Environment

A new study by Stanford University suggests that an 80-mile-wide (130-km) stream of ice in the heart of Antarctica's "doomsday glacier" may expand over the next 20 years, which would increase its ice loss and contribute to sea level rises.

Based on a 25-year record of the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet, a team of scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have shown that changes in snowfall over Antarctica can have significant short-term effects on global sea level rises.

In countries such as India, a great deal of toxic dye waste from the textile industry is released into waterways, harming people and the environment. A new wood-derived filtration media could remove much of that dye from wastewater streams.

The IPCC has released its latest report, pulling together the findings of previous reports to provide a more complete picture of how human-caused climate change continues to affect the planet and what we need to do to address it.

Much of the heat and carbon produced by humans is absorbed by the ocean. New research has shed light on the role that underwater waves play in moving that heat and carbon around our oceans, an important factor in predicting climate change.

What do you do if a South American weed is choking up your local Australian waterways? In the case of the cabomba plant, scientists are enlisting the help of the weed's natural South American enemy, the tiny cabomba weevil.

Solar farms and agriculture are competing for land. UCLA Scientists have now tested a way to combine the two by placing semi-transparent solar cells on the glass roofs of greenhouses, finding that they actually improve the growth of plants inside.

We all know that trees help clean the air in cities, but which trees do so best? According to new research conducted in Sweden, a mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees will give you the most bang for your buck.

Although disposable plastic straws are being phased out, their "greener" replacements have a few shortcomings of their own. Well, scientists have now developed bioplastic straws that don't get soggy, but do biodegrade when discarded.

After nearly 20 years of negotiations, 193 nations have come together to draft the High Seas Treaty, an agreement that will set the world on track to protect 30% of international waters, fund marine conservation and better regulate sea-bed mining.

The health benefits of a meat-based versus a plant-based diet are often hotly debated. A new study adds another checkmark to the plant-based column though, as it loops in the environmental impacts of choosing paleo or keto diets over veganism.

Although salmon farms help take pressure off wild stocks, the penned fish do produce a lot of waste which is concentrated at one location. A new farm is exploring a solution to that problem, by raising salmon and kelp in adjacent pens.

While crops do sequester some atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via photosynthesis, they could always use a bit of help. California startup Andes is aiming to provide that help, by putting carbon-capturing microbes in the soil of farmers' fields.

Researchers have identified 27 feedback loops demonstrating how one effect of climbing temperatures leads to events that further reinforce global warming and the initial event itself. The findings make immediate climate action even more crucial.

The oceans soak up enormous quantities of carbon dioxide, and MIT researchers say they've developed a way of releasing and capturing it that uses far less energy than direct air capture – with some other environmental benefits to boot.