Climate
The Last-Ditch Effort to Save Wild Salmon
As climate change deals a blow to coastal habitats, coho salmon are disappearing from California’s Russian River. Can conservation hatcheries save them?
India Isn’t Ready for a Deadly Combination of Heat and Humidity
The country’s recent heat wave has seen “wet bulb” temperatures rise to potentially fatal levels—but plans to handle the crisis are still in their infancy.
A Pandemic Tragedy on Brazil’s Lago Verde
A dispatch from the Amazon: A beloved leader was the first Indigenous person in Brazil to die of Covid—a loss entwined with her people’s fight for sovereignty.
Regulations and Solutions
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Oceans and Waterways
Extreme Heat
Pew Pew Pew
How Ants Inspired a New Way to Measure Snow With Space Lasers
Photons wander through snow like ants through a nest. That inspired a clever new NASA technique for measuring the fluffy stuff from orbit.
Ideas
‘Thinkwashing’ Keeps People From Taking Action in Times of Crisis
When it comes to issues like climate change, too many let the perfect become the enemy of the good, while the world burns.
Water World
The Wetlands Are Drowning
A long-term study of a marsh was meant to ask whether rising levels of CO2 could help wetlands thrive despite rising seas. The plants aren’t keeping up.
For Peat's Sake
Carbon-Rich Peat Is Disappearing. But Is It Also Growing?
Scientists have discovered “proto-peat” forming in the Arctic as the Earth naturally sequesters carbon, but it could take centuries to mature.
RoboCrop
Farming Drives Toward ‘Precision Agriculture’ Technologies
Although real-world data is scant, proponents say robotics and AI will soon revolutionize agriculture.
Grime Time
A Powerful ISS Instrument Will Hunt for Minerals in Dusty Lands
NASA’s EMIT mission will better analyze the grime from dust-spewing regions, a critically understudied factor in climate change.
Sunburn
The Desert’s Fragile Skin Can’t Take Much More Heat
Climate change and human activity are destroying the layers of fungi, lichen, and bacteria that protect deserts from erosion.
Road Block
A New Gas-Guzzling Postal Fleet Could Be Halted by Lawsuits
Suits by states and environmentalists are contesting a USPS contract to buy 165,000 trucks, the majority of which get only 8.6 miles per gallon.
Hot Topic
Burning Crops to Capture Carbon? Good Luck Finding Water
The technique uses plants as fuel and sequesters the emitted CO2, removing it from the atmosphere. But scaling up would use gobs of water and land.
Water World
A Vast Underground Water System Helps Drive Antarctica’s Glaciers
Scientists have finally found Antarctica’s missing groundwater, which will help them predict ice flows on the continent.
Don't Have A Cow
You Don't Have to Quit Meat to Save the Planet—Just Eat Less
If everyone ate just 20 percent less beef, deforestation rates by 2050 could be half as bad.
Climate Change
The Pandemic Gave Scientists a New Way to Spy on Emissions
Researchers have struggled to quantify in real time how much carbon dioxide humans spout. Lockdowns presented a unique opportunity to get a clearer picture.
Power Drain
Everyone Wants to Build Green Energy Projects. What's the Holdup?
Proposals for wind, solar, and battery storage projects are running into a logjam of paperwork and grid connection issues.
A-Sway We Go
Give Fitbits (of Sorts) to the Trees
You can tell a lot about a tree by its sway, so scientists are outfitting them with accelerometers. That could help the West better manage its water.
Deep Trouble
It’s Not Too Late to Stop Mass Extinction in the Ocean
A quarter of a billion years ago, rising temperatures emptied the oceans of life. The planet now faces a similar threat, but the outcome is in human hands.
Ideas
With the Clock Running Out, Humans Need to Rethink Time Itself
Time is political by nature—governing everything from election cycles to environmental policies. Could reconfiguring the hours restore humanity's hope for the future?
Climate Change
Extreme Heat Is a Disease for Cities. Treat It That Way
The “urban heat island effect” creates extra-hot temperatures that kill. But cities can prescribe powerful treatments, like green spaces and reflective roofs.
Do Something
Take Action Against Climate Change With These Tools and Resources
These apps and online spaces can help you manage your eco-anxiety—and take steps to tread more lightly on the planet.
Power Point
The Surprising Climate Cost of the Humblest Battery Material
Graphite is made in blazing-hot furnaces powered by dirty energy. Until recently, there has been no good tally of the carbon emissions.
Noise Pop
Oceans Aren’t Just Warming—Their Soundscapes Are Transforming
Humans are polluting the seas with sound, while warming waters change how noise propagates. What does that mean for whales and other animals?