Environment

When you see plastic trash washed up on the shore, don't you wish there was something you could do? Besides just picking it up, that is? Well, a new app may soon be able to determine where that garbage came from, so action can be taken.

Last year, we heard how scientists had created eco-friendly soft gel particles from hard grains of pollen. Now, they've used those particles to create sponges that could soak up oil spills, then biodegrade once used up.

Like most other commonly used types of plastic, polyurethane is typically made from non-renewable crude oil, and it takes centuries to break down when discarded. Now, however, scientists have created a biodegradable polyurethane-like polymer using fish waste.

Using advanced infrared imaging technology aboard an Earth-orbiting satellite, scientists have measured the coldest temperature of a storm cloud on record, owing to an overshooting top that penetrated the stratosphere.

Restoring post-agricultural land to tropical forest can be challenging, as the pasture grasses tend to choke out the native trees. A new study, however, indicates that waste from the coffee industry gives those trees a fighting chance.

Microplastics are increasingly found polluting waterways and causing unknown damage to the health of animals and humans. Now, a new study provides evidence there's cross over with another looming public health threat – antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Cattle are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to their methane-loaded burps. A detailed new study has found more evidence that feeding cows a small seaweed supplement can greatly reduce their methane emissions.

Scientists have made the surprising discovery of fossilized plants 1.4 km beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. That indicates the island has been ice-free within the last million years – meaning it’s more vulnerable to climate change than we thought.

Plants are complex organisms that use electrical signals to sense and respond to their surroundings. New research shows how this might enable them to be used to pick up fragile objects, among other interesting possibilities.

Scientists at the University of Utah have been keeping a close eye on these famous geysers of Yellowstone National Park, and have now managed to image the plumbing system of the tallest one in the world to a depth of 450 feet.

Researchers in the UK have come up with a new formula for tackling smoldering "zombie fires", which can burn through carbon-rich organic matter underground and trigger flaming wildfires again once the danger appears to have passed.

There are currently many projects aimed at reducing the air pollution emitted in automobile exhaust, but in the meantime couldn't we just … redirect that exhaust? A new study suggests a possible means of doing so.