Climate Crisis
Genes show which animals will adapt to climate change
Some fish, such as the threespine stickleback, can respond to dramatic seasonal changes very quickly — genome sequencing reveals why.
How wonky cell phone signals help track wildfire smoke
An atmospheric oddity called a temperature inversion helped researchers discover how mobile phone signals could show the amount of bushfire smoke suffocating towns and cities.
How balloons could soak up carbon and fight climate change
A new startup plans to strap direct air capture technology to balloons and float them into the atmosphere to collect and store carbon dioxide.
This laundry detergent is made from recycled carbon
Consumer goods company Unilever is now selling a laundry detergent that’s made using recycled carbon instead of traditional fossil fuels.
Look at how much the planet has changed in four decades with Google Earth Timelapse
The new Google Earth Timelapse feature lets us scan the globe and look back from the present day to 1984 to see how human action and natural forces have changed the planet since the 1980s.
Rare wild coffee species brews hope for coffee’s future
A rediscovered coffee plant that can flourish in warmer climates, according to scientists, may be the future of coffee production, helping future-proof the morning ritual against climate change.
Solar canals in CA could save 63 billion gallons of water a year
Researchers looked into what it would take to cover California’s canals with solar panels and found that the benefits of solar canals outweigh the costs.
Can seaweed save the planet?
A Maine startup is growing vast quantities of seaweed and then burying them at the bottom of the ocean to sequester carbon for carbon offsets.
How tech helped beat back locust swarms in East Africa
Billions of locusts descended on East Africa in 2020, where new technology helped stop their spread.
Autonomous trash-eating boats clean up water pollution
New designs in autonomous boats, and a trash wheel that intercepts drifting trash, act as on-the-water trash-eating machines.