OUTDOORS

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

Known for their impressive acrobatic abilities and melodic whale songs, humpback whales can grow up to about 55 feet, with pectoral flippers running about a third of their bodies, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation. These monumental yet graceful whales use their flippers and tails to slap the water, creating dramatic splashes that delight whale

Three oil companies have canceled their leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Drilling in the refuge has long been a controversial issue, as the 19.5-million-acre wilderness area is home to 45 species of mammals including polar bears, bowhead whales and caribou and considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in people, according to the Gwich’in Steering

As the sun comes out and temperatures rise across the country, June is the time to celebrate the wonders of nature in the U.S.A. The month is recognized as Great Outdoors Month and hosts National Trails Day on its first Saturday.  In honor of both occasions, the Biden Administration’s Department of the Interior announced that

The Alps, the most extensive and tallest mountain range located entirely within Europe, are a symbol of natural beauty and famous for winter sports. But, as the planet warms up due to climate change, the iconic white-capped peaks of the Alps are steadily turning green. A study of high-resolution satellite data from 1984 to last

If you’ve ever been to the beach and watched the surfers, you might have occasionally noticed one who had a canine companion riding tandem with them on the board. The pooch looking proud with their owner, staying steadfastly planted like a pro and… squinting? Most of us know the feeling of stepping outside on a