CLIMATE CHANGE

Sea Cucumbers on One Coral Reef Drop Several Eiffel Towers’ Worth of Poop Each Year—and That’s a Good Thing

Slow clap for sea cucumbers, whose excretory achievements could help slow climate change damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

Wildfires have reached historic proportions this year.

What Exactly Is a Gigafire?

The August Complex fire ravaging California is being called a "gigafire," and it's every bit as imposing and destructive as the name implies.

A look at the Global Safety Net's online map application.

Which Places Should We Protect First to Stop Climate Change? This Interactive Map Tells You

Certain lands can store large quantities of carbon (though we also need to cut carbon emissions in the first place).

Smoke fills the sky on Harbor Island in Seattle, Washington on September 12, 2020.

Smoke From the West Coast Wildfires Has Been Reported As Far Away As the Netherlands

The combination of the raging fires and a jet stream has led to smoke from the West Coast wildfires moving across the Northeast and has even tinted the sky in Europe.

A wildfire near Shaver Lake, California, earlier this month.

5 Ways to Help Victims of the West Coast’s Wildfires

Wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington are devastating communities—here’s how you can help victims.

Death Valley National Park in California.

It Was 130 Degrees in Death Valley This Weekend—Likely the Hottest Temperature Recorded on Earth Since 1913

The searing heat comes close to the 134 degrees recorded in Death Valley in 1913. But with that temperature called into question, Sunday's measurement may be the hottest ever.

Frode Ramone, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

The Home of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault Just Had Its Hottest Day Ever

Svalbard, Norway—where 1 million of the world's seed samples are held in a high-security facility—experienced record temperatures in July 2020.

A Burger King ad about cow farts is drawing controversy.

What a Whopper: Burger King’s New Commercial About Cow Farts Has Farmers Angry

A Burger King ad spot, which features child yodeler Mason Ramsey insisting cow farts are responsible for methane emissions, has been criticized for taking a flippant approach to global warming.

Compost is delicious trash salad for your soil.

Vermont Just Banned Residents From Throwing Food Scraps in the Trash

The state has expanded its trash pick-up services to accommodate the new policy, but many residents are already composting pros.

Team members climb up a slope during the expedition to find Sandy Irvine's remains on Mount Everest.

Expeditions Gather Climate Change Clues on Mount Everest in Two New Documentaries

‘Lost on Everest’ chronicles a mission to find one of Mount Everest’s first missing bodies, while ‘Expedition Everest’ studies climate change on the mountain.

A "Pole of Cold" monument commemorating Verkhoyansk as one of the coldest places on Earth.

It Was 100 Degrees in Siberia This Weekend—The Highest Temperature Ever Recorded in the Arctic

A “heat dome” is partially to blame, but climate change has been causing alarmingly high temperatures in Siberia for months.

A Massive Volcanic Eruption in Alaska May Have Doomed the Roman Republic

Research shows that a volcanic eruption in Alaska triggered a two-year cooling period in the Mediterranean—possibly destabilizing an already volatile Roman Republic.

Penguin Poop Makes So Much Laughing Gas That Scientists Studying It Go ‘Completely Cuckoo’

When it breaks down, poop from king penguins releases nitrous oxide—a gas that affects both the environment and the scientists who study it.

14 Incredible Scientific Discoveries of the Decade

From the origins of our species to clues about the future of the universe, scientific discoveries achieved in the last decade transformed our understanding of our world. Here are 14 of the most momentous.

Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Stringer/Getty Images

Greta Thunberg Named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2019

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was the most influential person of 2019, according to TIME magazine.

Ryrkaypiy, Russia, Is Being Overrun By Hungry Polar Bears

Without arctic sea ice to hunt on, 60 polar bears have gathered at a Russian village in search of food—and this isn't an anomaly.

New Time-Lapse Shows the Threat Meltwater Lakes Pose to Greenland’s Glaciers

This time-lapse captured in Greenland in July 2018 shows how quickly meltwater lakes can drain and damage glaciers.

2020 World Monuments Watch: 25 Historic and Cultural Landmarks That Are At Risk

The World Monuments Fund recently released its World Monuments Watch for 2020. Here are the cultural and historic sites at risk around the world.

Thomas Wyke, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain in the United States

London on Ice: The Georgian Frost Fairs Held on the River Thames

During the Little Ice Age, the River Thames froze and gave Londoners a place to hold spectacular carnivals. But climate change has made frost fairs a thing of the past.

Does the Amazon Rainforest Really Produce 20 Percent of the World's Oxygen?

For years, media outlets have claimed that the Amazon rainforest is responsible for producing 20 percent of the world's oxygen. But is it true?

Raffi Wrote a Climate Change Song for Greta Thunberg

“Young People Marching” features lyrics like “Green New Deal, keepin’ it real” and “climate emergency.”

Switzerland Has a Unique Way of Trying to Save a Prized Glacier: Wrap It in Blankets

Believe it or not, that’s not even the weirdest way scientists have proposed to halt glacial melting.

7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Save the Amazon Rainforest

Feeling frustrated and powerless while the Amazon fires rage on in Brazil? Here’s what you can do from afar.

Europe's Heat Wave Is Melting Billions of Tons of Ice in Greenland

In a single day, Greenland lost 11 billion tons of ice to historic temperatures fueled by global warming.

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