Climate Change

Ruben Soto (right), a migrant from Venezuela, sits with Rosa Bello, a Honduran migrant, on top of a freight train known as “The Beast.” Ruben and Rosa met in Mexico and fell in love on their way to the United States.

See 25 Astonishing Images From the World Press Photo Contest

The winning photographs capture moving moments in the midst of tumultuous global events

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

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

Bleached corals in the Great Barrier Reef during a previous mass bleaching event.

The World's Fourth Mass Coral Bleaching Event Is Underway—and It Could Become the Worst One Yet

The impacted reefs represent 54 percent of the planet's total, and that figure is currently increasing by 1 percent each week, NOAA scientists say

Climbers collect garbage from Mount Everest in 2020. In recent years, officials have implemented new regulations to help reduce trash on the mountain.

The Nepali Army Is Removing Trash and Bodies From Mount Everest

They expect to haul off ten metric tons of garbage and up to five bodies from the world's tallest peak

Workers install solar panels on the roof of King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

How King's College Added 438 Solar Panels to a 500-Year-Old Chapel

The project sparked debate over how to decrease carbon emissions while preserving the historic structure's architectural beauty

Antarctic meteorite (HUT 18036) is found partially submerged in ice, as opposed to resting atop the surface. 

Meteorites Are Becoming Harder to Find as They Sink Into Antarctica's Melting Ice

The disappearing space rocks are burying valuable clues into the history and composition of our solar system, according to a new study

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

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 coal power plant in Germany.

80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies, Report Shows

Many of these companies increased their fossil fuel production after the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016

Methane plumes observed at a Louisiana landfill during the study. More than 14 percent of U.S. methane emissions were reported to have come from landfills in 2021.

More Than Half of U.S. Landfills May Be Methane 'Super-Emitters,' Study Finds

Aerial observations of hundreds of large landfills across 18 states found they are leaking 40 percent more methane than is reported to the EPA

Melting ice redistributes mass to Earth's equator, slowing its spin rate. Changes in Earth's spin affect its synchronization with atomic clocks.

Melting Polar Ice Sheets Are Slowing Earth's Rotation. That Could Change How We Keep Time

As ice melts into water and flows toward the equator, it redistributes mass around the Earth, affecting the planet's spin, a new study finds

Air pollution can obscure miles of scenery at Joshua Tree National Park in California and other sites.

These Are the Most Polluted National Parks

Five California sites made the top ten list for unhealthiest air, according to a new report

The Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin, as seen through blooming cherry blossom branches.

158 Cherry Blossom Trees Will Be Cut Down in D.C. in Effort to Withstand Sea-Level Rise

The National Park Service's restoration project will reconstruct a protective seawall and plant 274 new cherry blossoms when work is complete

Wildflowers, spongy tundra grass and Brooks Range mountains emerge from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope.

Alaska's Frigid North Slope Was Once a Lush, Wet, Dinosaur Hotspot, Fossils Reveal

Conditions north of the Arctic Circle, where dinosaurs roamed in abundance during the mid-Cretaceous, were warmer than today, with rainfall comparable to “modern-day Miami”

The scientists studied more than 4,600 Burmese and reticulated pythons on farms in Vietnam and Thailand.

Python Meat Could Be a Sustainable, Nutritious Food Source, Scientists Say

The snakes may be some of the most resource-efficient animals to farm on the planet, a new study suggests

A forest in Minnesota

In Minnesota, Researchers Are Moving Trees Farther North to Save Forests

As the world warms, trees in such forests will no longer be adapted to their local climates. That's where assisted migration comes in

Mars' orbit has an impact on Earth's oceans and climate in cycles of 2.4 million years, new research finds.

Mars Has an Unexpected Influence on Earth's Oceans and Climate, Repeating Every 2.4 Million Years, Study Finds

The gravitational interactions between Mars and Earth as they orbit the sun may have periodically promoted a warmer climate and changes in ocean circulation on our home planet

The gray whale was spotted during an aerial survey on March 1, about 30 miles off the coast of Nantucket.

A Rare Gray Whale, Believed Extinct in the Atlantic for 200 Years, Has Been Spotted off New England

Scientists say a lack of Arctic sea ice due to climate change could have created a passageway for the mammal to travel from the Pacific Ocean

Scientists conduct sampling at Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, in April 2023. Last summer, a working group chose the lake as a representative location for the influence of human activity on the planet due to the history recorded in its sediment.

Scientists Reject Proposal to Define the Anthropocene, a Geological Age Marked by Human Activity

Experts had suggested a new epoch started in the mid-20th century, but the recent vote demonstrates how tough it is to pinpoint when humans' impact on the planet began

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has become the largest wildfire in Texas history.

The Largest Wildfire in Texas History Is Raging. Here's What You Need to Know

More than one million acres of land have been engulfed in the Smokehouse Creek Fire, placing it among the largest blazes to ever strike the U.S.

Without enough food, humpback whales become thinner, more susceptible to disease and less likely to reproduce.

7,000 Humpback Whales May Have Starved to Death During the 'Blob' Heatwave

The unprecedented marine heat between 2013 and 2016 in the North Pacific likely drove the whales' 20 percent decline, a trend revealed by citizen science observations

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