Science

April 17 is International Bat Appreciation Day! In celebration of these sometimes unsung nocturnal pollinators, a new study has demonstrated how bats can be allies of agriculture, as they feed on important crop “pests.” The researchers found that encouraging bats can be beneficial for conservation efforts, as well as local farmers, a press release from […]

The planet is currently experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event on record, affecting most of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). It is the second mass bleaching in the past decade, NOAA scientists said in a press release. Across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins, heat stress at levels high enough to cause bleaching […]

Studies have recently detected microplastics in human lungs and blood, and previous research shows humans ingest and inhale many microplastics even at home. In 2020, scientists uncovered microplastics in human organs for the first time. Now, researchers are making sense of how microplastics that are ingested can make their way from the gut to other […]

A new study led by scientists from the University of Exeter has found that the risk of seabed creatures being exposed to plastics depends on how they feed and interact with their environment, rather than simply reflecting pollution levels in their local area. All ocean plastic ends up sinking to the seafloor, a richly biodiverse […]

In one of the most detailed surveys ever undertaken, hundreds of animal species — from birds to primates to web-footed wildcats — have been discovered in a Cambodian mangrove forest. Team leader Stefanie Rog — a conservation biologist and senior program manager with Fauna & Flora International, which funded the study — recorded an astounding […]

The annual Global Energy Monitor (GEM) survey, Boom and Bust Coal, has found that coal-fired operating capacity worldwide rose by two percent last year — the highest annual increase since 2016. China was responsible for two-thirds of the expansion, with a small amount of growth in other parts of the globe, a press release from […]

The impacts of climate change on marine life, from rising sea surface temperatures to ocean acidification, have long been studied, but new research is shedding light on the extent of these effects both currently and in the future. Scientists developed a method that fully considers the consequences of warming oceans and acidification on fish and […]

We are running out of time to take action on climate change, says Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In a speech titled “Two Years to Save the World,” Stiell emphasized that governments, development banks and business leaders must take steps to avert much more serious impacts of […]