Pollution

A father shows his son the awful-smelling algae hugging the shoreline of the St. Lucie River during a summer bloom in Stuart, Florida, in 2016. The algae fouled coastal waterways, created angry communities, closed beaches and had an economic impact as tourists and others were driven away by the smell and inability to enjoy the waterways.

Florida’s Love-Hate Relationship With Phosphorus

The state has mined and abused the Devil's Element for decades, and now it is increasingly fouling precious coastal waters

Balloons can pollute the oceans, harm wildlife and get tangled in power lines.

Seaside California City Bans Balloons in Public

Laguna Beach has joined several other cities taking aim at ocean pollution, wildlife health, power outages and wildfires

The hazy quality of works like Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed (1844) was influenced by air pollution, a new study says.

Art Meets Science

Did Air Pollution Influence Famous Impressionist Painters?

Artists like Turner and Monet painted the smog they saw in London and Paris, a new study says

A Dark Sky Sanctuary must have exceptionally starry nights.

This Tiny Welsh Island Is Europe's First Dark Sky Sanctuary

Ynys Enlli joins just 16 other sites of its kind across the world

A revolutionary new tool, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and NASA, will monitor the chemistry and changing dynamics of major pollutants (above: an Arizona power generating station).

This Eye in the Sky Promises Major Insights Into the Air We Breathe

Launching in April, the satellite mission TEMPO will detect pollutants at a neighborhood scale across the nation

Climate change, pollution and biodiversity are all contributing to the rise of drug-resistant super bugs.

'Superbugs' Could Kill Up to Ten Million Additional People Each Year by 2050

A new U.N. report warns that climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are helping create pathogens that can evade our medications

A snowshoe hare in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado

See 25 Stunning Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest

Vote for your favorite among these photos shortlisted in the People's Choice category until February 2

People in Chicago fishing on Lake Michigan on December 25, 2021. The new study found particularly high levels of PFAS in fish from the Great Lakes.

Freshwater Fish Contain Harmful 'Forever Chemicals'

Eating one serving of locally caught fish could equate to drinking contaminated water for a month, a new study finds

Gas stoves emit air pollutants, including heat-trapping gasses.

Should the U.S. Ban Gas Stoves?

While the White House opposes an all-out ban, a federal safety agency is studying the health and environmental hazards of the kitchen appliances

In purple, a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica on September 10, 2009

The Ozone Hole Is on Track to Mend Itself Within Decades

The worldwide phaseout of ozone-depleting substances is allowing the atmosphere to recover, a new U.N. report finds

Innovators may want to create soft robots that more accurately replicate the dynamics of an elephant’s trunk.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2022 That May Lead to New Inventions

Nature is a breeding ground for innovative solutions to everything from aging to plastic pollution

Pollinators, including bees, are suffering because of human activities.

Shrinking Pollinator Populations Could Be Killing 427,000 People Per Year

New research explores the relationship between human health and crop loss due to pollination deficits around the world

Twelve-year-old Madison Checketts was named one of the 30 finalists in the 2022 Broadcom Masters Competition, the country’s premier science, technology, engineering and math competition for middle school students.

This 12-Year-Old Designed a Water Bottle You Can Eat

After seeing plastic polluting her favorite beaches year after year, Madison Checketts decided it was time to do something about it

Denver banned the use of lead pipes in 1971, but tens of thousands of homes built before then contain them.

EPA Approves Denver’s $700 Million Plan to Remove Lead Pipes

Colorado's capital city will also get federal funding for the replacement project

Ugandan youth climate activist Leah Namugerwa speaks during the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit of the UNFCCC. 

What You Need to Know About the COP27 Climate Summit

World leaders are gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss climate action

Only about five to six percent of plastic waste produced in the U.S. is recycled, per a new report from Greenpeace.

That Plastic You Put in a Blue Bin Might Now Be in a Landfill

A new Greenpeace report found that most plastics produced in the U.S. are never recycled

A map showing the two-mile-long plume of methane southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, detected by NASA's EMIT sensors

NASA Finds More Than 50 Super-Emitters of Methane

While mapping minerals in Earth’s deserts, the agency's new detector on the ISS spotted massive contributors to climate change

Emmett Lewis' ancestor Cudjo Lewis was one of the last survivors of the Clotilda.

These Descendants Never Forgot the Story of the Last American Slave Ship

A new Netflix documentary follows the families of the "Clotilda" captives as they grapple with how their past informs their future

Frozen chemicals across the country could thaw and make their way into groundwater and surface water during winters, research suggests.

Once-Frozen Chemicals Could Pollute Water as Winters Warm

Thawing agricultural nutrients threaten streams, lakes and rivers across the country, new research suggests

A wax worm on a piece of plastic with holes

Wax Worm Saliva Is the Unlikely Hero of Fighting Plastic Waste

Their enzymes can break down plastic in a matter of hours

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