Earth and Human Activity

Earth

Scientists Say: Anthropocene

Humans are changing the world in profound ways. Some scientists think those changes have launched a new epoch in Earth’s history: the Anthropocene.

Oceans

Moon’s orbital wobble can add to sea-level rise and flooding

In a dozen years or so, the tide-enhancing effects of a wobble in the moon’s orbit should lead to dramatically higher sea levels in some coastal cities.

Environment

Cheatgrass thrives on the well-lit urban night scene

Middle-grade campers team up with ecologists at Denver University to show that streetlights boost the growth of a reviled invasive species.

Tech

Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess

Big problem, tiny solution. Researchers in the Czech Republic have designed swimming robots that can help collect and break down microplastics.

Animals

Tiny animals survive 24,000 years in suspended animation

Tiny bdelloid rotifers awake from a 24,000-year slumber when freed from the Arctic permafrost.

Environment

Wildfire smoke seeds the air with potentially dangerous microbes

Studies now show that most wildfires don’t kill microbes. That’s fueling worries about what risks these smoke hitchhikers might pose to people.

Tech

Let’s learn about artificial intelligence

Computers are getting smarter all the time. At some tasks, they can even outsmart people.

Earth

Greece’s Santorini volcano erupts more when the sea level drops

Data showing this association go back at least 360,000 years.

Environment

Warming cities may see more rain — and frequent flooding

Scientists are seeking to understand why and how to mop up excess precipitation.

Environment

Explainer: Urban heat islands and how to cool them

Cities transform landscapes covered in plants to ones covered in heat-absorbing asphalt and concrete. But ways exist to cool these urban heat islands.

Earth

Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control

An extra bonus: These rainy-day ponds clean up that dirty water running off parking lots.

Environment

Let’s learn about plastic pollution

The world is cluttered with plastic waste. All that junk kills animals far and wide.