Earth
- Environment
Recycling a climate-warming gas could make ‘greener’ farmed fish
Instead of warming the climate, methane gas can be collected to help farmers. Along the way, it may also save some fish.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Silicon
The chemical element silicon is used to make everything from bricks to cookware to electronics.
- Earth
Climate change is upping the height of Earth’s lower atmosphere
The upper edge of the troposphere, the slice of sky closest to the ground, rose 50 to 60 meters (165 to 200 feet) a decade from 1980 to 2020.
- Animals
As the tropics warm, some birds are shrinking
Migratory birds are getting smaller as temperatures climb, studies had showed. New evidence shows dozens of tropical, nonmigratory species are, too.
- Climate
Can scientists develop an icy sanctuary for Arctic life?
The final refuge for summer sea ice may also protect the creatures that depend on it. Saving it is an ambitious goal with many hurdles.
- Materials Science
This glitter gets its color from plants, not a synthetic plastic
In the new material, tiny arrangements of cellulose reflect light in specific ways to create vibrant hues in an environmentally friendly glitter.
- Life
From icebergs to smoke, forecasting where dangers will drift
Smoke drifts. Fish eggs float downstream. Where such drifting things end up may seem a mystery. But research can predict where they’ll end up.
- Environment
A new way to make plastics could keep them from littering the seas
Borrowing from genetics, scientists are creating plastics that will degrade. They can even choose how quickly these materials break down.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Savanna
Savannas exist where there is more rainfall than in a desert, but less than in a forest.
- Ecosystems
Secret forest fungi partner with plants — and help the climate
Forest fungi are far more than mere mushrooms. They explore. They move nutrients and messages between plants. They can even help fight climate change.
- Earth
Analyze This: Nutrients from sewage may harm coastal ecosystems
A new model suggests that 58 percent of coral reefs and 88 percent of seagrass beds are exposed to excess nitrogen from wastewater.
- Animals
Explainer: The age of dinosaurs
Take a trip back to the Mesozoic Era to explore how geologic events, ecosystems and evolution were connected during the so-called age of dinosaurs.
