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?
The forward momentum on recycling has stalled in the U.S. and other countries, but some experts say there's still potential for growth.
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
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Sastrugi are gorgeous snow formations found in the polar north, but they're also no fun to travel over.
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.'
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?
What makes these spongy, waterlogged areas of decaying plant matter so perfect at preservation? In a word: science.
By Mark Mancini
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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.
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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
How, in today's world, could a cave this massive go undetected for so long?
Urine is so much more valuable than we think. Soon, we might be building houses with pee bricks.
Palm oil has become one of the most widely used substances on the planet, but its cultivation has been an environmental and human rights disaster.
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Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) is a controversial possibility in the effort to slow the rate of climate change.
But that doesn't mean they worshipped them.
By Dave Roos
Seed banks like the Svalbard Vault in Norway are saving seeds for our future. But a new study found not all seeds can be banked.
By Oisin Curran
A bubbling mud pool is moving toward the San Andreas Fault, but scientists don't see evidence of an impending earthquake.
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We flush a shocking amount of perfectly good water down the toilet every day. An environmental engineer has a better idea.
By Oisin Curran
A killer smog 70 years ago helped lead to the first federal air pollution laws.
As if warming temperatures and melting glaciers aren't bad enough, now climate scientists are warning that the world's beer supply could all but dry up. Even at Germany's world-famous Oktoberfest.
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
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While green roofs make sense in a lot of ways, requiring their installation isn't as simple as it might seem.
The oceans' levels change daily across the globe. We know them as tidal changes. But what causes this constant shift in sea level and why is it more dramatic is some places than others?
By Mark Mancini