Environmental Science

Climate change may be melting glaciers, but it's also reducing the oxygen of the world's oceans. Without oxygen, many marine organisms may no longer be able to survive.

By John Perritano

As the world becomes more urbanized, the demand for sand, a key ingredient of concrete, keeps growing. But there's only so much sand to go around.

By Dave Roos

Talk about a Brexit! Scientists have clues to catastrophic flooding that destroyed a land bridge that once connected England and France.

By Patrick J. Kiger

New findings about ancient, extinct Australasian bandicoot and bilby species underscore how dire things are today when even survivors like these are struggling.

By Jesslyn Shields

Millions of people die every year because of poor air quality, new international research finds. That number is expected to rise in coming years.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Most mammals have a penis bone called a baculum, but humans don't. A new study sheds light on the history of the baculum, and why ours is missing.

By Jesslyn Shields

Now that its sequel is out, where did Al Gore's landmark environmental documentary hit the mark? What did it get wrong?

By Patrick J. Kiger

A new 'atlas' of light pollution finds that one third of people on Earth can't see the night sky's most dramatic feature.

By Christopher Hassiotis

The OneLessStraw campaign encourages people to kick their straw habit to keep plastic from harming the environment.

By Kate Kershner

Science has determined that disappearing completely into quicksand isn't possible — but that doesn't mean that getting stuck still won't kill you.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Surprisingly, living in a city with a high level of natural radiation doesn't have any ill effects.

By Alia Hoyt

Around 90 percent of an iceberg is under the water, but changing weight distribution caused by melting can make it flip.

By Stell Simonton

The super-cool phenomenon of tidal bores happens in only a few places on the globe, and it takes a very specific set of conditions to occur.

By Mark Mancini

Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II is making changes to the Royals solid-wasted plan, and that includes banning many plastics.

By John Perritano

Helium balloons are dangerous to the environment and wildlife — so why isn't releasing them illegal?

By Jesslyn Shields

The Great Lakes are named so for several reasons. HowStuffWorks looks at why the Great Lakes are so great, including their impressive depths.

By Mark Mancini

Petrified wood can be found all over the world, but how is it created?

By Mark Mancini & Desiree Bowie

Wine pomace — the portion of grapes left over from winemaking — has a variety of uses, from fertilizer to a nutrition-enhancing ingredient in foods.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The spring, or vernal, equinox traditionally marks the first day of spring — but climate scientists use a different date altogether. Find out more about this and other facts about the spring equinox.

By Mark Mancini

Found in everything from plastic shopping bags to water bottles to adhesives, paints and DVDs, industrial resins tend to have a bad rap when it comes to their environmental impact. Can new, sustainable options turn their image around?

By Chris Warren

The Pacific Ocean trash vortex is explained in this article. Learn about the Pacific Ocean trash vortex.

By Brian Merchant

You may have noticed that our planet isn't terribly predictable. Could a German polymath and an unfathomable pile of data change that?

By Robert Lamb

About 70 percent of our energy comes from non-renewable sources like oil and natural gas. When they're gone, they're gone for good. Learn some simple ways to conserve energy through these five simple experiments.

By John Kelly

You probably think all parasites are disgusting little critters, but that's not always the case. Several are actually critical to the planet.

By Mark Boyer

Hair trimmings from salons and personal donations can be repurposed as mats that soak up oil spills and help protect the environment.

By Patrick J. Kiger