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

Used coffee grounds on the paper filter
DIY

10 clever ways to reuse coffee grounds

By Debbie Wolfe

shipping
Energy

In the rush to decarbonize, the shipping industry is exploring alternative fuels

By Chris Baraniuk / Hakai Magazine

Factory of the Future 1.0 3D printer with man standing in front of it
Engineering

Makers of the world’s largest 3D printer just beat their own record

By Andrew Paul

mice in a cave
Animals

Lab mice might be doing their own experiments

By Lauren Leffer

a small red squirrel with perked up ears sits on a tree branch
Animals

Early trauma can shorten a red squirrel’s lifespan

By Laura Baisas

Can AI help tell the difference between a good and bad sweet potato?
Agriculture

Can AI help tell the difference between a good and bad sweet potato?

By Mack DeGeurin

under the sea
Conservation

How deep does life go?

By James Lawrence Powell / MIT Press Reader

robot v roach
Animals

Why animals run faster than their robot doppelgängers… for now

By Mack DeGeurin

a spike-toothed salmon fossil with its mouth open
Animals

This 400-pound prehistoric salmon had tusks like a warthog

By Laura Baisas

These birds help humans hunt for honey—but it’s not as sweet as you might think
Animals

These birds help humans hunt for honey—but it’s not as sweet as you might think

By Popular Science Team

a bioluminescent coral shaped like a fan with a central hub
Animals

Bioluminescence may have evolved 300 million years earlier than scientists previously thought

By Laura Baisas

A deadly Australia eastern brown snake
Animals

Don’t bring us the snake that bit you, Australian hospital says

By Harri Weber

Vitamix Food Cycler countertop composter with a picture of a hopper full of food on the left and a hopper full of processed mulch on the right.
Conservation

Save $100 on the Vitamix countertop composter at Amazon for Earth Day

By Stan Horaczek

an orange, black, and white lemur sits in a tree
Animals

Critically endangered lemur attacked by vulnerable fosa in Madagascar

By Laura Baisas

The algorithmic ocean: How AI is revolutionizing marine conservation
AI

The algorithmic ocean: How AI is revolutionizing marine conservation

By Karen Bakker / MIT Press Reader

a circular lamprey mouth dotted with teeth
Animals

Lampreys offer clues to the origin of our fight-or-flight instinct

By Laura Baisas

a juvenile shark following an autonomous underwater robot
Animals

Baby sharks stick to the shallows

By Laura Baisas

Anterior trunk vertebrae of Vasuki indicus.
Animals

Enormous snake in ancient India was longer than a school bus

By Lauren Leffer

Geothermal power heats up
Energy

Geothermal power heats up

By Katarina Zimmer / Knowable Magazine

Close-up photos of ReachBot.
Animals

Daddy long-legs-inspired robot could one day squirm through Martian caves

By Mack DeGeurin

an illustration of a large marine reptile beached on the sand, surrounded by two two-legged dinosaurs and several flying dinosaurs
Animals

New species of extinct marine reptile found with help from 11-year-old child

By Laura Baisas

an orange and black butterfly lands on a green leaf with purple flowers
Animals

This butterfly hybrid thrived against evolutionary odds

By Laura Baisas

Low-frequency noise is pervasive. Does that matter?
Environment

Low-frequency noise is pervasive. Does that matter?

By Lourdes Medrano/Undark

a tardigrade floating around
Animals

How super resilient tardigrades can fix their radiation-damaged DNA

By Laura Baisas

the moon over the red plateaus of the Petrified Forest National Park
Conservation

The 12 most underrated national parks in the US

By Popular Science Team

an infected periodical cicada with a white fungal plug on its abdomen
Animals

This gnarly fungus makes cicadas hypersexual

By Laura Baisas

smoke from a fire in front of the sun and over forests
DIY

How YOU can prevent wildfires

By Alisha McDarris

a toucan with an orange beak and black and white plumage sits in a tree with its mouth open
Animals

How fruit-eating birds could help regrow tropical forests

By Laura Baisas

a cicada with red eyes and large wings sits in a leaf
Animals

The Cicadapocalypse is nigh. 7 cicada facts to know before it hits.

By Laura Baisas

air bubbles
Conservation

Can green hydrogen production help bring oceanic dead zones back to life?

By Brian Owens / Hakai Magazine

An artist’s impression of southeastern South Australia during the Pleistocene epoch showing various plants and animals that lived there alongside Protemnodon. The almost one-tonne Zygomaturus trilobus in the bottom right. None of the kangaroos shown is a Protemnodon, but there are two short-faced kangaroos in the center-right. One wallaby is also being attacked by a Tasmanian tiger (top left).
Animals

Super-muscular 374-pound kangaroos once thumped around Australia and New Guinea

By Laura Baisas

a rock juts out under the pink sky during sunset
Environment

12 awe-inspiring landscape photos showing off Earth’s beauty

By Popular Science Team

CT scan of California condor egg
Animals

CT scans look inside a California condor egg

By Andrew Paul

one bonobo yells at another bonobo in a tree
Animals

‘Peaceful’ bonobos bite and push each other, actually

By Laura Baisas

Chronic wasting disease in deer
Animals

How to control chronic wasting disease

By James Gaines / Knowable Magazine

Cargo Ship in Panama Canal
Climate Change

A new solution proposed for drought-stricken Panama Canal goes around it

By Andrew Paul

a close-up of an octopus eye
Animals

Why counting octopus ‘rings’ is crucial

By Laura Baisas

a green sea turtle swims in a large aquarium tank.
Animals

Myrtle the Turtle ‘in robust condition’ at age 95

By Laura Baisas

ADHD may have evolved to give us foraging superpowers
Animals

ADHD may have evolved to give us foraging superpowers

By Popular Science Team

tug retractable dog leash and a dog on a sidewalk best overall retractable dog leash
Animals

The best retractable dog leashes of 2024

By Chelsea Frank

People looking up at eclipse wearing protective glasses
Environment

Internet use dipped in the eclipse’s path of totality

By Andrew Paul

two white beluga whales at the surface of the water
Animals

Toothed whales traded chewing for echolocation to evolve

By Laura Baisas

a transparent marine worm with two large reddish-orange eyes on the top of its head
Animals

Tiny worm with enormous eyes may have a ‘secret language’

By Laura Baisas

Researchers developed a 3D printer that can automatically identify the parameters of an unknown material on its own. The advance could help make 3D printing more sustainable, enabling printing with renewable or recyclable materials that are difficult to characterize.
Engineering

3D printers just got a big, eco-friendly upgrade (in the lab)

By Andrew Paul

a close up of a brown-colored frog called Haddadus binotatus
Animals

Humans can’t hear these frogs screaming

By Laura Baisas

Different bugs
Animals

Why are there so many different beetles?

By Lesley Evans Ogden/Knowable Magazine

a small panda in the woods
Animals

Glorious nature photographs honor the impact of Jane Goodall

By Popular Science Team

Close up of shark head
Animals

Shark skin and owl feathers could inspire quieter underwater sonar

By Andrew Paul

Make it snow! Researchers explore sci-fi scenarios of human weather control
Environment

Make it snow! Researchers explore sci-fi scenarios of human weather control

By Mack DeGeurin

MUSE stellarator fusion reactor
Energy

Stellarator fusion reactor gets new life thanks to a creative magnet workaround

By Andrew Paul

an insect called a matador bug on a green leaf. these bugs have red flag lookingsdecorations on their hind legs
Animals

These insects give off major red flags

By Laura Baisas

birds on display taxidermy taxonomy museum shelf behind glass
Animals

Inside the controversial world of classifying life on Earth

By Teresa Carr/Undark

a small ferrit-like mammal from the jurassic period goes after a winged insect
Animals

New fossils of tiny, toothy early mammals could be a major missing link

By Laura Baisas

brown rat
Animals

How big rats took over North America

By Lauren Leffer

a juvenile chimpanzee in a forested habitat
Animals

Mining of materials needed for ‘green revolution’ puts great ape population at risk

By Laura Baisas

Shoe made from bacterial cellulose
Animals

Would you wear this ‘shoe-like vessel’ made from genetically engineered bacteria?

By Andrew Paul

killer whale jumping out of water an orca
Animals

The fascinating truth about killer whales

By Craig Welch / Hakai Magazine

Arctic ice flow
Climate Change

Melting ice makes Arctic a target for a new deep sea internet cable

By Andrew Paul

Close up of wolf spider resting on web
AI

Spider conversations decoded with the help of machine learning and contact microphones

By Andrew Paul

three baby chickens standing in a nest with open and unopened eggshells
Agriculture

Why chickens probably crossed the Silk Road

By Laura Baisas

These frogs may be evolving because of road salt
Animals

These frogs may be evolving because of road salt

By Ethan Freedman

solar-powered car
Energy

Why aren’t there solar-powered cars on our roads?

By Chen Liu / The Conversation

pokemon character Eevee that looks like a rabbit plus a cat.
Animals

If Pokémon existed in the wild, how would they compare to real animals?

By Popular Science Team

a flock of flamingoes standing
Animals

We were very wrong about birds

By Laura Baisas

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