Environment

Environment

Bees and butterflies struggle to find flowers in polluted air

Emissions from cars and trucks make it harder for insects to find flowers. That in turn reduces flower visits and pollination, a new study finds.

Environment

Widely used pesticides may threaten Earth’s ozone layer

Data show a major class of long-used “eco-friendly” copper chemicals unexpectedly react with soil, making gases harmful to Earth’s protective ozone layer.

Environment

Scientists Say: Pollution

Pollution is any substance or form of energy released into the environment that is harmful to people or other living creatures.

Environment

Clothes dryers may be a major source of airborne microplastics

Scientists thought washing machines were a leading contributor of microplastics. Now it appears dryers may be an even bigger problem.

Physics

Explainer: Gravity and microgravity

The force of gravity holds us on the ground, keeps planets in orbit and extends throughout space. A very weak gravitational pull is called microgravity.

Animals

Living mysteries: Why teeny-weeny tardigrades are tough as nails

Tardigrades often live in cool, damp moss. Their cushy life has somehow prepared them to survive the lethal radiation of outer space.

Environment

Recycling a climate-warming gas could make ‘greener’ farmed fish

Instead of warming the climate, methane gas can be collected to help farmers. Along the way, it may also save some fish.

Materials Science

This glitter gets its color from plants, not a synthetic plastic

In the new material, tiny arrangements of cellulose reflect light in specific ways to create vibrant hues in an environmentally friendly glitter.

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.

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.

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.

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.”