Indigenous people defending their lands are particularly at risk, and watchdog groups warn that criminalization of environmental activism is also on the rise.
News
July May Turn Out to Be the Hottest Month in Recorded History
If this year’s record-breaking trend continues, we’re on track for 2015–2019 to be the hottest 5 years on record.
Rivers Are a Highway for Microplastics into the Ocean
New research shows that rivers are the main road for all the plastic pollution that gets into the ocean, including microplastics.
What Wildfire Smoke Tells Us About Nuclear Winter
A cloud of smoke from 2017 Canadian wildfires was so huge that it self-lofted and stayed in the atmosphere for 8 months. Scientists used it as an example for climate simulations of nuclear warfare.
Climate Change Pressures Land and Food Resources, Report Warns
There is a window of time to act now before threats increase further and solutions become less effective, a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states.
How Star Wars Won the Space Race and Other Things We’re Reading
What Earth and space science stories are we recommending this week?
The Permafrost Listeners
Geophysicists have discovered a way to monitor permafrost thaw by measuring seismic waves so gentle they don’t shake a thing.
This Bridge Monitors the Environment and Harnesses Tidal Energy
The “smart” Memorial Bridge spanning the Piscataqua is outfitted with a tidal turbine and more than 40 sensors.
New Tool Reveals That Soils Are Teeming with Active Microbes
BONCAT, a new type of amino acid tagging, highlights and categorizes active soil microbes in situ.
Paleontologists Peer Inside Billion-Year-Old Cells
Scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of Precambrian cells extraordinarily preserved with the rare earth element phosphates monazite and xenotime.