Former UN leader tours climate adaptation projects in Miami
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he's impressed with Miami's efforts to cope with rising sea levels— and he wishes President Donald Trump were paying attention, too.
Last update Darwin's finches don't tell the whole story of avian evolution, 1 hour ago
Environment news
Prenatal forest fire exposure stunts children's growth
Forest fires are more harmful than previously imagined, causing stunted growth in children who were exposed to smoke while in the womb, according to new research from Duke University and the National University of Singapore.
Carbon taxes could create new winners and losers among countries
Although conventional wisdom suggests that poor countries are more likely to bear a disproportionate burden of a worldwide carbon tax on fossil fuels used for electricity and transportation, the potential consequences of ...
A NASA infrared look at Tropical Depression 02W, warnings posted
Tropical Depression 02W formed in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean on February 19 and the National Weather Service in Guam has issued warnings for Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap States. NASA's Aqua satellite found three strongest storms ...
NASA-NOAA satellite sees powerful Tropical Cyclone Oma affecting New Caledonia
Tropical Cyclone Oma appeared well-organized on satellite imagery as it moved through the Southern Pacific Ocean, just northwest of New Caledonia.
Research finds federalism still effective against would-be strongmen like Trump
The fear that states in federal countries are destined to lose their powers to central government is unwarranted, new research at the University of Kent has found.
EU gets heavy-duty on pollution: 1st standards for trucks
The European Union on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement on the first specific EU standards for trucks, seeking to get polluting CO2 levels down.
Fishing and pollution regulations don't help corals cope with climate change
A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports that protecting coral reefs from fishing and pollution does not help coral populations cope with climate change. The study also concludes that ocean ...
These climate activists want you to give up hope
The Extinction Rebellion, a network of climate activists who use civil disobedience to spotlight inaction on global warming, is rooted in the conviction that humanity has dug its own grave and has one foot dangling over the ...
Climate-friendly labriculture depends on an energy revolution, study says
Currently proposed types of lab-grown meat cannot provide a cure-all for the detrimental climate impacts of meat production without a large-scale transition to a decarbonised energy system, a new study has found.
Natural resources valued differently by men and woman, study shows
Men and women value, access and use resources from the natural environment in distinct and different ways, a new study has shown.
Land use delays could hamper climate efforts
Global climate change targets are unlikely to be met because of delays in changes to land use, Edinburgh researchers say.
The race to save Myanmar's Inle Lake
Myanmar's famed Inle Lake has enchanted tourists for decades with its floating gardens and the graceful leg-rowing style of its fisherman, but experts warn the lake is drying up and urgent action is needed to avoid disaster.
School climate strikes: What next for the latest generation of activists?
School students across the UK (and the world) went on strike on February 15, leaving their lessons to protest the lack of effective action on climate change. Coordinated school strikes may be a novel tactic, but mass environmental ...
Natural resources valued differently by men and woman, study shows
Men and women value, access and use resources from the natural environment in distinct and different ways, a new study has shown.
As citizen scientists, farmers can make important contributions to climate adaptation
In the context of rapidly evolving climate conditions, a new study by Bioversity International and partners addresses the challenge of climate adaptation in a way that is both scalable and targeted. The scientists have demonstrated ...
Malaysia to end bauxite mining ban despite environment fears
Malaysia will next month lift a ban on bauxite mining that has been in place for three years, a minister said Tuesday, despite warnings the move may cause serious environmental damage.
Coal dust turns white snow black in Siberian town
A Siberian coal mining town has gotten a blanket of black snow, a regular occurrence in the region known for high industrial pollution levels.
World's biggest terrestrial carbon sinks are found in young forests
More than half of the carbon sink in the world's forests is in areas where the trees are relatively young—under 140 years old—rather than in tropical rainforests, research at the University of Birmingham shows.
Climate change makes summer weather stormier yet more stagnant
Climate change is shifting the energy in the atmosphere that fuels summertime weather, which may lead to stronger thunderstorms and more stagnant conditions for midlatitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including North ...
Predicting climate change
Thomas Crowther has identified long-disappeared forests available for restoration across the world, finding that there is room for an additional 1.2 trillion new trees globally that could absorb more carbon than human emissions ...
The exorbitant cost of climate procrastination
From COP24's disappointing final agreement to France's abandonment of the carbon tax increase due to the "gilets jaunes" movement… it seems that concerns about climate change have fell to the very bottom of the global political ...
How climate change can make catastrophic weather systems linger for longer
Many parts of Australia have suffered a run of severe and, in some cases, unprecedented weather events this summer. One common feature of many of these events – including the Tasmanian heatwave and the devastating Townsville ...
Upgraded Water Risk Filter will help companies respond to worsening water risks
With water crises posing a growing threat to the global economy, WWF today announced a major upgrade to its Water Risk Filter, launching a new Respond section that will help companies and financial institutions mitigate water ...
What's really feeding Long Island's destructive brown tides?
Researchers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory may have found a new strategy to limit the growth of an algae species called Aureococcus anophagefferens, which at high densities can result in devastating ...
Synchrotron light to analyse mining waste in marine sediment in the Portman bay
The ALBA Synchrotron is expected to reveal the environmental impact of the tons of mining waste thrown for over 40 years into Portman Bay (Murcia, Spain), as part of the research project by the Consolidated Research Group ...
'Urgent steps' needed to save Australia's biggest river system
The viability of a key river that feeds into Australia's biggest water system is under threat if poor conditions that killed millions of fish are not improved within six months, scientists warned Monday.
A hidden source of air pollution? Your daily household tasks
Cooking, cleaning and other routine household activities generate significant levels of volatile and particulate chemicals inside the average home, leading to indoor air quality levels on par with a polluted major city, University ...
Tiny fibers create unseen plastic pollution
While the polyester leisure suit was a 1970s mistake, polyester and other synthetic fibers like nylon are still around and are a major contributor to the microplastics load in the environment, according to a Penn State materials ...
Political and policy feedbacks in the climate system
Matto Mildenberger, University of California Santa Barbara explains how perceived experiences with climate change in the United States can be linked to political shifts in Congress, culture and society. He will demonstrate ...
EPA hits chemical maker for not notifying on new compounds
A chemical maker's North Carolina plant may have broken federal law by failing to notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it started manufacturing and repurposing new industrial compounds, the agency said this ...
What rising seas mean for local economies
Impacts from climate change are not always easy to see. But for many local businesses in coastal communities across the United States, the evidence is right outside their doors—or in their parking lots.
Light bulbs in the crosshairs of Trump administration's environmental rollbacks
The Trump administration has been on a spree of environmental rollbacks, including air and auto emissions. Its next target: light bulbs.
The prospects of american strawberries
A comprehensive review led by Jayesh Samtani of Virginia Tech and Curt Rom of the University of Arkansas encapsulates an understanding of the challenges, needs, and opportunities of strawberry growers across the United States. ...
Image: Jewels of the Maldives
Copernicus Sentinel-2 brings you some of the jewels of the Maldives for Valentine's week. Arguably one of the most romantic destinations in the world, the Maldives lie in the Indian Ocean about 700 km southwest of Sri Lanka. ...
Danish economist picked to be new UN environment chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has picked Danish economist and environmentalist Inger Andersen to be the new UN environment chief, turning the page on a scandal over expenses that rocked the UN agency, according to ...
How to fight climate change in agriculture while protecting jobs
Agriculture has become a carbon-intensive endeavour. Crop, livestock and fossil fuel use in agriculture account for about 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Carbon capture on power stations burning woodchips is not the green gamechanger many think it is
The UK's efforts to develop facilities to remove carbon emissions from power stations took a step forward with news of a demonstrator project getting underway at the Drax plant in north Yorkshire. Where most electricity carbon ...
How income and attitudes affect greenhouse gas emissions
The higher the income of individuals living in Switzerland, the higher their greenhouse gas emissions. But to what extent do differences in income actually have an effect on emissions, and to what extent do household emissions ...
Electronic waste is recycled in appalling conditions in India
The world produces 50 million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) per year, according to a recent UN report, but only 20% is formally recycled. Much of the rest ends up in landfill, or is recycled informally ...
Researcher designs data visualization of carbon footprints
A Columbia researcher affiliated with the Data Science Institute has created a data-visualization tool that shows the carbon footprints of hundreds of consumer products. The tool makes it easy for everyone to explore the ...
Tasmania fires may 'wipe out' ancient species
Tasmania's ancient rainforest and alpine flora species face an uncertain future, scientists have warned, after out-of-control bushfires consumed vast tracts of wild bushland.
Fears flood water runoff could 'smother' Barrier Reef
Runoff from recent floods in northern Australia is flowing onto parts of the Barrier Reef, scientists said Friday, starving coral of light and providing fodder for the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish.
Darwin's finches don't tell the whole story of avian evolution
The connection between bird diet and skull shape is surprisingly weak for most species according to a new study led by UCL and the Natural History Museum, rewriting our understanding of how ecosystems influence evolution.
New imaging technology captures movement of quantum particles with unprecedented resolution
Excitons—electrically neutral quasiparticles—have extraordinary properties. They exist only in semiconducting and insulating materials and can be easily accessed in two-dimensional (2D) materials just a few atoms thick, ...
New machine learning technique rapidly analyzes nanomedicines for cancer immunotherapy
Spherical nucleic acids are a class of personalized medicines for treating cancer and other diseasesSNAs are challenging to optimize because their structures can vary in many waysNorthwestern University team developed a library ...
Physicists explain fireballs erupting from grapes in microwave oven
A trio of researchers with McMaster, Concordia and Trent Universities has solved the mystery of why pairs of grapes ignite into fireballs when cooked together in a microwave oven. In their paper published in Proceedings of ...
Want to learn about dinosaurs? Pick up some Louisiana roadkill
Fossil-hunting can be grueling, but it's usually not gross. Paleontologists typically work with things that have been dead for millions of years, mineralized into rock and no longer smelly. At the end of a day in the field, ...
Isotopes found in bones suggest Neanderthals were fresh meat eaters
An international team of researchers has found evidence that suggests at least some Neanderthals were mainly fresh meat eaters. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes ...
Confirming a source of the process behind auroras and the formation of stars
Fast magnetic reconnection, the rapid convergence, separation and explosive snapping together of magnetic field lines, gives rise to northern lights, solar flares and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell phone service ...
In the blink of an eye: Team uses quantum of light to create new quantum simulator
Imagine being stuck inside a maze and wanting to find your way out. How would you proceed? The answer is trial and error. This is how traditional computers with classical algorithms operate to find the solution to a complex ...
Solar tadpole-like jets seen with NASA'S IRIS add new clue to age-old mystery
Scientists have discovered tadpole-shaped jets coming out of regions with intense magnetic fields on the Sun. Unlike those living on Earth, these "tadpoles"—formally called pseudo-shocks—are made entirely of plasma, the ...
A polariton filter turns ordinary laser light into quantum light
An international team of researchers led out of Macquarie University has demonstrated a new approach for converting ordinary laser light into genuine quantum light.
Engineers can detect ultra rare proteins in blood using a cellphone camera
One of the frontiers of medical diagnostics is the race for more sensitive blood tests. The ability to detect extremely rare proteins could make a life-saving difference for many conditions, such as the early detection of ...
'Astrocomb' opens new horizons for planet-hunting telescope
The hunt for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life, just got more precise, thanks to record-setting starlight measurements made possible by a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) "astrocomb."
Single-laser techniques make reproducible artwork on metal without dye or paint
A variety of laser-based techniques can be used to produce colorful artwork on metals. However, each approach typically requires a different type of laser and very specific settings. In a new study, researchers describe how ...
Observation of quantized heating in quantum matter
Shaking a physical system typically heats it up, in the sense that the system continuously absorbs energy. When considering a circular shaking pattern, the amount of energy that is absorbed can potentially depend on the orientation ...
LOFAR radio telescope reveals secrets of solar storms
An international team of scientists led by a researcher from Trinity College Dublin and University of Helsinki announced a major discovery on the very nature of solar storms in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Astronomers publish sky map of thousands of newly discovered galaxies
An international team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries has published the first phase of a major new radio sky survey at unprecedented sensitivity using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope. The survey reveals ...
Researchers find an unusual way in which a material conducts heat when it is compressed
In the latest wrinkle to be discovered in cubic boron arsenide, the unusual material contradicts the traditional rules that govern heat conduction, according to a new report by Boston College researchers in today's edition ...
Breakthrough in the search for graphene-based electronics
For 15 years, scientists have tried to exploit the "miracle material" graphene to produce nanoscale electronics. On paper, graphene should be great for just that: it is ultra-thin—only one atom thick and therefore two-dimensional, ...
20-million-year-old tusked sea cow is Central America's oldest marine mammal
Steven Manchester didn't set out to discover Central America's oldest known marine mammal. He was hoping to find fossil plants.
Porous carbon fiber research one step closer to use in automotive industry
An update on recently reported research on porous carbon fibers shows how this material can be used in an industrial setting, marking an important step from the theoretical to application.
Novel gene therapy approach creates new route to tackle rare, inherited diseases
Nonsense mutations are single-letter errors in the genetic code that prematurely halt the production of critical proteins. These unfinished proteins are unable to function normally, and nonsense mutations cause 10-15 percent ...
When a defect might be beneficial
In the quest to design more efficient solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a team of engineers has analyzed different types of defects in the semiconductor material that enables such devices to determine if and how ...
Dose of vitamin C helps gold nanowires grow
A boost of vitamin C helped Rice University scientists turn small gold nanorods into fine gold nanowires.
IAU names landing site of Chinese Chang'e-4 probe on far side of the moon
The International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name Statio Tianhe for the landing site where the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e-4 touched down on 3 January this year, in ...
High-energy X-ray bursts from low-energy plasma
Solar flares shouldn't produce X-rays, but they do. Why? The one-size-fits-all approach to electron collisions misses a lucky few that lead to an intense X-ray burst. Scientists thought there were too many electron-scattering ...
Pottery reveals America's first social media networks
Long before Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and even MySpace, early Mississippian Mound cultures in America's southern Appalachian Mountains shared artistic trends and technologies across regional networks that functioned in ...
Nano-droplets are the key to controlling membrane formation
The creation of membranes is of enormous importance in biology, but also in many chemical applications developed by humans. These membranes are shaped spontaneously when soap-like molecules in water join together. Researchers ...
Lobster's underbelly is as tough as industrial rubber
Flip a lobster on its back, and you'll see that the underside of its tail is split in segments connected by a translucent membrane that appears rather vulnerable when compared with the armor-like carapace that shields the ...
Ancient 'night' marsupial faced four months of winter darkness
Paleontologists working on a steep river bank in Alaska have discovered fossil evidence of the northernmost marsupial known to science.
Rosetta's comet sculpted by stress
Feeling stressed? You're not alone. ESA's Rosetta mission has revealed that geological stress arising from the shape of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has been a key process in sculpting the comet's surface and interior ...
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