Science

1 in 3 Tree Species Worldwide at Risk of Extinction, Report Finds

1 in 3 Tree Species Worldwide at Risk of Extinction, Report Finds

The world’s trees — the lungs of our planet and the foundation of many ecosystems — are in trouble. According to the first Global Tree Assessment, 38 percent of tree species are at risk of extinction. The assessment, led by Botanical Gardens Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival […]

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    Plastic Pollution Sounds Like Food to Whales Using Echolocation

    Plastic Pollution Sounds Like Food to Whales Using Echolocation

    For whales that dive deeper into the oceans for food, they face a growing threat: plastic pollution. That’s because the sounds that plastics make can be very similar to the sounds that prey make, leading to confusion for whales that rely on echolocation to source food. According to a new study, published in the journal […]

    85% of American Youth Polled Worry About Climate Change, Want More Action From Government and Corporations

    85% of American Youth Polled Worry About Climate Change, Want More Action From Government and Corporations

    A “supermajority” — 85 percent — of young Americans polled feel distressed about human-caused climate change and, and similar percentages want stronger action from corporations and the government, according to a new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health. In the survey — the largest of its kind — most of the 16,000 respondents aged […]

    Scientists Detect PFAS in Bottled and Tap Water Around the World

    Scientists Detect PFAS in Bottled and Tap Water Around the World

    In a new study, scientists detected the presence of 10 target per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including compounds such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), in samples of tap water from the UK and China as well as in bottled waters from 15 countries. The study, published in the journal ACS ES&T Water, […]

    Only 37% of Europe’s Surface Water Is Healthy, Study Finds

    Only 37% of Europe’s Surface Water Is Healthy, Study Finds

    Just a little more than one-third of Europe’s surface water is in “good” health or better, a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has found. The report also said the majority of protected aquatic species and habitats have either a “poor” or “bad” conservation status. The data was collected from 19 EU member […]

    Researchers Detect Microplastics in Dolphin Breath

    Researchers Detect Microplastics in Dolphin Breath

    For the first time, researchers have found microplastics in dolphin breath, raising concerns over the amount of microplastics the animals are drawing when they come up for air. The team collected samples of air released by five bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida and six dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana in May and June of […]

    Scientists Develop New Method for Detecting Airborne PFAS

    Scientists Develop New Method for Detecting Airborne PFAS

    Although scientists have known there are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the air, they also knew that many airborne PFAS were going undetected. Now, a new method can detect for gaseous fluorine to better measure the previously undetected airborne PFAS. PFAS are made up of organofluorine compounds that can release fluorine into the air, […]