Environment

Our love of gadgets and technology is leading to a huge electronic waste problem. TCO Development, the folks behind the global sustainability certification, has announced a new initiative to help with our growing e-waste problem.

To build a more complete picture of drought-stricken areas, NASA has developed its first global groundwater map, which it hopes will become useful way of monitoring water supplies as the world contends with ever-hotter temperatures.

A group of Australian scientists stationed in the Antarctic have just reported the continent’s first-ever heatwave, which follows record temperatures on the continent last month and is expected to have significant impacts on the local ecosystem.

People living in the hottest places on Earth may be up to three times as likely to die from a heart-related cause, according to a newly published study. Heat-related stress could be made worse in the coming decades by the effects of global warming.

The Arctic permafrost is thawing, which could release huge amounts of greenhouse gases stored there. But now researchers have found that methane-munching microbes might counter some of that, resulting in far lower emissions than previously thought.

Scientists at Cardiff University have come up with a way of estimating the maximum size of plastic pieces different marine creatures can consume, which could help assess the risks different types of waste pose to species around the globe

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is a prime example of the negative impacts of global warming, having already suffered back-to-back severe mass bleaching events in the past five years. Scientists have this week confirmed it is in the midst of a third

One argued silver lining of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is that plants will be better off. But a new study has found that the more extreme heat and drought brought on by climate change would cancel out most of the benefits for trees.

The UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has issued a warning: large areas of England will face significant risk of drought due to climate change, and water companies need to find billions of extra liters per day by 2050 to keep up.

Scientists studying the movement of seafloor sediment have found that underwater avalanches are driving microplastics into the deep ocean, which may help researchers better map the distribution of waste throughout the marine environment.

A new study has shown how the world’s shipping is inadvertently serving up a live experiment, quantifying how the clouds modified by pollution they create can block solar energy, and measuring the effect this could be having on global temperatures.

NASA has developed a new 3D map to not only keep track of methane sources but follow its movement as it builds up and travels through the atmosphere, offering a new tool in the efforts to mitigate its impacts.