Birthing the Blob

With ecosystems increasingly squeezed by anthropogenic warming, even cleaning up pollution can cause problems.

Jul 18, 2024 | 800 words, about 4 minutes

In Graphic Detail: Europe’s Tourism Destinations Feel the Heat

As the climate warms, popular coastal tourist haunts across Europe will be hit hard by extreme weather.

Jul 12, 2024 | 400 words, about 2 minutes

Microplastic Exposure Breeds Antimicrobial Resistance

Laboratory research shows that someway, somehow, PVC plastic makes microbes more virulent and resilient.

Jun 26, 2023 | 500 words, about 2 minutes

Cities Are Rapidly Reclaiming Land at Risk of Extreme Sea Level Rise

People are building more and more land—a growing proportion of which is for luxury developments. It’s putting the rest of us at risk of flooding.

Apr 24, 2023 | 800 words, about 4 minutes

How Will Creatures That Can Barely Move Handle Climate Change?

Lots of species are being forced to move to escape the heat. Some just can’t move very far.

Feb 15, 2023 | 450 words, about 2 minutes

Don’t Overestimate Bioplastics’ Benefits

Bioplastics may avoid some of the issues associated with non-biodegradable fossil fuel­–derived plastics, but they’re no panacea.

Jan 30, 2023 | 800 words, about 4 minutes

The Puerto Rican Plain Pigeon Can’t Take Another Big Hurricane

Hampered by habitat loss and besieged by climate change–boosted hurricanes, this Caribbean species may not survive the next big storm.

Sep 19, 2022 | 650 words, about 3 minutes

Restraining the Tide Exacerbates Climate Change

Blocking the flow of salt water can turn coastal wetlands into methane belchers.

Aug 24, 2022 | 750 words, about 3 minutes

Human Pathogens Are Hitching a Ride on Floating Plastic

Studies show that various human pathogens cling to microplastics in seawater.

Jul 27, 2022 | 750 words, about 3 minutes

How Urchins and the Blob Tag Teamed Kelp Forests

From 2013 to 2016, the Blob derailed the ecosystem in the northeast Pacific. Years later, scientists are still uncovering new consequences wrought by this extreme heatwave.

Jul 20, 2022 | 750 words, about 3 minutes

Coastal Cities Are Already Sinking

New satellite data shows that in many coastal cities around the world, land is subsiding even faster than sea level is rising.

Jun 6, 2022 | 550 words, about 2 minutes

Arctic Shipping Routes Are Expanding Faster than Predicted

As ice melts, navigable routes have opened in ways that were not expected until the middle of this century.

May 25, 2022 | 650 words, about 3 minutes

Adapting to Climate Change Will Only Get More Expensive

A new estimate puts the cost of adapting and repairing coastal infrastructure damaged by climate change in the United States at hundreds of billions annually. The sooner adaptation planning begins, the less expensive it will be.

Dec 16, 2021 | 700 words, about 3 minutes

The Future Is Full of Zombie Garbage

As the coast erodes, decades-old trash is coming out of the ground.

Dec 15, 2021 | 800 words, about 4 minutes

Trawlers Are Pushing into the High Arctic

With sea ice melting, fishing looks set to continue its expansion into previously inaccessible waters.

Jul 29, 2021 | 700 words, about 3 minutes

More Intense Marine Heatwaves Are Affecting Life on Land

In coastal cities, marine heatwaves in the adjacent ocean can cause the heat index, a measure of how hot it feels, to rise by several degrees.

Jul 12, 2021 | 550 words, about 2 minutes

Climate Change Is Sending Some Species the Wrong Way

Not every animal has the power to migrate to cooler climes.

Nov 23, 2020 | 450 words, about 2 minutes

Protection for the Rich, Retreat for the Poor

How the United States’ implementation of climate change adaptation programs is exacerbating inequality and breeding a new form of climate gentrification.

Oct 14, 2020 | 1,000 words, about 5 minutes

Plastics Are Messing with Fish Physiology

A systematic review exposes the dangers of tiny plastics and the hidden bias at the heart of plastic research.

Sep 2, 2020 | 550 words, about 2 minutes

What Goes Up Must Come Down

If companies fall for the appeal of cheap mercury as a satellite fuel, it would be disastrous for marine life.

May 13, 2020 | 850 words, about 4 minutes

Black Carbon Is Supercharging El Niño

The sooty pollutant spurs the development of more powerful El Niños, to potentially devastating effect.

Apr 22, 2020 | 400 words, about 2 minutes

Marine Worms Are Eating Plastic Now

In the burgeoning plastisphere, these worms are plastivores.

Aug 13, 2018 | 500 words, about 2 minutes

The Andean Condor’s 100-Kilometer Diet

Depleted marine mammals and an increasingly developed coastline mean these scavengers have to fly far to find food.

Jun 25, 2018 | 600 words, about 3 minutes

Reminder: Plastic Doesn’t Go in the Compost Bin

Plastic placed in organic waste bins is a sizable source of environmental plastic pollution.

Jun 4, 2018 | 700 words, about 3 minutes

Stopping Plastic Pollution with the Power of Bubbles

A new device seems to stop plastic in its tracks, but some are concerned about unintended environmental effects.

Dec 11, 2017 | 1,000 words, about 5 minutes

There’s Probably Plastic in Your Sea Salt

Now you can season your plastic-contaminated fish with plastic-contaminated sea salt.

May 8, 2017 | 550 words, about 2 minutes

Detoxing the Ocean

New technology could pull toxic metals out of contaminated water.

Apr 26, 2017 | 850 words, about 4 minutes

Worried About Marine Plastic? Try Eating Bottom Feeders

The risks marine plastics pose to fish and humans is still largely unknown.

Feb 17, 2016 | 450 words, about 2 minutes

There’s Probably Garbage in Your Fish

In Indonesia and the United States, fish are contaminated with human debris.

Nov 2, 2015 | 500 words, about 2 minutes