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Pollution

Plastic trash collected from the world's oceans.

New Research

The Ocean Contains Over Five Trillion Pieces of Plastic Weighing More than 250,000 Tons

These frightening figures represent the most robust estimate of marine plastic pollution calculated to date

New Research

A Worm’s Gut Could Help Dispose of Plastic Trash

Microbes found in the guts of waxworms like to feast on polyethylene

Cool Finds

India Once Released 25,000 Flesh-Eating Turtles Into the Ganges

A plan to clean up corpses failed due to lack of planning

A new, zero-power screening method might make testing for lead and other pollutants easier than ever.

Drop This Capsule Into a Stream and It Will Screen For Pollution

Researchers have developed a sensor (no batteries required) that creates a barcode indicating the amount of pollutants and their whereabouts in water

New Research

Why Charging for Plastic Bags Makes People Give Them Up

It’s all about setting up psychological tripping blocks

Microbes were used in the cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

New Understanding of Toxin-Loving Organisms May Help Tackle Pollution

A breakthrough in the understanding of how bacteria break down toxins using vitamin B12 could lead to improved cleanup methods

A mass of insects teems around an outdoor lamp in Brazil.

The Potential Dark Side of Nobel-Winning LEDs: Pest Problems

The white lighting is clean and efficient but also a lot more attractive to flying invertebrates

An endangered green sea turtle in Hawaii that has contracted fibropapillomatosis.

New Research

Pollution From Hawaii Is Giving Sea Turtles Gross, Deadly Tumors

Nitrogen runoff gets into the turtles’ food and causes tumors on their faces, flippers and organs

Paris has spread along the banks of the Seine since 1900.

Age of Humans

Make Cities Explode in Size With These Interactive Maps

From Los Angeles to Lagos, see how megacities have been taking over the planet during the past 100 years

A radioactive forest in Chernobyl.

New Research

The Risks of Fire Around Chernobyl

Radioactive forest litter that has accumulated for the past 28 years could fuel massive blazes in the future

New Research

New Study: Blame Defective Wells for Fracking Leaks

Fixing shoddy wells could mean making fracking safer for the environment

Cool Finds

Detroit’s Dumps Are Slowly Being Reclaimed By Nature

Some illegal dumping grounds in Detroit are being repopulated by hardy plants

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Cool Finds

Nine Different Households, Surrounded by a Week’s Worth Garbage

Photographer Gregg Segal wanted to highlight the problems of waste, pollution and overconsumption

A wild boar mama in Germany.

Cool Finds

Radioactive Boars Are Roaming Around Germany

The boar’s meat is too contaminated from Chernobyl’s radiation to be fit for human consumption

Cool Finds

How Plants Could Clean Up Abandoned Mines—And Extract Metal in the Process

Some groups are researching how plants can be used to clean up dangerous metals from the ground

Google hosts its fourth-annual science fair. Shown here, the 2013 winners.

Google Thinks These 18 Teenagers Will Change the World

The global finalists of this year’s Google Science Fair take on cyberbullying countermeasures, tar sands cleanup and wearable tech

A critically endangered European eel.

New Research

Eels Are Victims of Noise Pollution

Critically endangered European eels get distracted by man-made noise, making them more likely to get eaten by a predator

Algae floating on Lake Erie seeped into the City of Toledo's water supply, forcing a region-wide water ban.

The Algae Problem in Lake Erie Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon

The Great Lake is sick, and Toledo’s toxic algae is just a symptom

Lead from mining operations in Broken Hill, Australia, reached Antarctica before humans did.

Cool Finds

Pollution Beat People to the South Pole

Before people ever made it to the South Pole, a pollutant had beaten us there

The equivalent caloric amount of chicken, pork or eggs would represent an order of magnitude less greenhouse gas emissions than what was required to produce this beef.

New Research

Raising Beef Uses Ten Times More Resources Than Poultry, Dairy, Eggs or Pork

If you want to help the planet but can’t bring yourself to give up meat entirely, eliminating beef from your diet is the next-best thing

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