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Science / Our Planet

A floating platform in Skadar Lake entices pelicans to build their nests here, protecting them from floods.

Age of Humans

How Floating Nests May Save One of the World’s Largest Water Birds

Designed to withstand floods, the rafts are helping the Dalmatian pelican make a comeback in Montenegro and Albania

The ruins of an ancient Norse settlement still stand near Hvalsey Fjord in Greenland.

New Research

Did Climate Change Make the Norse Disappear From Greenland?

Evidence from glacial deposits adds a new twist to the tale of the mysterious lost settlements

Water gushes out of Aswan Dam in Egypt.

Age of Humans

Humans Are Draining Even More of Earth’s Freshwater Than We Thought

Ironically, building dams and irrigation systems may end up driving food and water shortages

Though the new method can't produce these large sparklers yet, it may be an important part of future diamond production.

New Research

Weird New Type of Carbon Is Harder (and Brighter) Than Diamond

Dubbed Q-carbon, the material is magnetic, emits a soft glow and can be used to grow diamonds faster and cheaper than ever before

New Mapping Technology Helps Arctic Communities “Keep on Top” of Sea Ice Changes

Buoys are being deployed in the bays of Labrador, Canada, with sensors that track ice thickness, to stop Inuit from breaking through

A dry boat dock sits in Huntington Lake after the water receded, in the High Sierra, California. The state is in its fifth year of drought, and more and more, California is turning to Australia—which endured a ten-year drought earlier this century—for solutions.

Age of Humans

What Can Australia Teach California About Drought?

With the Golden State entering its fifth year of drought, people are looking Down Under for solutions

A crowd sends aloft a balloon representation of Earth at Piazza Venezia during a climate change rally in Rome a day before the COP21 conference in Paris.

Age of Humans

What Will Make the Paris Climate Talks a Success?

This episode of Generation Anthropocene explores the history of the UN climate summit and what’s different at this year’s event

Thick-billed murres gathering on Coats Island in the Canadian Arctic. New research is finding that these and other birds are bringing ocean pollution back onto land; the birds eat contaminated fish and poop out the chemicals.

Age of Humans

Seabirds Are Dumping Pollution-Laden Poop Back on Land

Chemicals we’ve poured into the ocean are coming back to sting us thanks to seabirds defecating in their onshore colonies

With the recent opening of the Northwest Passage in the Arctic due to melting sea ice barriers, Smithsonian research biologist Seabird McKeon and his team report increasing numbers of animals making the journey into new territories.

Age of Humans

If Atlantic and Pacific Sea Worlds Collide, Does That Spell Catastrophe?

While the Arctic ice melt is opening up east to west shipping lanes, some 75 animals species might also make the journey

None

Spectacular High Fashion Rises From a Landscape of Trash

Photographer Fabrice Monteiro conjures the specter of environmental ruin

Activist Tristram Stuart adds to a collection of fruits during an event in Trafalgar Square designed to highlight food waste by feeding 5,000 people on rejected supermarket food.

Age of Humans

This Is How Much Water You Waste When You Throw Away Food

Tossing an apple is like pouring 25 gallons of water down the drain, and the average American does that 17 times a year

The volcanic plume responsible for the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland has also brought up bits of Earth's ancient mantle from deep inside the planet.

New Research

Earth’s Water May Be as Old as the Earth Itself

Ancient volcanic rocks may have preserved tiny samples of the planet’s original moisture

Holiday feasts can be celebratory but also sustainable with a few simple tweaks.

Age of Humans

How to Have the Most Sustainable Thanksgiving Ever

Traditions and turkey don’t have to be incompatible with Earth-friendly practices

A bird watcher walks through a dried-up riverbed in the Netherlands in 2007.

Age of Humans

A New “Drought Atlas” Tracks Europe’s Extreme Weather Through History

The data, based on tree rings, fills in details about past events and could help improve climate modeling for the future

“If I go look for dinosaurs, I will find them, because there’s tons of them out there,” says Kirk Johnson, the director of the National Museum of Natural History and the star of a new Nova series "Making North America."

Smithsonian’s Kirk Johnson Steps Up to Be the Rock Star of Geology

The new PBS science series “Making North America” features the director of the National Museum of Natural History

Samples of cultured meat grown in a laboratory are seen at the University of Maastricht on November 9, 2011. Scientists are cooking up new ways of sustainably feeding the world's hunger for resource-intensive foods like meat products.

Age of Humans

Strange Foods of the Future: The Planet Can Stomach Them, But Can You?

These unusual delicacies could become the staple foods of the future

Live near a cemetery? Better check your drinking water.

Arsenic and Old Graves: Civil War-Era Cemeteries May Be Leaking Toxins

The poisonous element, once used in embalming fluids, could be contaminating drinking water as corpses rot

A fisher in New England empties cod from a drag net.

Age of Humans

Why Smarter Fishing Practices Aren’t Saving Maine Cod From Collapse

Warming waters are undermining the recovery of the already troubled Gulf of Maine fishery

Shoppers flock to a stall to purchase organically grown produce, a rarity on the island of Mauritius. As incomes rise here, so does the demand for organic, but only a handful of farmers have figured out how to balance organic growing with the special demands of a tropical climate.

Age of Humans

Against All Odds, This Indian Ocean Island Is Trying to Go Organic

Mauritius is one of many places suddenly seeking organic produce. But as local farmers are finding, it’s not that easy

Mary Seton Corboy, founder of Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, took a Superfund site 20 years ago and turned it into a thriving urban oasis.

Age of Humans

Inner-City Farmers May Have Toxic Soil on Their Hands

Lead is a particular risk as people try to turn potentially contaminated urban sites into productive and sustainable farms

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