How does a bear catch a break around here?

New Research

Decades-Old Chemicals May Be Threatening Polar Bear Fertility, As If They Didn’t Have Enough to Worry About

A new study sheds light on how today’s pollutants could become tomorrow’s threats to wildlife and humans

Many scientists believe we are standing on the edge of an unprecedented era of extinction.

Age of Humans

Why Should Humans Care if We’re Entering the Sixth Mass Extinction?

In this episode of Generation Anthropocene, learn what a new era of extinction means for diverse species—including our own

Blue petrel, one of the seabird species that mistakes the smell of algae on plastic as food

New Research

Why Seabirds Eat So Much Plastic

A new study suggests that algae growing on plastic in the oceans makes it smell like dinner

The three-spine stickleback usually forages and builds its nest near the lake bottom. But in Enos Lake, it appears to have merged with a related species that spends its time near the surface.

Extinction or Evolution? The Answer Isn’t Always Clear

The same factors that kill off some species cause others to evolve at lightning speed

Simple, yet effective.

Why Public Health Researchers Are Looking to Urban Trees

A global study finds they can help cool cities and reduce air pollution—for less money than high-tech answers

Mangroves are rich and biodiverse coastal ecosystems that flood and emerge with the tides. Now villagers are burning these trees to better their lives.

Madagascar’s Mangroves: The Ultimate Giving Trees

Locals already use the trees for food, fuel and building materials. Now they’re burning them to make lime clay

Not all clothes are created equal.

Doing Laundry Can Be Deadly for Clams, Mollusks and Other Marine Animals

Pick your wardrobe carefully—the lives of sea animals may depend on it

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

Age of Humans

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

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

Stephen Durham (left) and his father, Michael Durham, gather shells from Fence Creek in Madison, Connecticut.

Age of Humans

Ancient Oyster Shells Are Windows to the Past

Like thousands of soap-dish-sized Rosetta stones, the shells can reveal clues about the past—if you know what you’re looking for

In an artist's interpretation, the forested and warm Late Cretaceous is abruptly destroyed by a six-mile wide asteroid.

Life Bounced Back After the Dinosaurs Perished

The devastation was immediate, catastrophic and widespread, but plants and mammals were quick to take over

Randall Munroe’s xkcd comic tackles a range of popular science topics with an enlightening and humorous approach.

Age of Humans

New xkcd Comic Masterfully Shows How Climate Has Changed Through Time

Scroll through 20,000 years of humorously illustrated climate data

Kayak may be the best way to explore the climate change memorial of the future.

Anthropocene

What Will the Memorials of the Future Look Like?

From underwater trees to mechanical parrots, the memorials of tomorrow don’t look much like the ones that exist today

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.

Age of Humans

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

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

Age of Humans

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

Age of Humans

Mesmerizing Animation Shows Potential Animal Escape Routes in a Warming World

“Migrations in Motion” models the journeys over 2,900 species may take to find new habitats

What's in here? A new study aims to find out.

Age of Humans

Garbage Can Teach Us a Lot About Food Waste

A novel and slightly gross study aims to fill in gaps in our understanding of Americans’ food waste

A farmer in southern Zinder, Niger, collects leaves that will feed his sheep.

Age of Humans

The “Great Green Wall” Didn’t Stop Desertification, but it Evolved Into Something That Might

The multibillion-dollar effort to plant a 4,000-mile-long wall of trees hit some snags along the way, but there’s still hope

Small fixes can keep birds from being snagged by fishing lines, which also helps fishing vessels not lose bait to the flying foragers.

Age of Humans

These Simple Fixes Could Save Thousands of Birds a Year From Fishing Boats

Changes as basic as adding a colorful streamer to commercial longline fishing boats could save thousands of seabirds a year

Louisiana's August 2016 flood has destroyed over 40,000 homes and killed at least 13.

Age of Humans

Does Climate Change Fuel Floods? It’s Complicated

Here’s why that question is hard to answer

We're gonna need a bigger tank.

Age of Humans

Ginormous Goldfish Are Invading Australian Rivers

Abandoned by their owners, the fish run rampant and impact the environment

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