There’s a better way to build a glacier. During winter in India’s mountainous Ladakh region, some farmers use pipes and sprinklers to construct building-sized cones of ice. These towering, humanmade…
Category: Earth
How to build better ice towers for drinking water and irrigation
There’s a better way to build a glacier. During winter in India’s mountainous Ladakh region, some farmers use pipes and sprinklers to construct building-sized cones of ice. These towering, humanmade…
Megatooth sharks may have been higher on the food chain than any ocean animal ever
Whenever paleontologist Dana Ehret gives talks about the 15-meter-long prehistoric sharks known as megalodons, he likes to make a joke: “What did megalodon eat?” asks Ehret, Assistant Curator of Natural…
Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago
Bits of charcoal entombed in ancient rocks unearthed in Wales and Poland push back the earliest evidence for wildfires to around 430 million years ago. Besides breaking the previous record…
Russia’s invasion could cause long-term harm to Ukraine’s prized soil
By now, wheat planted late last year waves in fields across Ukraine. Spring crops of sunflowers and barley are turning swaths of dark earth into a fuzz of bright green.…
Just 3 ingredients can quickly destroy widely used PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
The undoing of toxic “forever chemicals” may be found in products in your pantry. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, can persist in the environment for centuries. While…
Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent
In the unceasing battle against dust, humans possess a deep arsenal of weaponry, from microfiber cloths to feather dusters to vacuum cleaners. But new research suggests that none of that…
These six foods may become more popular as the planet warms
No matter how you slice it, climate change will alter what we eat in the future. Today, just 13 crops provide 80 percent of people’s energy intake worldwide, and about…
Replacing some meat with microbial protein could help fight climate change
“Fungi Fridays” could save a lot of trees — and take a bite out of greenhouse gas emissions. Eating one-fifth less red meat and instead munching on microbial proteins derived…
Western wildfires’ health risks extend across the country
After a relaxing day at the Jersey Shore last July, Jessica Reeder and her son and daughter headed back home to Philadelphia. As they crested a bridge from New Jersey…
