Earth
- Environment
A new way to make plastics could keep them from littering the seas
Borrowing from genetics, scientists are creating plastics that will degrade. They can even choose how quickly these materials break down.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Savanna
Savannas exist where there is more rainfall than in a desert, but less than in a forest.
- Ecosystems
Secret forest fungi partner with plants — and help the climate
Forest fungi are far more than mere mushrooms. They explore. They move nutrients and messages between plants. They can even help fight climate change.
- Earth
Analyze This: Nutrients from sewage may harm coastal ecosystems
A new model suggests that 58 percent of coral reefs and 88 percent of seagrass beds are exposed to excess nitrogen from wastewater.
- Animals
Explainer: The age of dinosaurs
Take a trip back to the Mesozoic Era to explore how geologic events, ecosystems and evolution were connected during the so-called age of dinosaurs.
- Humans
The ultimate genealogical search hunts for our earliest ancestors
The complex search to identify humans’ most distant cousins is long, complex and far from straightforward. It’s also far from over.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Avalanche
The word avalanche usually refers to a huge snowslide down a mountain, but it can also be used to describe any large mass of material tumbling downhill.
- Environment
Leaky sewer pipes pollute urban streams and bays with drugs
Scientists find that leaking sewer pipes around Baltimore, Md., spew thousands of doses of medicines into the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways.
- Climate
Scientists Say: El Niño and La Niña
El Niño and La Niña are part of a climate cycle that results in major weather changes every few years.
- Climate
Here’s how some sea-loving trees ended up far from the coast
This “relict ecosystem” that’s more than thousands of years old moved inland due to warming and a rise in sea levels.
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- Earth
What can ‘silent earthquakes’ teach us about the next Big One?
Earthquakes usually last seconds. But sometimes, they can last days, or even years. Here’s what scientists are learning about these “slow-slip events.”
