Researchers have shown how dramatic sea-level rise over a 5,000-year period profoundly changed the coasts of northern Italy, Slovenia and northern Croatia. Successive shaping and reshaping of coastal features influenced the lives of Mesolithic and Neolithic p…
When people discuss architecture in Ghana, attention often focuses on modern buildings: concrete houses, glass offices, shopping malls and ambitious urban developments. Yet across the country, another architectural tradition continues to offer lessons about h…
One of the problems with how America deals with wildfires is the belief that there is one primary strategy that can end the nation's wildfire crisis. Whether that's detecting and putting out every fire fast, increasing logging and forest thinning, or allowing…
Snails carry weather records on their backs that could be used to map prehistoric cyclones, a University of Queensland study has shown. The project led by School of the Environment researchers examined the rings on the shell of a Biggenden Banded Snail (Figul…
Across Africa, people are restoring and managing mangroves, grazing lands and urban green areas in the face of increasing threats from climate change. Increasingly, they make decisions based on climate-related information supplied by governments, funders and …
"Resilience" is in danger of becoming a casualty of business buzzword bingo, but we know it matters. The World Economic Forum lists it as one of the most important skills for the future of work, and I've found it turns up on any list of key attributes, usuall…
A surge in Indonesia's wood pellet and chip production is driving a new wave of deforestation, threatening the vast archipelago's remaining tropical forests, vital biodiversity hot spots and the land of Indigenous peoples, according to new satellite analysis …
The central north Amazon, with extensive areas of high forest cover, natural savannas and vast, important Indigenous territories, was not previously considered the area most affected by climate change.
Plans to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels depend on reaching net-zero emissions and, in many cases, actively removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. While this helps limit extreme weather, sea level rise, ecosystem los…
For the first time, important features of the Antarctic coastal zone have been mapped at high resolution around the continent by training an artificial intelligence tool to accurately recognize grounded icebergs in satellite radar images.
A catastrophic flood in Nepal that left thousands missing began with a collapse of ice and rock high in the mountains—a warning that disaster planning must prepare for chains of hazards, not isolated events, experts say.
Loose fibers from functional clothing, discarded PET bottles or abandoned packaging: When such plastic materials enter the environment, they often persist there for a long time. UV radiation, precipitation and ozone cause them to become brittle—and over time,…
When will the glacier in your valley disappear? Will the glacier you visited as a child still exist in 2050? And how much difference would limiting global warming make?
With Western wildfires increasing in size, duration and intensity, millions of Americans are now exposed to wildfire smoke each year. In California, 2020 and 2021 were particularly challenging, with a 10-fold increase in fires compared with any time in the st…
Northern India experiences some of the world's worst winter air pollution, with dangerous episodes often prompting emergency control efforts. In major cities like Delhi, the Air Quality Index has reached levels above 999—over 30 times the World Health Organiz…
The massive and deadly floods on the Nepal–Tibet border are a stark reminder of why the world needs to constantly update its understanding of the fragile ecosystem in the Himalayas.
Our oceans are in trouble, and new research from Flinders University shows how changes in diatoms (microalgae) could further undermine the foundation of aquatic food webs—as well as vital deep-sea carbon capture or sequestration.
Industrialized countries send millions of metric tonnes of used clothing, electronic equipment and other products to the Global South, along with the environmental and health costs tied to producing, consuming and disposing of those goods.
A revolution in forecasting natural disasters is underway, say researchers in Switzerland who are training AI models using vast troves of NASA climate data to produce potentially lifesaving data at lightning speed.
Switching to a more sustainable diet could halve food-related emissions in cities such as Amsterdam, while in cities such as Dhaka and Delhi, the focus should be more on making food production more sustainable as they widen food access. A new database by Leid…
As extreme heat becomes more frequent and severe, many people are turning to informal adaptation strategies—rigging up plastic sheeting overhead for shade, sharing water at a community tap and creating neighborhood cooling areas.
Historical records of the deadliest storms and heat waves may be a poor indicator of the scale and impact future weather disasters could have, scientists at King's College London warn.
Dozens of glacial lakes have formed across northern India in the last three decades, while existing lakes have expanded rapidly, highlighting the need to monitor a landscape reshaped by climate change.
The historic droughts of 2023 and 2024 in the Amazon reduced river flows and altered the region's rainfall composition. Daily monitoring in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, revealed these changes through the use of isotopes, which act a…
If you want to drum up support for environmental action, putting climate change front and center may not always be the best strategy. A new study by Aya Takagi and Ryosuke Nakadai of Yokohama National University suggests that support for policies that emphasi…
Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. However, when they are drained, they can become substantial sources of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Vaping isn't just annoying to passersby who have to walk through clouds of vapor but may be actively harmful to the environment, a new study says. Discarded nicotine vapes contain extremely high levels of lead and other heavy metals in their remaining cache o…
In early 2017 and 2023, California experienced two catastrophic and record-breaking floods that caused billions of dollars in damage, triggered mudslides and forced thousands of people to evacuate. Why this happened left scientists scratching their heads. Bot…