Was it an H-bomb? Seismic analysis, sniffer planes and time will tell.
The US and other countries are scrambling to find out what kind of bomb went off in North Korea on Wednesday.The detective work could take days or weeks, as seismic waves are more closely analyzed and...
View ArticleIn Flint, Michigan, a crisis over lead levels in tap water
After 18 months of public outcry about toxic levels of lead in the city’s water, residents in Flint, Michigan, felt vindicated when Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency, and the federal...
View ArticleIslamic clerics issue a fatwa against poachers in Indonesia and Malaysia
Muslim clerics in Indonesia and Malaysia have become unlikely warriors in the battle to save endangered animals, declaring wildlife poaching a sin in the two Muslim-majority nations.Clerics in...
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The quest to create the first dumpling emoji
This week on the World in Words podcast it's all about emojis! (Though this blog post does not have them because emojis make our CMS angry!) Catch our podcast: The World in Words Each week on The World...
View ArticleWhy scientists are so interested in studying this jumping rodent that looks...
The jerboa is a rodent that looks like a mouse with crazy, springy hind legs. Some have compared it to a kangaroo crossed with a mouse or a tiny, fuzzy rodent t-rex. It’s native to Asia and Africa, and...
View ArticleFrom the Internet's founders, a warning
David Clark’s office on the MIT campus is at the top of a tower that looks like a twisted aluminum column. The name plate next to his office door reads “Albus Dumbledore.” And, like the leader of Harry...
View ArticleVW's CEO is expected to end his US apology tour with a proposed fix
Volkswagen’s new chief Matthias Mueller is scheduled to meet with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in DC Wednesday.Mueller is expected to propose a fix to bring the German automaker’s...
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Scientists think GMO crops may help us deal with climate change
Roger Deal is trying to figure out how plants remember drought.An assistant professor of biochemistry and genetics at Emory University, Deal says most plants have a kind of memory for stress. When...
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5 countries dump more plastic into the oceans than the rest of the world...
The planet’s seas are choking on our junk: Soda bottles, plastic bags and tons of cigarette butts. Distant spots in the ocean — called garbage gyres — have become vortexes where humanity’s trash bobs...
View ArticleThe New York Library has just released a treasure trove of incredible archive...
Searching for a 14th Century manuscript for a school report? How about an old baseball photo for your stash of sports memorabilia? You might try the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections....
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Leapfrogging with smartphones, Myanmar joins the world
Do you remember the first time you made a phone call? Pwint Htun does. She was a young girl in rural Burma, in the early ‘80s. “Because my dad was working in Malaysia,” she says. “My mom said, ‘OK,...
View ArticleWarm ocean temps could be starving Alaskan seabirds
An estimated 8,000 black and white seabirds, called murres, were found dead on a beach in Alaska earlier this month.Their bodies were found floating in the surf and washed ashore in the Prince William...
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People who traveled to the Paris climate summit can offset their carbon...
One and a half tons of carbon dioxide. That’s roughly how much global warming pollution The World's environment team produced last month flying from the east coast of the US to the UN’s COP21 climate...
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A PSA campaign got Israelis to stop picking flowers in order to preserve them
Wildflower season is beginning in Israel — and that’s thanks to one of the country’s most successful public campaigns.Years ago, so many people picked wildflowers in the country that they were on the...
View ArticleIn Greenland, a climate change mystery with clues written in water and stone
The effects of climate change are starting to make themselves clear just about everywhere, but nowhere more dramatically than Greenland. The giant island holds the world's second largest ice sheet, and...
View ArticleToo cold to garden? Not true.
Most people tend to think to think of gardening as a summer activity. Horticulturist Gerard Lordahl, however, says winter is the perfect time to pay attention to your garden. “In the wintertime, right...
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Looking small for big answers in Greenland
We all know the big story about Greenland — the world's second-largest ice cap is melting fast as the planet warms up, and pouring billions of tons of water a year into the ocean.But to really...
View ArticleWhy South American parents are hiding their kids from the sun
This week, levels of UV rays in the Chilean capital of Santiago are scheduled to soar to nearly 15, while in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, they're expected to surpass 18. But the worst hit may be...
View ArticleWhy the crisis over Flint's water could really happen anywhere in the US
Over the weekend, President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Flint, Michigan, where residents have been dealing with the aftermath of lead-tainted water for more than a year now....
View ArticleFlint's lead problem extreme example of chronic global problem
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder spent most of his State of the State address Tuesday night talking about dangerously high lead levels in the city of Flint’s water supply.The problem began in 2014, when...
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