Earth

Earth

Sea level rise doesn’t necessarily spell doom for coastal wetlands

Wetlands can survive and even thrive despite rising sea levels — if humans give them room to grow.

Climate

Wildfires make their own weather, and that matters for fire management

Mathematical equations describing interactions between wildfires and the air around them help explain their power and destruction.

Oceans

A massive net is being deployed to pick up plastic in the Pacific

As the Ocean Cleanup project embarks, critics remain unconvinced that scooping up debris is the best way to solve the ocean’s plastic problem.

Agriculture

How plant microbes could feed the world and save endangered species

Scientists have only scratched the surface of the plant microbiome, but they already believe it might increase crop yield and save species from extinction.

Astronomy

Readers’ interest piqued by Parker Solar Probe, general relativity and more

Readers had questions about NASA's Parker Solar Probe, Einstein's general relativity theory and underwater cables used as earthquake sensors.

Animals

A gentoo penguin’s dinner knows how to fight back

Cameras attached to gentoo penguins off the Falkland Islands revealed that, despite the birds’ small size, their lobster krill prey can sometimes win in a fight.

Materials Science

A new material harnesses light to deice surfaces

A new sun-powered material could someday melt the ice off airplane wings, wind turbines and rooftops.

Climate

As temperatures rise, so do insects’ appetites for corn, rice and wheat

Hotter, hungrier pests likely to do 10 percent to 25 percent more damage to grains for each warmer degree.

Earth

Artificial intelligence could improve predictions for where quake aftershocks will hit

Scientists trained an artificial intelligence system to figure out where aftershocks are likely to occur.

Health & Medicine

As algae blooms increase, scientists seek better ways to predict these toxic tides

Scientists around the United States are developing programs that can predict harmful algal blooms in advance.

Climate

Chances of an Atlantic hurricane season busier than 2005’s are slim — for now

The 28 named tropical storms that swirled through the Atlantic Ocean in 2005 is about as many as the region can produce in a year.

Health & Medicine

Air pollution is shaving a year off our average life expectancy

The first country-by-country look at how dirty air affects when we die shows it can have more impact on mortality than breast or lung cancer.