A new robotic fish that absorbs microplastics. Adapted from Nano Letters 2022, DOI: 10.1021 / acs.nanolett.2c01375 One of the dangers posed by microplastic pollution in the oceans is that fish and other marine life might eat it by mistake. But could a solution to the problem involve a robot designed to consume it on purpose?
ENVIRONMENT
A new study explores how climate change reporting influences Americans’ opinions on the subject. RapidEye / iStock / Getty Images Plus Science reporting is an important part of informing the public on climate change, but how much does it actually influence Americans to adopt more accurate views on the subject? A new study led by
A wildfire rages in Pumarejo de Tera near Zamora, northern Spain, on June 18, 2022. CESAR MANSO / AFP via Getty Images An early June heat wave has broken records and ignited wildfires in Western Europe, leading to concerns that this could be the new normal as the climate crisis makes extreme weather events like
One-third of the original tropical rainforest is gone. One-third of the original tropical rainforest is degraded. One-third of the original tropical rainforest is still intact. Those were the startling findings from the first-of-its-kind State of the Tropical Rainforest report published in 2020.1 Aside from all of the species and animals being harmed by deforestation, tropical
Cattle in a Kansas feedlot. BeyondImages / E+ / Getty Images The heat wave that broke records across the South and Central U.S. this week had a devastating impact on cattle in Kansas. The combination of high heat, high humidity and low wind proved too much for thousands of the animals to handle, AP News
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Patricia Espinosa speaks on the opening day of the Bonn climate talks, June 6, 2022. Andreas Rentz / Getty Images The injustice of the climate crisis is that the poorer nations that have done the least to pump greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere are the most
A piece of a thermal blanket detected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover. NASA No human being has yet set foot on Mars, but something has preceded us. NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover announced on its Twitter account Wednesday that it had encountered a piece of human-generated litter on the Red Planet. “My team has spotted something
The North Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park. NPS / Doug Kraus Record rainfall and flooding has forced Yellowstone National Park to close and evacuate more than 10,000 visitors within the park. The extreme weather event was so intense that the northern part of the famous park could remain closed for a “substantial length of
Photographs of plastitar at Playa Grande Beach, Tenerife in December 2021. Science of The Total Environment Plastic pollution in the oceans. Microplastics. Oil spills. Each of these items is already a distinct crisis. But researchers in the Canary Islands have coined a term for a new type of pollution they are finding in their studies:
A new trail at T.O. Fuller State Park in Memphis, Tennessee is made from recycled rubber from tires illegally dumped around the park. tennesseestateparks / Instagram Every day, innovative and creative communities are coming up with ways to make use of pollution. The latest example? A new 2.5-mile-long walking and biking trail in a Tennessee
Hudson Canyon is rich in biodiversity. NOAA Sanctuaries / YouTube screenshot President Biden has announced interest in designating the Hudson Canyon, located from the New York/New Jersey Harbor and stretching 400 nautical miles out to the ocean, as the next national marine sanctuary. The Hudson Canyon is the largest underwater canyon in the U.S. side
Chile’s Gran Abuelo tree on June 1, 2019. Gonzalo Zúñiga Solís / CC BY-SA 4.0 What is the oldest tree in the world? Up until recently, the record-holder was the “Methuselah” bristlecone pine in California’s White Mountains, which has been dated as 4,852 years old, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. However, a contender
A petrochemical plant near African American communities in Cancer Alley, along the Mississippi River, south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images A legal settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the town containing the census tract with the worst air pollution in the country could significantly reduce harmful
The electric car of Dresden, Germany’s Mayor Dirk Hilbert, a Volkswagen ID4, drives to the charging station in the courtyard of the city hall on May 11, 2022. Robert Michael / picture alliance via Getty Images The European Parliament has voted in favor of effectively banning the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars in the
In an effort to curb food waste, Spain will require bars and restaurants to provide “doggy bags” for customers to be able to take their leftovers home if they request it, and will fine supermarkets that discard leftover food. Similar legislation has already been passed in Italy and France. Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Dom Phillips, a British journalist who has lived in Brazil for more than ten years, and Bruno Araújo Pereira, an expert on isolated Amazonian Tribes, have been missing in Brazil’s Amazon since Sunday, reported The Guardian. They were last seen traveling by boat in a remote part of the Amazonas state’s Javari region. The area