Science

By Carey Gillam Score another point for corporate power over protection of the public. U.S. Rep Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, & Technology, has slated a full committee hearing for Tuesday with an agenda aimed squarely at attacking some of the world’s top cancer scientists. Given […]

By Michael Dietze Imagine that spring has finally arrived and you’re planning your weekend. The weather forecast looks great. You could go to the beach—but what if it’s closed because of an algal bloom? Maybe you could go for a hike—will the leaves be out yet? What might be in flower? Will the migratory birds […]

By Rachel Leven Engineer Jim Southerland was hired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1971 to join the nascent war on air pollution. He came to relish the task, investigating orange clouds from an ammunition plant in Tennessee and taking air samples from strip mines in Wyoming. Among his proudest accomplishments: helping the […]

By Shannon Schmoll During the early hours of Jan. 31, there will be a full moon, a total lunar eclipse, a blue moon and a supermoon—all at the same time. None of these things is really all that unusual by itself. What is rare is that they’re happening all together on one day. What Makes […]

The symbolic Doomsday Clock is ever closer to midnight, or the end of the world, scientists announced Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The clock is now two minutes to midnight based on the predictions of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organization that informs the public about threats to […]

By Daisy Dunne Reducing the impacts of human-caused climate change through the use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage—better known as BECCS—could have major consequences for wildlife, forests and water resources, a new study shows. The large-scale conversion of existing land to BECCS plantations could cause global forest cover to fall by as much […]

By Elliott Negin The Trump administration’s testy relationship with science reminds me of that old saying: Advice is least heeded when most needed. Earlier this week, three-quarters of the members of the National Park System Advisory Board resigned because Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke refused to hold a meeting with them last year. The board was […]

By Graham Readfearn A climate science denial group with links to President Trump‘s administration has been funding work to sow doubt that low-lying islands in the Pacific are at risk from rising sea levels. The two researchers being funded—one of which is a well-known climate science denier—have targeted little known “open access” journals with dubious […]