Environment
- Environment
How to build better ice towers for drinking water and irrigation
“Ice stupas” emerged in 2014 as a way to cope with climate change shrinking glaciers. Automation could help improve the cones’ construction.
- Environment
Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago
430-million-year-old fossilized charcoal suggests atmospheric oxygen levels of at least 16 percent, the amount needed for fire to take hold and spread.
- Ecosystems
Just 3 ingredients can quickly destroy widely used PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
Ultraviolet light, sulfite and iodide break down enduring PFAS molecules faster and more thoroughly than other UV-based methods.
- Ecosystems
Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent
Lichens and other microbes construct biological soil crusts that concentrate nutrients and slash global dust emissions.
- Agriculture
These six foods may become more popular as the planet warms
Millet, kelp, Bambara groundnut and cassava are resilient, sustainable and nutrient dense — good options for future dinner plates.
- Climate
Replacing some meat with microbial protein could help fight climate change
Just a 20 percent substitution could cut deforestation rates and land-use CO2 emissions by more than half by 2050, a new study suggests.
- Climate
Coastal cities around the globe are sinking
Of 99 coastal cities, nearly one-third are sinking in some places at more than a centimeter per year, making them more vulnerable to rising seas.
- Agriculture
More than 57 billion tons of soil have eroded in the U.S. Midwest
Researchers discovered startling soil erosion rates in the Midwest. Farming has worsened erosion, but no-till practices and cover crops can help.
- Climate
A UN report says stopping climate change is possible but action is needed now
We already have a broad array of tools to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, a new report finds. Now we just have to use them.
- Climate
Wally Broecker divined how the climate could suddenly shift
Wally Broecker’s insight into the shutdown of the great ocean conveyor belt spurred the study of abrupt climate change.
- Climate
Forests help reduce global warming in more ways than one
Trees are often touted as bulwarks against climate change for their capacity to sequester carbon, but that’s just one part of the story.
- Climate
How did we get here? The roots and impacts of the climate crisis
Over the last century and a half, scientists have built a strong case for the roots and impacts of human-caused climate change.
