Environment
An avalanche inspired this forecaster to keep others safe
Chris Dickson combines tech and field observations to make avalanche forecasts.
Earth and Human Activity
More Stories in Earth and Human Activity
- Climate
A modern ‘snowball’ Earth? What the movies get wrong
Earth has experienced several ice ages. These can emerge almost overnight in films. Although dramatic, that timeline is truly Hollywood fiction.
- Life
Fog — it’s alive!
Low-lying fog clouds host living microbes. That may be good news, because some of them can remove toxic air pollutants, such as formaldehyde.
- Climate
A ‘super’ El Niño appears to be emerging. What’s the big deal?
The climate pattern could bring “shockingly high” temps this winter, plus extreme weather. Some scientists are looking into an engineering “fix.”
- Earth
Scientists Say: Subsidence
This word describes land that sinks after water, minerals, oil or other materials are removed below ground.
- Agriculture
Deeply plowing farm fields can do more harm than good
Heavy plowing can impair water’s flow through the ground. The problem was found by “listening” to tiny seismic signals caused by rain infiltrating the soil.
- Climate
Hundreds of sea level studies have underestimated ocean rise
One widely used “geoid” technique may have missed up to a century of sea level rise — so risks could hit millions of people far sooner than expected.
- Environment
Hawaii is turning fishnets and other plastic trash into roads
Scientists are testing whether plastic pollution from the ocean can be transformed into safe and durable highways.
- Earth
How hot can our planet get? Earth’s climate history holds clues
Learning from the Earth's past climate swings — what happened to life and when — can help us understand where we might be headed.
- Animals
Emperor penguins are on the march — toward extinction
Along with Antarctic fur seals, these iconic birds, the largest of all penguins, are now endangered by their continent’s warming.
