Articles tagged as Environment | Smithsonian Magazine

The plan to interlink rivers would connect up to 30 rivers via 30 canals and 3,000 dams

December 1, 2016

Meandering river in Nyingchi, Tibet, China

A satellite-eye’s-view of growing cities and climate change

November 30, 2016

Roughly 400 people attempted to mount the blockaded Backwater Bridge last night, resulting in another clash between protestors and police.

Latest clash comes over access to a barricaded bridge

November 21, 2016

As a professional falconer, Rosen has trained all of her birds, which now number close to a dozen. Her brood includes Ziggy, a hybrid prairie-gyrfalcon.

Why Winemakers are Turning to Falconry to Tackle Pests

Napa Valley vintners are finding this tried-and-true deterrent more effective than modern technology

November 16, 2016

Spotted: one adventurous female panther.

Cool Finds

Why Scientists Are Psyched About a River-Crossing Panther

This big cat is the first female thought to enter the area in over 40 years

November 15, 2016

Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel enjoy casual conversation with Radia Perlman, 2016 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee during the Meet the Experts session at 2016’s Collegiate Inventors Competition.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Could These College Inventors Tackle the Global Pesticide Problem?

Developed by a team of University of Virgnia students, AgroSpheres break down pesticide residues on crops hours after they are applied

November 11, 2016

Smog often chokes New Delhi's skies, but this year's cloud is the worst on record.

Trending Today

New Delhi Scrambles to Curb Record Smog

Will the measures be enough to help the smoke-choked city improve air quality?

November 10, 2016

A forest grows in miniature at Metrotech Commons in Brooklyn for Spencer Finch’s “Lost Man Creek."

Art Meets Science

A Miniature Living Redwood Forest Springs Up In Brooklyn

Artist Spencer Finch explores landscape by building a tiny, scale replica of a California grove

November 8, 2016

Cross River gorilla photographed by a camera trap

A proposed project in Cross River State would cut through protected areas and threaten endangered species like the Cross River gorilla

November 2, 2016

Ranching southern bluefin tuna has been a big-ticket industry in South Australia for years. One company hopes that inviting tourists to swim with the fish will prove successful, too.

A Bizarre “Swimming with Tuna” Attraction Puts Australia’s Controversial Aquaculture in the Spotlight

Is this an opportunity for conservation education, or another example of the government bending to Big Tuna?

October 27, 2016

Gemasolar Thermasolar Plant, 37.560755°, –5.331908° This image captures the Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant in Seville, Spain. The solar concentrator contains 2,650 heliostat mirrors that focus the sun’s thermal energy to heat molten salt flowing through a 140-metre-tall (460-foot) central tower. The molten salt then circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is used to produce steam and generate electricity. In total, the facility displaces approximately 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

Art Meets Science

These Photographs From Space Show What Humans Have Done to the Earth

In new book, vivid satellite images of the planet evoke what astronauts call “the overview effect”

October 26, 2016

Stanford's Ocean Acidification Experience uses virtual reality to help people understand in a uniquely personal way the long-term effects of climate change.

How Virtual Reality Can Help Us Feel the Pain of Climate Change

It’s hard to comprehend the concept of oceans getting more acidic. Unless you become the coral.

October 26, 2016

Bloom's mobile harvester collects algae biomass from waste streams in the United States and Asia.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Startup Is Harvesting Wild Algae to Make Your Next Pair of Sneakers

Co-founder Rob Falken found a way to turn algae into a foam that can be used in sneaker soles and on surfboards

October 21, 2016

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

October 20, 2016

Over 10,000 of the world’s largest water frogs were found dead along the Coata River, a tributary of the heavily polluted lake

October 19, 2016

Anthropologists have long debated the origins of human violence.

Can Resource Scarcity Really Explain a History of Human Violence?

Data from thousands of California burial sites suggests that a lack of resources causes violence. But that conclusion may be too simplistic

October 19, 2016

Water drained from the tunnel will feed new aquaculture farms nearby.

Beneath a Mountain in Switzerland Lies the World’s Longest Shortcut

The massive structure, running 35.4 miles through the Alps, begins full operations this December

November 2016

Recycling your trash is all the rage this season.

Meet an Environmental Activist and an Artist Who Share a Passion for “Trashion”

One man’s trash suit is another woman’s work of art

October 14, 2016

DFB 45, Arès, Brandon Ballengée, 2008. Scanner photograph of cleared and stained multi-limbed Pacific Tree frog from Aptos, California in scientific collaboration with Dr. Stanley K. Sessions. Title in collaboration with the poet KuyDelair.

Art Meets Science

With Deformed Frogs and Fish, a Scientist-Artist Explores Ecological Disaster and Hope

A 20-year retrospective of Brandon Ballengée’s artwork explores humans’ connection to cold-blooded creatures

October 7, 2016

The southern African nation now supports protection for the animals instead of limited sales of ivory

October 4, 2016