Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Global Warming

King Penguin

New Research

As Oceans Warm, King Penguins’ Food Moves Farther Away. That’s a Problem

The already treacherous journey for nourishment will get increasingly challenging for penguins in the years ahead

The latest donation to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is taken down into the frosty underground chamber for storage.

Global Seed Vault Gets Its Millionth Donation and a $13 Million Update

Built in 1998, the vault safeguards the world’s food storage in case of a global disaster

A Kenyan farmer using the fertilizer in his fields.

How Climate Change is Fueling Innovation in Kenya

A new generation of start ups are working to help farmers in a region that faces myriad challenges

Low oxygen caused the death of these corals and others in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The dead crabs pictured also succumbed to the loss of dissolved oxygen.

Why Our Oceans Are Starting to Suffocate

A new paper links global warming to diminished oxygen concentrations at sea

Sunita Narain has been working for climate justice with the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment since 1982.

How an Environmental Activist Became a Pioneer for Climate Justice in India

Reducing India’s emissions will take more than science—it will take a new paradigm of de-colonialism, says Sunita Narain

A NASA research plane photographed the widening crack on Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf on November 10, 2016.

Trending Today

Delaware-Sized Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica

‘Whopper’ of an iceberg weighs more than one trillion metric tons—and has been threatening to make the break for years

This bleached reef near Guam shows what happens when ocean temperatures rise.

New Research

Unesco-Protected Reefs Could Be Destroyed by 2100

Over 70 percent of world heritage reefs were damaged during the recent bleaching event

Compared with the trees, lianas are able to put more energy into the production of leaves and seeds and less towards growing a trunk.

Tarzan’s Favorite Mode of Travel, the Liana Vine, Chokes Off a Tree’s Ability to Bear Fruit

With lowered fruit production, fewer seeds are dispersed to grow new trees

Aspens are one of the American tree species moving northwest.

New Research

American Trees are Shifting West

For 86 common species, northwest seems to be best. But why?

As many as 4,000 snow machines could soon preserve the ice on this Swiss glacier.

Trending Today

Can Snow Machines Save Swiss Glaciers?

As many as 4,000 could be deployed to insulate ice on Morteratsch

Roadmap is a new idea whose aim is to facilitate action on climate change without any of the usual suspects—governments, countries, international bodies, negotiating parties.

Using a New Roadmap to Democratize Climate Change

A new tool aims to bypass governments and put the power of climate action in the people’s hands

New Research

Proposed Test Heats Up the Debate on Solar Geoengineering

Harvard scientists are moving ahead with plans to investigate using particles to reflect some of the sun’s radiation

Andrew Altieri of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama conducts a survey where more than 90 percent of the coral reef has died due to hypoxia.

Coral Reefs Now Face Deep Water Dead Zones, As If Climate Change Were Not Enough

A Smithsonian scientist says there may be a greater prevalence of undocumented oxygen-starved deep coastal waters

Three polar bears climbing on a snow-covered pile of bowhead whale bones on Barter Island near Kaktovik, Alaska.

The Politics of Viewing Polar Bears

Tourists flock to this coastal Alaskan town to photograph the vulnerable icons—raising hairy ethical questions

The Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario is one of the world's leading long-term experiments tracking the effects of climate change, pollution and other factors on freshwater ecosystems.

Canadian Scientists Explain Exactly How Their Government Silenced Science

It wasn’t just climate research. Rock snot, sharks and polar bears: All were off-limits during the Harper administration

An illustration of Australia's past megafauna.

New Research

Changing Climate, Not Humans, Killed Australia’s Massive Mammals

But that mass extinction could help us predict what today’s human-wrought climate change may bring

As his ancestors have done for generations, Icelander Árni Hilmarsson catches an Atlantic puffin in a net called a háfur.

Disappearing Puffins Bring an Icelandic Hunting Tradition Under Scrutiny

Historically, hunting seabirds has been a distinctive feature of Nordic coastal culture. Should it still be?

Workers on a NOAA ocean buoy

New Research

New Study Confirms There Was No Global Warming Hiatus

An independent evaluation of NOAA’s disputed data further supports the steady upward march of temperatures

Rice paddies are one source of global methane emissions.

Trending Today

Methane Levels Have Surged, and Scientists Don’t Know Why

As Earth heads toward climate crisis, the pressure is on to learn more about CH4

Ahead of her time: Foote first identified the greenhouse effect, now a seminal concept in climate science.

This Suffrage-Supporting Scientist Defined the Greenhouse Effect But Didn’t Get the Credit, Because Sexism

Eunice Foote’s career highlights the subtle forms of discrimination that have kept women on the sidelines of science

Page 15 of 20