HowStuffWorks Newsletter
The environment is truly a thing of beauty and should be protected whenever possible. What can we do to save the environment, and what new technology is available to help us?
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Split as if by a laser, the Al Naslaa rock in Saudi Arabia's Tayma Oasis baffles scientists and amateur geologists alike. How did this perfect split happen?
Rossby waves influence everything from high tides to extreme weather patterns, and not just on Earth. They also occur on the sun and on Venus and Jupiter as well. So, what are they exactly?
By Mark Mancini
An organization called Pull to Refresh hopes to use seaweed to remove and store atmospheric carbon to stave off climate change. Here's how this cool idea works.
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The Poles of Inaccessibility are the locations on Earth that are the farthest away from either water or land and are the most remote spots in the world.
Trovants, found only in a small town in Romania, are stones that actually seem to move and grow. But are they alive?
A case currently being decided by the Supreme Court could limit the scope of authority Congress can give to the EPA, including the Clean Air Act. Why does that matter?
Plastic Whale, an Amsterdam-based company blends tourism, environmental cleanup and manufacturing in the world's first plastic fishing business. The goal: to make the world's waters plastic-free.
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Does searching through the mud of a riverbank for treasures of old sound like a fun way to spend a day? If so, you may just be a true mudlarker at heart.
Hydropower is essential to the U.S. power grid, but it only creates energy when there's water to move. How many hydroelectric plants could be in jeopardy as lakes and rivers dry up?
The element lithium is one of just three created during the Big Bang and has been used for mental health care for decades. But now it's in higher demand than ever before.
Hair trimmings from salons and personal donations can be repurposed as mats that soak up oil spills and help protect the environment.
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A virtual power plant is a network of wind farms, solar parks and home battery systems designed to relieve the energy load on the main power grid. We talked to one expert to find out how.
The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent. However, many health groups are against it. What do studies say and should President Joe Biden sign the bill into law?
Cinnabar's bright-red pigment has been used in jewelry, pottery and makeup for millennia. But cinnabar is also the primary ore for mercury, making it a dangerous mineral if the particles are inhaled.
The rose-red mineral rhodonite was first discovered in the 1790s in the Ural Mountains of Russia. Today it's found globally and is associated with compassion, love and healing.
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The curves of the giant snake line up with the sun during equinoxes and solstices.
The new field of imageomics allows scientists to cull useful data from photos and videos to help save endangered species. It even uses images taken by tourists.
Mountains might look like they're stoic and still, but research shows otherwise. Massive ones, like the Matterhorn, are moving all the time, gently swaying back and forth every few seconds.
The waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet at the tip of Cape Horn and never the two shall mix, right?
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A new project aims to document the possible demise of Planet Earth due to climate change. It's called Earth's Black Box and the creators hope this will be a warning to all Earth-dwellers to take global warming seriously.
From the chemicals that pollute and the massive use of water, the traditional method of dyeing blue jeans is an environmental disaster. Nanoparticles made from wood pulp might be the answer to the problem.
This alien-looking archipelago off the coast of Yemen is teeming with plants and animals. Many species here are threatened or endangered. Can they be saved?
Some say UFOs, while others say a meteor strike formed the Carolina Bays. Whatever created these isolated ponds and wetlands across North and South Carolina left a wondrous ecosystem that is in dire need of protection.
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Reducing the amount of methane that human activities are adding to the atmosphere could have a quick impact on global warming, if everything goes as planned.
By Jeff Nesbit
The science is off the charts. Climate change is here and it's affecting the planet. We'll tell you how and where.