Earth and Human Activity

Tech

Bionic plants and electric algae may usher in a greener future

Some can aid the climate by removing pollutants. Others would just avoid dirtying the environment in the first place.

Climate

Some tree leaves are finding it too hot for photosynthesis

Earth’s ongoing fever threatens to push entire forests toward this heat limit — and possible death.

Oceans

Explainer: Why are so many hurricanes strengthening really fast?

This dangerous trend appears relatively new — and growing. Studies also have begun linking it to our warming world.

Tech

Engineers cook up a new way to tackle CO₂: Make baking soda

Engineers have found a material that can collect carbon dioxide from the air. When later mixed with water, it forms baking soda that can be shed in the sea.

Materials Science

A new hydrogel could help pull drinking water from the air

The salty gel absorbs more water from the air than similar gels, even in desert climates. This could provide clean water for drinking or farming.

Animals

Adult corals have been frozen and revived for the first time

Living corals could be frozen for safekeeping. Scientists could later revive them to restore reef ecosystems that are withering in warming seas.

Climate

Let’s learn about why summer 2023 was so hot

Human-caused climate change has played a big role in this summer’s historic heat.

Oceans

Summer 2023 is when the ocean first turned ‘hot tub’ hot

Unfortunately, scientists worry that this atypical sea warming may actually be the beginning of an unwelcome new ‘normal.’

Tech

Gravity ‘batteries’ might help a weighty renewable-energy problem

To store the energy generated by wind and solar power, researchers are looking at mammoth systems that raise and lower weights.

Tech

High-tech solar ‘leaves’ create green fuels from the sun

Chemists make a liquid alternative to fossil fuels from carbon dioxide, water and the sun. Their trick? They use a new type of artificial leaf.

Earth

Canada’s Crawford Lake seems to mark when the Anthropocene began

Mud at the bottom of this lake holds a record showing how humanity has been changing our planet. But the Anthropocene isn’t an official new epoch yet.

Tech

New thermal ‘cloak’ keeps spaces from getting too hot or too cold

 A prototype fabric could help keep cars, buildings and other spaces cooler during heat waves while also reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.