Environmental Science

In a devastating twist of irony, a warming climate in Norway is already damaging the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Caves are full of incredible geological formations, including stalagmites and stalactites. But you've probably never seen anything like cave popcorn before.

By Mark Mancini

Green, clean energy sounds good at first: Harness the power of the wind to run our creature comforts. But could the sounds people hear (and don't hear) from wind turbines endanger their health?

By Julia Layton & Sarah Gleim

"Will draw dinosaurs for food" is what they like to think they do. But it's actually way more complicated.

By Mark Mancini

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

Scientists set up two stations to capture this strange seismic activity.

By Mark Mancini

It's traditional for forests to surround churches in Ethiopia, and now they're providing the last tree canopies in a country that's been heavily deforested. But will they survive?

By Nathan Chandler

The decades-old geyser was created by accident when a geothermal company tried to drill a well. Now the strange geyser is open to tourists for the first time ever.

By Oisin Curran

Massive gypsum crystals were discovered beneath Mexico's Sierra de Naica Mountain in very inhospitable environs — to humans anyway.

By Mark Mancini

Sealab was a U.S. Navy program that allowed undersea divers to go deeper and stay underwater longer. So why did it disappear?

By Jesslyn Shields

The Ancient Earth visualization map shows the movement of the planet's tectonic plates in a really cool way.

By Patrick J. Kiger

A new technology can speed the purification of water using sunlight, potentially providing clean water to billions of people.

By Jim Marion

There are seven different numbers you might see on a plastic container. And each number has its own meaning.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

The forward momentum on recycling has stalled in the U.S. and other countries, but some experts say there's still potential for growth.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Some cities, even large ones, are making big strides in improving air quality.

By Loraine Fick

Cockroaches are taking a big bite out of a Chinese city's trash problem.

By Loraine Fick

Sastrugi are gorgeous snow formations found in the polar north, but they're also no fun to travel over.

By Jesslyn Shields

These ancient wonders aren't static sculptures; they vibrate and shift throughout the day, creating a variety of sounds as they stretch their aging, eroding 'bones.'

By Nathan Chandler

The pigment ultramarine was as expensive as gold in medieval Europe; so how did it end up in the teeth of a nun buried at a monastery in rural Germany?

By Jesslyn Shields

What makes these spongy, waterlogged areas of decaying plant matter so perfect at preservation? In a word: science.

By Mark Mancini

Prior to the mid-1990s, the magnetic north pole traveled at speeds of around 9 miles per year. Now, it's 34 miles annually. What accounts for the acceleration?

By Mark Mancini

Researchers hypothesize that missing rocks from the geologic record, known as the Great Unconformity, were sheared away by glaciers at a time when most — or all — of the world's surface was coated with ice.

By Mark Mancini

Believe it or not, despite all of the dire prognostications, there was some good news about the environment in 2018.

By Jamie Allen

Coral grows faster when it's cut or broken and scientists are taking advantage of that to replenish depleted reefs.

By Cherise Threewitt

Lakes seem like serene places to escape and enjoy peace and quiet. So you'd probably be surprised to learn that a lake can actually explode without warning. It's happened, with deadly consequences.

By Mark Mancini