Comprehensive data from several seasons of field research in the Alaskan Arctic will address uncertainties in Earth-system and climate-change models about snow cover across the region and its impacts on water and the environment.

While funding is pumped into preventing low-probability scenarios such as asteroid collision, the far more likely threat of a large volcanic eruption is close to ignored – despite much that could be done to reduce the risks, say researchers.

A previously overlooked factor — the position of continents — helps fill Earth’s oceans with life-supporting oxygen. 

Researchers have developed floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea.

Oceanographers have discovered more about why the eastern Great Australian Bight supports a year-round abundance of marine predators, including different whale species and white sharks which attract cage divers and filmmakers inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws.

With an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic waste escaping to our oceans each year, plastic pollution adversely affects the environment, climate, and even our health. Many plastic products break down in the ocean and are ingested by marine wildlife.

As Earth warms due to climate change, people living near the coasts not only face a higher risk of major hurricanes, but are also more likely to experience a subsequent heat wave while grappling with widespread power outages.

Climate change is a complicated phenomenon with a variety of both abrupt and gradual effects that scientists are working hard to uncover. 

A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Appalachian State University used environmental DNA (eDNA) to document the breadth of high-alpine biodiversity present on Earth’s highest mountain, 29,032-foot Mt. Everest (8,849 m). 

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way grocery stores do business, with online sales rising more than 50% from 2019 to 2020 in the United States.