Climate
- Life
More than 2 billion people lack safe drinking water. That number will only grow.
By 2050, half the world’s population may no longer have safe water to drink or grow food. What then?
- Oceans
Viruses may help phytoplankton make clouds — by tearing the algae apart
Sick phytoplankton shed their calcium carbonate plates more easily than their healthy counterparts, which could play a role in forming clouds.
- Climate
As waters rise, coastal megacities like Mumbai face catastrophe
For coastal megacities like Mumbai, rising seas and weather chaos linked with climate change threaten economic and social disaster.
- Earth
Why sea level rise varies from place to place
The impact of global sea level rise varies regionally, thanks to these factors.
- Science & Society
The trouble with water, be it too much or too little
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses the future of water and global issues associated with water scarcity and rising sea levels.
- Climate
Readers question dark fusion, Antarctic ice melting and more
Readers had questions about Antarctic ice melting, dark fusion and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Earth
Global dimming may mitigate warming, but could hurt crop yields
Injecting a veil of tiny particles into the atmosphere might reduce global warming, but it could also lower crop yields.
- Earth
You’re living in a new geologic age. It’s called the Meghalayan
The newly defined Meghalayan Age began at the same time as a global, climate-driven event that led to human upheavals.
- Oceans
Shallow reef species may not find refuge in deeper water habitats
Coral reefs in deep-water ecosystems may not make good homes for species from damaged shallow reefs.
- Environment
Wildfires are making extreme air pollution even worse in the northwest U.S.
America’s air is getting cleaner — except in places that are prone to wildfires.
- Climate
Bloodflowers’ risk to monarchs could multiply as climate changes
High atmospheric carbon dioxide levels can weaken the medicinal value of a milkweed that caterpillars eat, and high temperatures may make the plant toxic.
- Earth
Earth’s rivers cover 44 percent more land than we thought
A global survey of rivers and streams based on satellite data suggests that these waterways traverse about 773,000 square kilometers.
