Earth

Environment

Landscape Explorer shows how much the American West has changed

The online tool stitches together historical images into a map that’s helping land managers make decisions about preservation and restoration.

Climate

A new UN report lays out an ethical framework for climate engineering

The report’s release, which coincides with COP28, weighs the ethics of using technological interventions to mitigate climate change.

Earth

Before ancient Egyptians, nature sculpted sphinxes. Here’s how

Steady winds can carve landforms called yardangs — thought to have inspired the Great Sphinx of Gaza — from featureless blobs, a new study suggests.

Animals

This bird hasn’t been seen in 38 years. Its song may help track it down

Using bioacoustics, South American scientists are eavesdropping on a forest in hopes of hearing the song of the long-missing purple-winged ground dove.

Climate

Capturing methane from the air would slow global warming. Can it be done?

Removing methane from the atmosphere requires different technology from removing carbon dioxide. Scientists are taking on the challenge.

Science & Society

Reindeer herders and scientists collaborate to understand Arctic warming

Siberian reindeer herders and scientists are working together to figure out how to predict rain-on-snow events that turn tundra into deadly ice.

Life

Crabs left the sea not once, but several times, in their evolution

A new study is the most comprehensive analysis yet of the evolution of “true crabs.”

Environment

Grassland and shrubland fires destroy more U.S. homes than forest fires

Grassland and shrubland fires destroyed nearly 11,000 homes in the contiguous United States from 1990 to 2020.

Climate

The last 12 months were the hottest on record

The planet’s average temperature was about 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than the 1850–1900 average, a new report finds.

Plants

On some Australian islands, sea level rise may be helping mangroves thrive

Rising seas usually spell trouble for mangroves. But the first survey of the Howick Islands in 50 years finds that mangroves there have expanded a lot.

Animals

Fake fog, ‘re-skinning’ and ‘sea-weeding’ could help coral reefs survive

Coral reefs are in global peril, but scientists around the world are working hard to find ways to help them survive the Anthropocene.

Animals

At the foot of a melting glacier in Peru, llamas helped revitalize the land

A partnership between scientists and farmers suggests how llama herding can mitigate some of the impacts of climate change.