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Science / Our Planet

The AirWaves mask by Frog Shanghai

How to Survive China’s Pollution Problem: Masks and Bubbles

The air quality in China’s biggest cities is famously atrocious, but designers think they may have found a way to combat the issue

High temperatures and high levels of humidity reduce the human body’s ability to do work.

Climate Change is Reducing Our Ability to Get Work Done

Increased temperature and humidity have already limited humankind’s overall capacity for physical work—and it will only get worse in the future

Ice melt in Greenland will significantly affect water levels throughout the world, most of all the equatorial Pacific and South Africa.

Melting Polar Ice Will Spike Sea Levels at the Equator

Expect higher sea levels in the equatorial Pacific and lower ones near the poles by 2100, according to new research

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Will the Next Lake-Effect Snowstorm be Severe? Ask Mountains Far Far Away

Scientists use computer simulations to test how geographic features help create intense snowstorms that blanket cities near lake shores with snow

Artist's conception of asteroid 2012 DA14 passing through the Earth-moon system on Feb. 15, 2013.

What Can We Do About Big Rocks From Space?

Last week’s close encounters with space rocks have raised concerns about how we deal with dangerous asteroids. Here’s how we would try to knock them off course.

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Parched Middle East Faces Severe Water Crisis

Drought and over-pumping has led to groundwater losses in the Middle East that equal almost the entire volume of the Dead Sea, a new study shows.

A new project examines how a warming climate will effect Canada’s tradition of backyard skating rinks.

Climate Change’s Latest Victim: Canada’s Outdoor Ice Rinks

A new project asks citizens to monitor their backyard rinks, helping to track how a warming climate is affecting Canada’s skating tradition

A study shows that wild perch are less fearful, eat faster and are more anti-social when exposed to a common pharmaceutical pollutant.

Flushing Your Anti-Anxiety Pills Down the Toilet Could Affect the Behavior of Wild Fish

A study shows that wild perch are less fearful, eat faster and are more anti-social when exposed to a common pharmaceutical pollutant

Two waved albatrosses, the only tropical albatross species, courting one another on the Galapagos Islands.

Is It Love? Why Some Ocean Animals (Sort Of) Mate For Life

A look at the mating systems of some monogamous ocean animals show that finding life partners helps species protect themselves and their young

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This Sea Slug Discards Its Penis After Sex and Grows Another

Chromodoris reticulata, native to the Pacific, engages in mating behavior previously unknown in the rest of the animal kingdom

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Trash Threatens Fragile Antarctic Environment

Decaying field huts, open pits of trash and oil-slicked beaches mar King George Island, a logistical hub for Antarctic research

A rendering of Asteroid 2012 DA14, which will pass within 17,200 miles of Earth’s surface.

An Asteroid Will Skim Right By the Earth on Friday Afternoon

The 147-foot-wide rock will pass a scant 17,200 miles from Earth’s surface, under the orbits of some telecom satellites

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Photos of Starfish Up Close: What Are You Looking At?

A stunning look at starfish reveal beautiful patterns—but what exactly are those wormy structures, bald patches, and spiky maces?

The Indian Peafowl may need help adapting to climate change.

Can Birds Survive Climate Change?

Predicted increases in torrential rain and severe drought will force birds in Asia to relocate in search of food and viable habitat, a new study finds

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Salmon Swim Home Using Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS

Their intuitive sense of the magnetic field surrounding them allow sockeye salmon to circumnavigate obstacles to find their birth stream

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Scientists See Insect Outbreaks From Space

A new tool uses satellite imagery to help researchers track small disturbances such as bug infestations, which may increase in scope as climate changes

Methane gas has impacted our atmosphere since the Romans.

Air Pollution Has Been a Problem Since the Days of Ancient Rome

By testing ice cores in Greenland, scientists can look back at environmental data from millennia past

Melting sea ice is a threat to many Arctic species, including polar bears.

Anthropocene

How Climate Change Affects the Smithsonian

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough looks at how our scientists are studying our changing climate

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Urban Heat Islands Can Alter Temperatures Thousands of Miles Away From a City

Ambient heat produced by a city’s buildings and cars often gets lifted into the jet stream and affects temperatures in places thousands of miles away

A new study suggests that lightning alone—even without the other elements of a thunderstorm—might trigger migraines.

Lightning May Trigger Migraine Headaches

A new study suggests that lightning alone—even without the other elements of a thunderstorm—might trigger migraines

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