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Climate Change

A young woman walks through gritty neighborhood streets beneath smokestacks at Datong No. 2 Power Station at dawn.

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China’s Going to Cap Its Carbon Emissions (Updated: Maybe One Day)

China announced plans to put an absolute cap on its carbon emissions

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Here’s a Little Perspective On the EPA’s New Carbon Rules

A planned reduction in power plant carbon emissions will help with climate change, but it’s not a full fix

Charging retorts at the Gas Light Establishment. Brick Lane, London, 1822.

New Research

California’s Carbon Emissions Today Are Bigger Than the Entire Country’s in 1888

A new analysis looks at how countries’ carbon emissions changed since 1850

An oil tanker makes its way to Valdez, Alaska. The Arctic’s rich stores of oil and natural gas make it an attractive destination for future voyages.

Arctic Shipping: Good For Invasive Species, Bad For the Rest of Nature

A pair of Smithsonian marine biologists argue that a warming Arctic puts the area at risk for inviting invasive species

Watching a movie on a DVD requires more energy than streaming it over the Internet, a new study finds.

New Research

Streaming a Movie Uses Less Energy Than Watching a DVD

Getting rid of DVD players could reduce carbon dioxide emissions, researchers find

New Research

Ordinary People Respond More Strongly to “Global Warming” Than to “Climate Change”

Americans respond differently to the same scientific concept depending on the terminology being used

Dr. John All fell 70 feet into this crevasse.

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This Scientist Fell Down a 70-Foot Crevasse in the Himalayas But Managed to Claw His Way Out

Rescue teams finally reached him the following day

Trending Today

The Pope Says We Should Probably Get on Stopping Climate Change

The Pope’s latest comments are not the first push from the Vatican to address global climate change

Kayakers paddle along the roadway of the historic waterfront of Annapolis, following Hurricane Isabel. As much as four feet of water flooded the historic capital city.

Which of America’s Most Precious Historical Sites Are Threatened By Climate Change?

A new report warns that rising sea levels could destroy many of the nation’s important—and beloved—locations

The interior of Greenland (seen here with researchers’ tents pitched) is usually covered in frozen ice and snow. In July 2012, though, 97 percent of the surface melted for the first time in more than 100 years. Scientists now know why that happened.

New Research

Nearly All of Greenland’s Surface Melted Overnight in 2012—Here’s Why

High temperatures and black carbon from forest fires and fossil fuels combined to push the huge ice sheet over the edge

Hurricane Felix off Grand Cayman Island, September 3, 2007.

New Research

The Tropics are Moving, And They’re Bringing Their Cyclones With Them

Over the past 30 years hurricanes have been hitting their peak intensities nearer to the poles

Water extracted from beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley keeps farm fields green. But it may also be affecting earthquakes in the region.

New Research

Pulling Water Out of the Ground May Lead to Quakes on the San Andreas Fault

Ground movements linked to water extraction may change stresses on the fault famously responsible for California earthquakes

Thermal image of window mounted AC units in an apartment building.

New Research

This Is How Much Hotter Nights in Phoenix Are Because of A/C

Waste heat from air conditioners causes a significant amount of warming outside

Cool Finds

To Save the Apples We Love Today, We Need to Save Their Ancient Ancestors

Apples aren’t set to cope with our changing world. To help them, first we’ll need to protect the past

Around three billion people worldwide depend on rice for their diet. But a new study finds that rice and other crops grown under high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide results in lower levels of some nutrients.

New Research

More Carbon Dioxide in the Air Makes Some Crops Less Nutritious

Crops such as rice and wheat have lower concentrations of some nutrients when they’re grown under an atmosphere with higher levels of the greenhouse gas

Tokyo

Coastal Cities Don’t Just Need to Worry About Rising Seas; They’re Also on Sinking Land

Some cities are facing a future of rising sea levels while the ground under their feet is sinking

Superstorm Sandy's aftermath on the Jersey Shore. With climate change, extreme weather events, like Sandy, could become more common.

Why Doesn’t Anyone Know How to Talk About Global Warming?

The gap between science and public understanding prevents action on climate change—but social scientists think they can fix that

An experiment with corals taken from the warm waters of the U.S. National Park of American Samoa showed that at least one species can quickly adapt to rising heat.

New Research

This Coral Has Shown It Can Weather Warmer Waters

Corals are not expected to do well with climate change. But the ability to adapt to warmer oceans could give them more time

Phoenix glows even after 10 p.m. one April night in this image made with a camera sensitive to infrared light, which is generated by heat and invisible to the naked eye. Researchers call the city an “urban heat island.”

The Reality of a Hotter World is Already Here

As global warming makes sizzling temperatures more common, will human beings be able to keep their cool? New research suggests not

New Research

Antarctica Was Once As Warm As Sunny California

Nearby polar regions got up to Florida-level temperatures

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