science

Controversial Study Says 1.5°C Warming Target Already Breached, ‘Underscores Urgent Need’ to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

Controversial Study Says 1.5°C Warming Target Already Breached, ‘Underscores Urgent Need’ to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

A new study using marine sponges collected off the coast of Puerto Rico has found that the planet has already warmed more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Researchers analyzed ocean temperature records from sea sponges going back 300 years, a press release from The University of Western Australia (UWA) said. They concluded that global heating had […]

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    Climate Change Will Harm Older Elephants the Most, With Major Impacts on Ecosystems, Study Finds

    Climate Change Will Harm Older Elephants the Most, With Major Impacts on Ecosystems, Study Finds

    A first-of-its-kind study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) has found that older elephants will have less chance of survival as the climate warms, and this will reverberate throughout the surrounding landscape. The research team has developed models for potential mitigation scenarios, which have already […]

    NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Adds New Alerts Due to Record-Breaking Heat

    NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Adds New Alerts Due to Record-Breaking Heat

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch has added three new alert levels to track potential risks to coral reefs and other marine life following the hottest year on record. Previously, Coral Reef Watch’s Bleaching Alert Area product stopped at a Bleaching Alert Level 2, which warned of a “risk of reef-wide […]

    Fossil Fuel Industry Was Aware of Climate Threats as Early as 1954, New Documents Reveal

    Fossil Fuel Industry Was Aware of Climate Threats as Early as 1954, New Documents Reveal

    Newly discovered documents confirm that the petroleum and automobile industries funded the early climate science of Charles David Keeling at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 1954 to 1956. Keeling became known for the “Keeling Curve,” which demonstrated the upward trajectory of the planet’s carbon dioxide levels. The documents show that industry leaders were […]

    Researchers Find PFAS on Ski Slopes

    Researchers Find PFAS on Ski Slopes

    Researchers from The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland and the University of Graz in Austria have found PFAS from ski wax on the snowy slopes of ski resorts in Austria. The findings raise concern on the impact these “forever chemicals” could have on the local environment, particularly groundwater. The study, published in the journal […]

    Can Mushrooms Really Break Down Plastic?

    Can Mushrooms Really Break Down Plastic?

    Yes! The 2 to 4 million species of fungi in the world offer us endless possibilities — from creating alternative building materials and textiles, to cleaning up environmental toxins, to providing new sources of plant-based proteins. Now, scientists are turning to mushrooms and mycoremediation to solve our plastic pollution crisis. What Is Mycoremediation?  Mushrooms growing […]

    Scientists Map Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef Off Atlantic Coast

    Scientists Map Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef Off Atlantic Coast

    For the first time, scientists have succeeded in mapping the largest deep-sea coral reef in the world, which runs hundreds of miles off the Atlantic coast of the United States. The massive 6.4-million-acre reef is bigger than the state of Vermont, a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. “It’s eye-opening […]

    Sea Otters Helped Minimize Kelp Forest Loss in California, Study Finds

    Sea Otters Helped Minimize Kelp Forest Loss in California, Study Finds

    Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California have linked sea otters to healthy kelp forests off the West Coast. According to a new study published in the journal PLOS Climate, the recovery of Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) in central California happened at the same time that kelp forests in the same […]