Plants are ramping up photosynthesis, helping absorb all our carbon dioxide
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen sharply since the start of the Industrial Age — from 270 parts per million (ppm) in the late 1700s to some 400 ppm in January 2015 — and scientists say...
View ArticleBeatrix Potter also made beautiful, scientifically accurate illustrations of...
Think of Beatrix Potter, and what comes to mind? Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter Rabbit. Now, what about Crimson Waxcap?That's the name of a mushroom. It might seem out of place, but fungi and...
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Russia cyberhacking US election dismissed as 'ridiculous' by president-elect
President-elect Donald Trump doubled down Monday in dismissing CIA intelligence that Russia interfered in the US election, even as leading senators from both camps demanded a broad probe on the...
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The world is ignoring one of cheap oil’s biggest victims
On cable news, the oil market is presented as a great game.When the price of oil plummets, TV pundits shout about “winners and losers” as stock prices flash below their chins.The winners? American...
View ArticleDeadly Turkish school fire reveals the challenges girls face in getting an...
A fire at a Turkish girls dormitory that killed 11 students in late November has cracked open a debate in Turkey about controversial approaches to educating girls in rural areas, and whether the...
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Climate change, meet your apocalyptic twin: oceans poisoned by plastic
Here in this fishing village, on the island of Java, the surf teems with kaleidoscopic color. Each wave is littered with garish bibs and bobs.The water is speckled with synthetic hues: Coca-Cola red,...
View ArticleThe future of food — feeding the planet as the climate changes
By 2050, a projected 9.7 billion people will inhabit the planet. How will we produce enough nutritious food to support this burgeoning population and ensure access to it, particularly as climate change...
View ArticleFor solar and wind energy projects, a new lease on land
The Bureau of Land Management announced a new regulation in November, changing how public lands are leased for solar and wind energy development. The rule incentivizes leases on lands that aren’t...
View ArticleClimate change is coming for the UK's fish and chips
For generations, Brits have relied on the seas around the United Kingdom to supply the key ingredient for a meal that is a national institution: fish and chips.But as with so many other things, climate...
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China is creating a perfect replica of an Iowa corn-and-soybean farm
President-elect Donald Trump has ruffled feathers in Beijing lately with his seemingly cozy approach to Taiwan.But his appointment of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as ambassador to China may be winning...
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See a handful of the incredible photos Astronaut Don Pettit has taken through...
Astronauts have countless official tasks to accomplish once they’re up and out of Earth’s atmosphere. But space walkers need hobbies, too.“If you’re gone for six months, you can’t spend all your time...
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Recycling sewage into drinking water is no big deal. They've been doing it in...
On the outskirts of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, there’s a huge, churning vat of nasty brown liquid. It's so stinky that my guide, the man who runs Windhoek's water department, tells me I might...
View ArticlePie in the sky: Meat-and-potato pastry ventures into the stratosphere
A meat-and-potato pie in northern England has boldly gone where no pastry delicacy has gone before: into (near) space.Organizers of the World Pie Eating Championship attached the heaven-bound savory...
View ArticleFrench bothered by the sounds of mating frogs
No two ways about it — winter is coming. It's well below freezing in Boston. What we'd give to open the bedroom windows to hear the summer sounds of crickets and tree frogs. On the other hand, they can...
View ArticleWhat are the best snow boots to wear?
Thousands of injuries and even some deaths occur when people slip and fall on winter ice. A new study has looked at the effectiveness of winter boot soles and found that very few of them measure...
View ArticleModern-day tribes still carry traces of colonial devastation in their DNA
The arrival of European colonists in the Americas brought smallpox and other illnesses that devastated indigenous communities.Now, research suggests that evidence of those populations’ devastation is...
View ArticleChina says it's giving the US its ocean drone back, so stop 'hyping' the...
China said Saturday it would return a US naval probe seized in international waters, as it slammed the "hyping" of the incident as "inappropriate and unhelpful."The unmanned underwater vehicle was...
View ArticleCanada is moving ahead with an aggressive carbon reduction plan
To keep promises made at the Paris climate summit, Canada is rolling out a master plan to deal with climate change — including a phaseout of coal by 2030 and a phase in of carbon pricing by 2019.At a...
View ArticleMaking the plastics found everywhere in modern life comes with a cost: more...
A planned industrial facility near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and up to 600 permanent ones. It is also forecast to increase air pollution in a region...
View ArticleDo you know what's in your medical records?
In 1996, Congress enacted HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which was designed, in part, to give patients the right to access their own medical records. Twenty years...
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