People litter them by the trillions—but how long will butts last through the ages?
pollution
Solving the Global Nitrogen Imbalance
Excess nitrogen causes serious environmental problems, but too little can lead to food insecurity and unrest. A team of researchers proposes a five-pronged solution to our planet’s nitrogen woes.
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.
Uncontrolled Chemical Releases: A Silent, Growing Threat
Uncontrolled releases of household, industrial, and agricultural chemicals during natural disasters pose an underappreciated hazard to humans and ecosystems. Here’s what we can do.
Gulf Dead Zone Looms Large in 2019
A new forecast predicts widespread hypoxia after a wet Midwest spring.
A North Carolina Lake’s Long Legacy of Coal Ash Spills
A new case study suggests that Sutton Lake has been contaminated by multiple coal ash spills, most of them apparently unmonitored and unreported.
Damselfish in Distress?
Noise pollution may be changing how some species of fish develop.
The Carbon Market Potential of Asbestos Mine Waste
Researchers have devised new methods to turn toxic asbestos mine tailings into innocuous piles of carbonate rock and draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide at the same time.
Plastic Fragments Found for the First Time on a Glacier
The discovery, made in the Italian Alps, confirms the ubiquity of plastic pollution worldwide.
Indigenous Symposium on Water Research, Education, and Engagement
Water in the Native World: The Intersection of Hydrology and Indigenous Knowledge; Pablo, Montana, 1–4 August 2018