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Climate Change

Bleached coral fragments touching healthy clones took as little as four weeks to recover fully.

Sick Corals Can Heal With the Help of a ‘Magic Touch’ From Healthy Ones, Offering Hope for Heat-Damaged Marine Ecosystems

A coral is often a colony of tiny, genetically identical animals. New research suggests that when a bleached coral fragment comes into physical contact with a colorful, thriving clone, the pale one can revive within weeks

Chinstrap penguins are dietary specialists that mainly eat Antarctic krill.

One of the World’s Largest Chinstrap Penguin Colonies Is Shrinking Fast

Zavodovski Island, a remote, uninhabited volcanic island between South America and Antarctica, lost 63 percent of its chinstrap penguins between 2011 and 2025, according to a new study

Jakob Kudsk Steensen's Berl-Berl installation, which goes on view at New York City's MoMA on October 12, brings a digital, immersive swamp to life.

A Digital Swamp Coming to New York City’s MoMA Is ‘Made to Envelop You’ in Nature With the Help of Cutting-Edge Technology

“Wetland” is the latest installation of a high-tech traveling exhibition designed by Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen. It recreates the overlooked ecosystem with the help of folklore, soundscapes and video game software

These visualizations show how the Antarctic ozone hole grew from August 1, 2026 to September 12, 2026. 

September’s Ozone Hole Was the Biggest It Has Been in 25 Years

The size of the hole in the stratosphere’s ozone layer fluctuates every year, but last month’s, measuring 10.6 million square miles, was especially large

2024's Hurricane Milton as seen from the International Space Station

Could 2026 Be a Year With No Atlantic Hurricanes? We’ve Surprisingly Passed Their Peak Month Without Any, Thanks to El Niño

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, and the last time one passed by without an intense cyclone was more than 100 years ago. While the ongoing “super” El Niño seems to be suppressing storms in the Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean is being overactive

Archaeologists found a slate arrowhead they estimate to be between 5,000 and 6,000 years old.

In an Exciting but ‘Brutal’ Find, a 5,000-Year-Old Arrow Emerges From Norway’s Rapidly Melting Mountain Ice

Archaeologists discovered 48 prehistoric arrows during a recent three-week expedition in the mountains of Jotunheimen

Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier

Satellite Images Reveal Greenland and Antarctica Have Lost More Than 12 Trillion Tons of Ice Over the Past 50 Years

Most of the frozen water has vanished because glaciers have been flowing faster into the ocean, rather than because of surface melting of ice sheets, according to a new study. Researchers estimate the ice loss has raised the global sea level by more than one inch

The "super" El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean has been brewing since June and will extend through February.

Scientists Say Scorching Temperatures Brought on by the ‘Super’ El Niño Could Kill Nearly Half a Million People by February

The predicted number, which includes deaths since June, likely represents an underestimate of total deaths. The heat could linger beyond February, and the climate swing could bring about other life-threatening conditions, including flooding, wildfire and infectious diseases

A nine-banded armadillo in Costa Rica. The Mexican long-nosed armadillo, which is the only armadillo species found in the United States, used to be considered the same species as the nine-banded armadillo.

An Armadillo Found in Ohio Is the Latest Surprise in the Armored Animals’ Expansion North. Where Are They Now, and What’s Driving Their Movement?

Typically spotted in the South and Southeast, the creatures have been reaching increasingly distant states like North Carolina, Virginia and Illinois as winters become milder

Western Europe experienced back-to-back heatwaves this summer.

Did You Suffer a Sweltering August? You Weren’t Alone. It Tied for the Month With the Hottest Global Temperatures on Record

Last month, the air temperature averaged 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit, tying with July 2023 as the toastiest month ever documented by the European Union’s climate service

Researchers spotted invasive devil firefish swimming around the wreck.

This Hospital Ship Sank Off Albania’s Coast During World War II. Now, It’s Teeming With Marine Life

A new survey of the “Po” has revealed a thriving underwater ecosystem, including rare Mediterranean monk seals

The researchers have collected thousands of coral samples since 2006.

Corals Reveal El Niño Events Have Become Stronger in Recent Decades, Probably Because Humans Have Been Heating Up the Planet

Researchers used elements trapped within Galápagos corals to understand natural swings in the climate over the past millennium. They hint that variability has gone up over the past 40 years compared to preindustrial times

Streets affected by the catastrophic floods are now covered in mud.

What Triggered the Devastating Floods in Nepal and Tibet, and Are We Due for More in the Future? Here’s What Scientists Know So Far

Natural hazards researchers suspect that a landslide involving a glacier triggered the event, and they say more could happen because of human-caused climate change

Scientists reconstructed the ancient forest canopy using fragments of fossilized leaves.

Forests Didn’t Fare Well During an Ancient Global Warming Event, Offering a ‘Cautionary’ Tale About Today’s Climate Change

An intense global warming event 56 million years ago caused a forest in modern-day Wyoming to lose around 60 percent of its canopy cover, and it took more than 100,000 years to bounce back, a study suggests

Illustration of the La Brea Tar Pit's ancient habitat, with the newly discovered toad species (center and right) and the Mexican burrowing toad (bottom)

Paleontologists Discover a New Species of Ice Age Toad at the La Brea Tar Pits, Offering Clues About the Area’s Ancient Climate

The fossilized remains, recovered in 1929, were part of La Brea’s relatively understudied amphibian collection. Since toads are cold-blooded and sensitive to environmental changes, the discovery can help researchers piece together past climate conditions

A hunger stone along the banks of the Elbe River in Decin, a city in the Czech Republic

‘Hunger Stones’ Resurface in Europe, Bringing Centuries-Old Warnings Back Into View as Rivers Hit Historic Lows

As drought exposes stretches of riverbed in central Europe, markers carved by past generations to record low water levels are emerging once again

Marmots can spend up to eight months in hibernation, so packing on the pounds during the short alpine summer is essential to their survival.

Cast Your Vote for the Chunkiest Alpine Rodent During Colorado’s First-Ever Fat Marmot Week

The inaugural competition puts eight yellow-bellied marmots head-to-head while shining a light on the science behind their seasonal weight gain and survival at high elevations

Claude Monet lived in Giverny, a small village about 50 miles northwest of Paris, for more than four decades.

In France, Brutal Summer Heat Waves Are Taking a Toll on the Flowers That Inspired Claude Monet’s Most Beloved Paintings

The colorful nasturtiums at the artist’s house and gardens have been hit particularly hard this summer as France grapples with a record 52 heatwave days

Brazil experienced its first urban outbreak of yellow fever in decades from late 2016 through 2018. During that time, people flocked to health centers to get a vaccine, which can provide lifelong protection.

Brazil’s First Urban Yellow Fever Outbreak in Nearly a Century May Have Been Fueled by a Surprising Culprit

Extremely wet conditions are known to help spread mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever. But based on computer simulations, researchers suspect that a severe drought may have contributed to the South American country’s recent deadly epidemic

The small blue, shown here, has lost about 40 percent of its habitat in the United Kingdom over the last 150 years.

Butterflies Around the World Are Moving to New Habitats, Largely Because of Climate Change, a Study Suggests

Researchers examined data on 1,758 butterfly species—about ten percent of all those known—from 105 countries and estimated that about one in ten global species has shifted its distribution range

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