas producers are pushing livestock poop as renewable.
Electric Vehicles

The new ethanol? Biogas producers are pushing livestock poop as renewable.

By John McCracken / Grist

The truth behind animal resistance memes
Animals

The truth behind animal resistance memes

By Alexandra Isfahani-Hammond / The Conversation

Brown-skinned child with black braids at the grocery store holding ripe fruit like pineapple and papaya in arms
Agriculture

Pick the sweetest, ripest fruit with this science-based guide

By Sara Chodosh

Elkhorn coral fragments in lab
Animals

The heroic effort to save Florida’s coral reef from a historic heatwave

By Michael Childress/The Conversation

Seedlings in yellow pots at a plant nursery in Glacier National Park
Conservation

We need billions more baby trees to regrow US forests

By Carla Delgado

Metal mesh with water droplets
Climate Change

Titanium dioxide-coated mesh can purify contaminated fog

By Andrew Paul

Dead humback whale on beach from aerial view
Animals

Dead whales and dinosaur eggs: 7 fascinating images by researchers

By Popular Science Team

Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) on a flower in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on August 27, 2022.
Agriculture

These invasive bugs are a nightmare for Washington’s cherries and hops

By Natalia Mesa/High Country News

A many tentacled feather star.
Animals

Behold a 20-armed, strawberry-shaped Antarctic sea creature

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Members of the Dutch Tall Ship Oosterschelde wave goodbye from the quay in Rotterdam on August 4, 2023. The Rotterdam ship departs for a two-year world tour that scientist Charles Darwin made two centuries ago.
Animals

Mission to recreate Darwin’s scientific Beagle voyage sets sail

By Laura Baisas

Artist impression of the stem pinniped Potamotherium valletoni swimming in his natural, freshwater environment. Grasses and plants grow below the animal, that has whiskers, legs, and flippers.
Animals

Hungry seals may have begun following their whiskers 23 million years ago

By Laura Baisas

Wildfire smoke drifts over western Canada, as seen from a satellite. On August 8, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of dense plumes of smoke streaming from dozens of large fires in the Northwest Territories. Several of these fires raged around Yellowknife, the province’s capital and largest city. These fires follow major outbreaks of fire in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, in May, June, and July.
Climate Change

Canadian territory capital ordered to evacuate due to approaching wildfire

By Laura Baisas

White dog inhaling colorful waves that represent smells. Illustrated.
Animals

Why your dog needs to smell the world

By Brandon Keim

A new snake species named Tachymenoides harrisonfordi was discovered during an expedition in Peru in May 2022. The copper scaled snake is seen here coiled on some brown grass.
Animals

Harrison Ford’s latest namesake is an Andean snake species

By Laura Baisas

Elemental chromium
Technik

The same metal found on hot rods and Harleys could revolutionize solar panels

By Andrew Paul

pregnancy test in hands
Climate Change

Extreme heat could be a threat to contraception

By Shefali Luthra/The 19th

Pipeline connection at an oil refinery
Climate Change

The US is investing more than $1 billion in carbon capture, but big oil is still involved

By Andrew Paul

Four bivalve species found along the Maine coast, including the Northern Quahog, Eastern Oyster, a steamer clam, and a blue mussel presented together in a bed of seaweed at low tide.
Animals

Popular shellfish resist extinction in surprising ways

By Laura Baisas

Lead claimant Rikki Held, 22, confers with members of Our Children's Trust legal team before the start of the nation's first youth climate change trial at Montana's First Judicial District Court on June 12, 2023 in Helena, Montana.
Climate Change

Judge sides with youth activists in groundbreaking climate change lawsuit

By Laura Baisas

A burnt out car lies in the driveway of charred apartment complex in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 12, 2023.
Climate Change

The health hazards from wildfires will linger in Maui for years

By Andrew J. Whelton/The Conversation

The best dog cameras of 2024
Animals

The best dog cameras of 2024

By Stacey L. Nash

Keep your dog healthy and happy with the best dog toys.
Animals

The best dog toys of 2024

By Maddy Morris

A gray wolf howling in the woods. The wolves come in many colors including white, tan, black, and brown.
Animals

A new pack of endangered gray wolves is roaming Northern California

By Laura Baisas

3D printed fake calamari ring on tin foil
Environment

3D-printed vegan calamari rings could be next on the menu

By Andrew Paul

Talpa hakkariensis, found in the Hakkari region of southeastern Turkey, was identified as a new species of mole, highly distinctive in terms of both its morphology and DNA. The mole is peeking out of an underground burrow.
Animals

These moles may have been hiding for 3 million years

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of an ancient whale against a sea-blue background.
Animals

This tiny, 8-foot long whale swam off Egypt’s coast 41 million years ago

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Machinery at the center of the National Ignition Facility.
Energy

How a US lab created energy with fusion—again

By Rahul Rao

Wildfire smoke in New York City
AI

Combining AI and traditional methods can help us predict air quality

By Joshua S. Fu/The Conversation

airplane flying in clouds
Technik

Inside Delta’s in-house meteorology wing

By Charlotte Hu

The Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park, with steam rising and mountains in the distance. Temperatures at Yellowstone’s famous hot springs can reach 198 degrees Fahrenheit.
Animals

Don’t lick the toads and other things to avoid at national parks

By Laura Baisas

Aftermath Of Tanker Fire At I-95 In Bensalem
Cancer

Federal study links testicular cancer to ‘Forever Chemicals’ for the first time

By Hannah Norman and Patricia Kime/KFF Health News

Japanese bullet train leaving station at dawn
Energy

Texas could get a 205-mph bullet train zipping between Houston and Dallas

By Andrew Paul

Keep your pooch warm and safe in one of the best dog houses.
Animals

The best dog houses of 2024

By Julian Vittorio

Green high density laser array
Energy

Colorado is getting a state-of-the-art laser fusion facility

By Andrew Paul

A male peacock displaying his signature blue and green plumage.
Animals

Miami suburb turns to vasectomies to solve its peacock problem

By Laura Baisas

Maxar satellite imagery on August 9, 2023 showing total destruction of the Lahaina square and outlets after the Lahaina Wildfire, with one building still actively burning.
Climate Change

Hurricane-powered wildfires sweep across Maui

By Laura Baisas

A man is looking in a glass case of coprolites collected in Nong Yakong village, Chaiyaphum Province, Thailand.
Animals

Rare parasites found in 200 million-year-old reptile poop

By Laura Baisas

taxidermied two-headed goat kid
Animals

Life after death never looked so beautiful

By Ted Cavanaugh, Sara Kiley Watson

Maya Tilousi, member of the Hopi Tribe, Havasupai Tribe of Grand Canyon, and the Cheyanne and Arapaho Tribes, shakes hands with President Joe Biden at Red Butte Airfield, 25 miles south of Tusayan, Arizona, on August 8, 2023. Biden announced he is putting the brakes on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and willl give an area of nearly one million acres national monument status.
Conservation

Nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon is now a national monument

By Laura Baisas

A NASA image of the sun with a bright solar flare in the upper left.
Climate Change

Would a massive shade between Earth and the sun help slow climate change?

By Jon Kelvey

Tourists visit the Solfatara crater, part of the Campi Flegrei Volcano, the biggest caldera of Italy.
Conservation

Up the coast from Pompeii, another city grows on top of an underground volcano

By Agostino Petroni/Undark

Sea turtle robot crawling across sand
Animals

This waddling robot could guide baby turtles to the sea

By Andrew Paul

Aerial view of solar panel farm
Climate Change

Solar power helps keep Europe’s grid reliable in historic heat

By Andrew Paul

Hannover train station
Energy

The world’s first hydrogen-powered train has made its final stop

By Andrew Paul

Two penguins and a seal on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Climate Change

Antarctica is in the climate change crosshairs

By Laura Baisas

Reconstruction of Hupehsuchus about to engulf a shoal of shrimp. The ancient lizard widely opens its skinny snout and large mouth to swallow a large ball of shrimp.
Animals

The planet’s first filter feeder could be this extinct marine reptile

By Laura Baisas

Giant yellow dump truck depositing sand on San Francisco beach because of coastal erosion
Climate Change

Why your favorite beach might be eroding

By Zayna Syed

A Heliconius butterfly with black, orange, and white on its wings.
Animals

Butterflies can remember specific flower foraging routes

By Laura Baisas

best bird feeders
Animals

The best bird feeders of 2024

By Julian Vittorio

A long and skinny silver trumpetfish uses a colorful parrotfish as camouflage.
Animals

Trumpetfish use other fish as camouflage

By Laura Baisas

Person using lime electric scooter.
Climate Change

Shared e-scooters can be sustainable—but there’s a catch

By Carla Delgado

Sprinklers on a golf course in Utah.
Climate Change

In water-strained Utah, can golf courses justify their giant footprint?

By Samuel Shaw/High Country News

Crab in ocean reaching with pincher.
Animals

As oceans become more acidic, creatures could struggle to smell

By Ethan Freedman/Hakai Magazine

Stars form a half-circle above a mountain lake.
Environment

7 US parks where you can get stunning nightsky views

By Briley Lewis

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