Environmental Science

Environmental Science

A toxicologist explains the impacts of antidepressants on fish — and no, they're not getting any happier.
What we've learning from the world’s coldest, most forbidding, and most peaceful continent.
Carnivores, herbivores, omnivores — and now virivores.
Laser-guided lightning systems could someday offer much greater protection than lightning rods.
Why would the Earth suddenly start vomiting forth huge quantities of mud?
Passing chunks of ice can fertilize ocean waters and play a role in the planet’s carbon cycle.
crispr mice
Merely 256 genetically engineered mice could make an island's pest population go extinct.
It’s an agricultural moonshot: Scientists hope to increase plant yields by hacking photosynthesis, the process that powers life on Earth.
7mins
What astronaut Ron Garan saw in space changed his life forever – here’s what it taught him.
Sight helps you see a room, but interoception lets you sense it from inside your own body.
It's on a 100,000-year timescale, though, so the next few centuries might not be so comfortable.
methane
Methane is a shorter-lived but more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Cleaning it up could have a quick impact on global warming.
All American and European eels originate in the same place.
8mins
The next time you see your dog sniffing the pavement or another dog’s junk, you should let them. Here’s why.
The crabs' blue blood contains an ancient immune defense mechanism that has helped save countless human lives.
biomass
Since our arrival, humans have driven a seven-fold drop in the mass of wild land mammals.
Or why I’m coming out as an impatient optimist.
uranium seawater
The new material may make marine uranium extraction economically feasible.
cement
Scientists turn to nature to improve a ubiquitous building material.
salton sea
A team of scientists hopes deep-earth lithium could sustain America's vast demand for batteries. But extracting it won't be easy.
length of day
The length of a day oscillates slightly every six years. This was a surprising discovery made last decade. We might now know why.