It’s been almost exactly one year since US scientists reported a mysterious surge in ozone-destroying chemicals, known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Banned in 1987 under the globally signed Montreal Protocol, there was only one explanation: somewhere out there, in an unknown location, someone must have gone rogue, setting back progress on the ozone hole by a

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting. Scientists have known this for years, but they’re only now realising how quickly that melting is happening. Greenland’s ice is melting six times faster now than it was four decades ago; the ice sheet is sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. In

The window for climate action is closing before our very eyes, and as emissions continue to rise, researchers at Stanford are asking us to consider the lesser of two evils. In a new commentary, the authors propose a wild idea that would intentionally release more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, while getting rid of

Hurricane season doesn’t start until June 1, but the National Hurricane Center announced Monday evening that Subtropical Storm Andrea had formed. Called a subtropical storm because it has a blend of both tropical and nontropical characteristics, it is packing peak winds of 40 mph (64 kilometres per hour). The storm could strengthen slightly through Tuesday

There’s no doubt we have too much plastic in our oceans, and it’s all our fault. But an unexpected source of support might help us to solve this terrible environmental problem: marine microbes that eat plastic, breaking the ubiquitous waste material down. In new research, an international team of scientists studied how microbial communities build

Did you know that there are forests in the Arctic? Lush underwater forests of large brown seaweeds (kelps) are particularly striking in the Arctic, especially in contrast to the land where ice scour (scraping of sea ice against the sea floor) and harsh climates leave the ground barren with little vegetation. Kelp forests have been

Between 1946 and 1958, the US government tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands. It later dumped radioactive waste from the tests into a crater on one of the islands, placing an 18-inch-thick concrete dome over the horrifying sludge. Because the crater was only supposed to be a temporary storage solution, the bottom of

Climate breakdown is already having a massively negative impact on the world’s wildlife, but it seems there are even more ways animals can be harmed by our negligence. Marine biologists have just demonstrated for the first time that low oxygen levels in the water can send marine invertebrates blind. With rising global temperatures already lowering

When Victor Vescovo’s submarine hit the floor of the Mariana Trench, it sent the sediment swirling. “At bottom,” the Texas businessman-turned-extreme-explorer said into his headset. “Repeat: at bottom”. In a control room more than 35,850 feet (10.9 km) above, Vescovo’s dive team clapped and cheered. Congratulations were in order: they had just set a record.

Reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered an explosion during a technical test on April 26, 1986. As a result of the accident, in the then Soviet Union, more than 400 times more radiation was emitted than that released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan) in 1945. It remains the

The news this week was shocking: Earth’s atmosphere hit a catastrophic new peak of carbon pollution. But one company wasn’t shocked. It saw this dark future coming a long time ago. As far back as 1982 – 37 years ago – scientists working for oil and gas giant Exxon expertly predicted the shape of climate

Ninety-six million. That’s how many black plastic ‘shade balls’ it takes to cover the Los Angeles reservoir. Why, you ask? Well, despite what has often been reported as the main purpose of these balls, the idea didn’t actually start with just protecting the reservoir from evaporation. In a new episode from Veritasium, Derek Muller investigates the story behind

What happened to Hiroshima? Everybody thinks they know the answer, and yet, strangely, nobody does. History tells us Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb deployed in war on 6 August 1945. But what happened to the actual city when it was consumed in its awful, unforgettable fire? Where did Hiroshima go? We might

Bill Nye frolicked in a ball pit to explain how the planet’s populations compete for resources. He took a chain saw to a loaf of bread, comparing it to Earth’s crust, and he was nearly blown away in a wind tunnel while shouting “science!” But he’s talking about global warming now – and he’s in

Yet another alarming milestone of humanity’s damaging effect on the environment has now officially been reached – crossing a barrier into a hot, polluted future like the planet hasn’t witnessed in millions of years. This weekend, sensors in Hawaii recorded Earth’s atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) passing 415 parts per million (ppm) for the

As the content of Earth’s atmosphere changes over time, the course of animal evolution itself might change. An international team of researchers now thinks that swinging oxygen levels somehow orchestrated the boom and bust of our planet’s fauna, like the conductor of a living symphony. For the first time, their research has linked the rapid

If you want to know how far radioactive particles can travel, here’s the answer: all the way to the Mariana Trench, which at 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) is the deepest natural trench in the world. A new study shows that radioactive carbon from Cold War nuclear bomb tests is still present in the crustaceans living

Torrential rains that have brought flooding to regions across Romania are also highlighting the horrifying human impact on the planet. A video posted to Facebook shows a literal river of garbage surging downstream in the commune of Micești in Argeș County. It’s hard not to gasp in dismay at a frankly shocking amount of plastic

British power plants have broken a new record for the longest continuous coal-free streak since the distant era of the Industrial Revolution. At time of writing, it’s been over six days (and counting) since the UK relied upon coal-burning for electricity generation: establishing a modern record of 159+ continuous hours without coal, eclipsing a previous-best

The pattern of El Niño has changed dramatically in recent years, according to the first seasonal record distinguishing different types of El Niño events over the last 400 years. A new category of El Niño has become far more prevalent in the last few decades than at any time in the past four centuries. Over