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Special Report

Age of Humans

Children at the Free School Under the Bridge, an outdoor, donation-supported school under a highway overpass, learn about not just reading and math, but climate change and the ozone layer.

Arts & Culture

How India Is Teaching 300 Million Kids to Be Environmentalists

In an enormous undertaking, schoolchildren nationwide are learning about climate change and the environment

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At the Smithsonian

What Is Wind?

Whether arriving on a gentle breeze or a stiff gale, air moves like water responding to high and low pressures around the Earth

The world as we knew it.

Science

How Geography Shaped Societies, From Neanderthals to iPhones

This weeks' episode of Generation Anthropocene discusses efforts to quantify social development and the cultural retention of the Navajo

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Science

See How Humans Have Reshaped the Globe With This Interactive Atlas

Zoomable maps reveal the scope of humanity’s influence on Earth—and the innovations aiming to create a more sustainable future

Paris has spread along the banks of the Seine since 1900.

Science

Make Cities Explode in Size With These Interactive Maps

From Los Angeles to Lagos, see how megacities have been taking over the planet during the past 100 years

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Science

Travel Through Deep Time With This Interactive Earth

Explore key moments in Earth’s transformative history as continents drift and climate fluctuates over 4.6 billion years

Featured story

Many boundaries between geologic eras are marked by physical golden spikes. This one, in South Australia, marks the end of the Ediacaran period, 635 million years ago.

SCIENCE

Where in the World is the Anthropocene?

Some geologists believe we’ve entered a new era. Now they have to search for the rocks that prove it

Air

A couple sits atop Tourkovounia Hill in Athens as clouds of Saharan dust cover the capital city.

Smart News

Skies Over Athens Turn a Martian Orange Amid Saharan Dust Storm

Strong winds brought desert dust and heat across the Mediterranean this week, sparking health advisories and fires in Greece

Piles of coal sit in front of a power plant in Utah. Such coal-fired power plants emit greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

At the Smithsonian

What Myths About the Anthropocene Get Wrong

These ten misconceptions underplay how much we have altered the global environment and undermine the new perspective we need to deal with a drastically changed world

Researchers from the University of Washington conducted an initial experiment of cloud brightening technology in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.

Smart News

A Secretive Experiment Released Salt Crystals Over San Francisco Bay—Could It Help Curb Warming?

The technology could make clouds reflect more sunlight, cooling the Earth below. But even the scientists leading the study say letting go of fossil fuels is a much-preferred response to climate change

A man in Seattle wears a mask as wildfire smoke descends on the city in September of 2020.

Science

Four Ways to Protect Yourself From Harmful Air Pollution Caused by Wildfires

Awareness about exposure, high-quality masks and air filters can help protect you from dangerous pollutants in smoke

A large dust storm, or haboob, sweeps across downtown Phoenix on July 21, 2012.

Science

How Climate Changed-Fueled “Mega Droughts” Could Harm Human Health

Researchers looked at the little-studied danger of dust and worsening air quality in the American Southwest

Health

The study involved nearly 132,000 participants whose habits were tracked for roughly 40 years.

Smart News

Your Daily Coffee Might Be Protecting Your Brain From Dementia, a New Study Suggests

Two to three caffeinated cups a day may help keep the cognitive condition away

Air temperatures in Joshua Tree, California, exceeded triple-digits on June 5, 2024.

Smart News

Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Should Be Considered ‘Major Disasters’ by FEMA Amid Climate Crisis, Advocates Say

Despite killing more people in the U.S. each year than hurricanes, floods or tornadoes, heat waves aren’t currently eligible for emergency funding from the disaster relief agency

Smog and other types of pollution were linked to nine million deaths in 2015 by a new report

Smart News

One in Six Global Deaths Linked to Pollution

A new report suggests that pollution led to the deaths of nine million people in 2015

Water

More than 1.8 billion people lived under drought conditions in 2022 and 2023, according to a report from the United Nations.

Smart News

United Nations Declares That the World Has Entered an Era of ‘Global Water Bankruptcy’

We’re living beyond our hydrological means and need to focus on long-term recovery, according to a new report

An orange tributary of the Kugororuk River.

Smart News

Alaska’s Rivers Are Turning Orange as Thawing Permafrost Releases Metals Into Waterways

A new study identifies at least 75 Arctic streams where minerals, especially iron, are staining water with a rusty hue

Boiling and filtering tap water, researchers suggest, could reduce concentrations of microplastics by more than 80 percent.

Smart News

Boiling Tap Water Could Help Remove 80 Percent of Its Microplastics, Study Suggests

Minerals in some tap water can capture tiny plastic particles when the water is boiled, making them easier to filter away, according to a new study

Plastics break down over time into micro- and nanosized particles that litter our water and air.

Science

One Liter of Bottled Water May Contain 240,000 Tiny Plastic Fragments

A new technique reveals that the liquid may contain 10 to 1000 times more plastic pieces than previously thought

Even at thresholds of sodium chloride that were considered safe at 230 milligrams of chloride per liter of water in the U.S. to 120 milligrams of chloride per liter in Canada, researchers found a significant loss of zooplankton populations an increase in algae.  

Smart News

Road Salt Pollution Levels Deemed Safe in U.S. and Canada May Not Protect Freshwater Ecosystems Enough

At current thresholds, salinization can kill off zooplankton, a crucial microorganism at the center of many food webs

Culture

The Algodón River flows through a forest of the Amazon Basin in the remote northeastern corner of Peru. Scientists collected and analyzed a series of ten roughly 3-foot-long soil cores from three sites, each located at least a half-mile away from river courses and floodplains.

At the Smithsonian

In a Remote Amazon Region, Study Shows Indigenous Peoples Have Practiced Forest Conservation for Millennia

Smithsonian researcher Dolores Piperno says native people have always played an important role in sustainability

While looters discard bones, they are invaluable to archaeologists’ research.

History

As Mongolia Melts, Looters Close In On Priceless Artifacts

Climate change and desperation are putting the country’s unique history at risk

English Bulldogs illustrate the dramatic turn dog evolution has taken at the hands of humans.

Science

The Evolution of Petface

The same traits that make these dogs adorable threaten their health and well-being

This celestial chart from 1687 is one of many illustrations from books, charts, and maps showing artists’ imaginings of polar bears.

Science

How Polar Bears Became the Dragons of the North

Renaissance maps depicting the “white bears” say more about our own fears and fantasies than about the predators themselves

From the Batpod to the Batcomputer, the Caped Crusader's gadgets use up a whole lot of energy and spew a whole lot of carbon. But when it comes to carbon footprints, Gotham's techiest hero has nothing on some of pop culture's other saviors.

Science

Which of Your Favorite Superheroes Is Destroying the Earth?

Measuring the carbon footprints of your favorite comic book heroes, from Batman to Jessica Jones

Food

The bear was only a few years old and had become comfortable around humans.

Smart News

A Young Black Bear Was Put Down After Humans Fed It, Took Selfies

The more food bears obtain from humans, the more likely they are to lose their natural fear of us

Since commercial harvesting of sea cucumbers began in British Columbia, indigenous people have grown more worried about the long-term sustainability of catching them.

Science

Is the Mysterious Sea Cucumber Slipping Out of Our Grasp?

The slimy, tasty enigmas have long been over-harvested. An indigenous community in Canada could be close to finding a sustainable solution

Humans overwhelmingly rely on only a few crops like wheat, making our food supplies vulnerable to climate change

Smart News

Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth’s Food Supply. And That’s a Problem

The looming threat of extinction from climate change makes the lack of diversity in the world’s food supplies a dangerous prospect

Americans have started feeding their pets an abundance of high-quality meats, suitable for human consumption. But fido doesn't need filet mignon.

Smart News

America’s Fancy Pet Food Addiction Is a Big Problem for the Environment

American pets have been increasingly served up prime cuts of meat, but this food comes at a cost

Cookie Dough was among 10 flavors found to contain low levels of glyphosate

Smart News

Trace Amounts of Pesticide Found in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

But don’t have a cow

Shelter

Albina Yard, a 16,000-square-foot office building in Portland, uses wood, not steel and concrete, as its structural support.

Science

Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

Light, strong and renewable, wood may change how tall buildings are built

Tokyo is the world's largest city...for now.

Smart News

Five Things to Know About Megacities

Urbanization is happening fast—here’s what to know about the world’s largest cities

Cubicles: Not just mind-numbing, but unhealthy too?

Science

How Climate Change Could Make Office Work Even Unhealthier

“Sick building syndrome” and other indoor concerns could be exacerbated by climate change

Germany, Hamburg, Speichrstadt and Hafencity district

Science

Coastal Cities Need to Radically Rethink How They Deal With Rising Waters

“Transitional architecture” is both a futuristic solution to sea-level rise and a hearkening back to older ways of living

Zacharia Muinde of Map Kibera Trust shows teachers and students their school's page on Open Schools Kenya, a mapping project that helps residents find information on local schools.

Science

DIY Cartographers Are Putting Slums on the Literal Map

When a community makes its way onto a map, it’s that much harder to deny, say activists.

Economics

Municipal solid waste (aka garbage) being burned in an incinerator; this incinerator can handle 17 tons of trash an hour.

Science

Is Sustainable Trash-Burning a Load of Rubbish?

Some experts say it lets us get away with producing more and more garbage.

Learning about bugs at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio.

Articles

Americans Think National Parks Are Worth Way More Than We Spend On Them

An independent survey finds that although NPS’s annual budget is around $3 billion, Americans are willing to pay much more

A male greater sage-grouse dances for a female.

Science

New Schemes Pay You to Save Species—But Will They Work?

Programs being set up in the American West are taking a radical new approach: paying landowners to preserve animal habitat.

Nature

A gentoo penguin peers up from its colony’s nesting grounds on Booth Island, in the Antarctic Peninsula. The species, an adaptable forager that can switch prey when krill are scarce, has expanded into parts of the Antarctic Peninsula that were once too icy to inhabit.

Science

The Penguins That Thrive—and the Ones Left Behind—as Antarctica Warms

A new decade-long study tracked 37 penguin colonies and found that the birds are breeding earlier. The shift marks one way among many that climate change is transforming life at the bottom of the world

A mule deer crosses a road near Aspen, Colorado.

Science

How Roads Have Transformed the Natural World

A brief history of road ecology, the scientific discipline that is helping us understand our impact on the environment and how to diminish it

A magpie nest in Antwerp, Belgium, made with anti-bird spikes

Smart News

Crows and Magpies Snatch Anti-Bird Spikes to Build Their Nests

Birds in Europe are prying up the metal barbs, meant to repel them from roosting on buildings, and using the devices as nesting material

The fuzz of the fingernail-sized rosy maple moth may remind you of a teddy bear.

Science

These Moths Are So Gorgeous They ‘Put Butterflies to Shame’

To celebrate National Moth Week, bask in the beautiful variety of these oft-overlooked insects

The Chilean crocus, "Tecophilaea cyanocrocus," was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2001. It's been considered "critically endangered" under ICUN guidelines ever since.

Smart News

Plant Species Have Been Disappearing 500 Times Faster Than Normal, Thanks to Humans

Researchers call the results “frightening” because it’s likely “gross underestimate” and the problem is probably much worse

Latest Anthropocene Stories

Human development—such as roads—affects wildlife. But so does the presence of people.

Smart News

The Mere Presence of Humans—Not Just Our Changes to the Land—Can Alter Wild Animals’ Behaviors, a New Study Suggests

Researchers examined GPS tracking data from thousands of animals representing 37 species and anonymized cellphone location data from 2020, a year of Covid-19 lockdowns, and the previous year

After exposing an ant to the air pollutant ozone, its nestmates acted aggressively toward it.

Smart News

Air Pollution Can Cause Some Ants to Turn on One Another—and Neglect Their Young, New Research Suggests

The findings further hint that air pollution, particularly ozone, is contributing to the “insect apocalypse”

Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish have threatened the Great Barrier Reef since the 1960s.

Science

These Hungry Starfish Are Spiraling Out of Control in Australia. Now Scientists Say They Have a New Plan to Fight Back

Synthetic pheromones may be a promising tool in attracting and culling troublesome crown-of-thorns starfish, which rapidly eat large amounts of coral on the Great Barrier Reef

New research reveals that Earth's Northern Hemisphere is growing darker faster than the Southern Hemisphere is.

Smart News

Earth Is Getting Dimmer—and the Northern Hemisphere Is Losing Brightness Faster Than Scientists Expected

New research challenges the idea that the hemispheres’ matching brightness is a fundamental property of the planet

A NASA image of Florida in 1992. Coastal communities are most the vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise.

Smart News

Sea Levels Rose More Than Expected in 2024, According to a NASA Analysis

Ocean warming and thus thermal expansion played a major role in last year’s increase

Arctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate.

Smart News

The Arctic Could Have Its First ‘Ice-Free’ Day by as Early as 2027

In a new study, scientists used climate models to predict the alarming milestone

A sea turtle swims in a coral reef in Hawaii. Ocean acidification, found to be on the brink of crossing a boundary into higher-risk territory, can affect coral skeleton formation.

Smart News

Earth Is on the Brink of Breaching a Seventh of Nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ That Support Life

A new “health check” for our planet sounds an alarm bell on rising ocean acidification, which is driven by carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

Asteroid impacts and volcanism have led to mass extinctions on our planet.

Science

Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

Scientists aren’t just arguing whether humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event now, but whether many more occurred in the past

Human-caused biodiversity loss is a major factor that could contribute to more frequent and severe disease outbreaks, according to a new study.

Smart News

Biodiversity Loss Increases the Risk of Disease Outbreaks, Analysis Suggests

Researchers found that human-caused environmental changes are driving the severity and prevalence of disease, putting people, animals and plants at risk

Piles of coal sit in front of a power plant in Utah. Such coal-fired power plants emit greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

At the Smithsonian

What Myths About the Anthropocene Get Wrong

These ten misconceptions underplay how much we have altered the global environment and undermine the new perspective we need to deal with a drastically changed world

Inventions for Good

Researchers found that tadpole embryos were better able to fight off infection when their cells' natural electrical charge was manipulated.

Innovation

Tweaking the Tiny Electrical Charges Inside Cells Can Fight Infection

It works in tadpoles. Could it work in humans?

Albina Yard, a 16,000-square-foot office building in Portland, uses wood, not steel and concrete, as its structural support.

Science

Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

Light, strong and renewable, wood may change how tall buildings are built

The casein film can either be used as wrappers, like this, or it can be sprayed onto food.

Innovation

Here’s a Food Wrapper You Can Eat

Made from milk protein, it not only keeps food from spoiling, but it also could keep a lot of plastic out of landfills