Although many smokers apparently don't realize it (or just don't care), cigarette butts are very much a form of litter – in fact, they're the world's most common type of litter. And they're not just an eyesore, as new research now indicates that they also dramatically reduce plant growth.
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Researchers at the Salk Institute are approaching gene-editing technology with some very big-picture thinking, looking to tweak the genes of humankind’s most commonly sown crops so they store more carbon dioxide underground as a way of fighting climate change
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Scientists at the University of Exeter have turned to Twitter for a better picture of the effect ocean plastics are having on sharks and rays. Summing these reports, they identified more than 1,000 individual sharks and rays seen entangled in ocean waste.
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How effective would planting new trees be to combat climate change? A new study from ETH Zurich has found that Earth has room to reforest an area the size of the US, and calculates what benefits that might bring. But of course, the story is more complicated than just planting a trillion new trees.
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According to the authors of a new paper, the energy infrastructure we’ve already constructed is more than enough to warm the planet beyond levels considered safe, and that’s before we start to consider future power plants currently in the pipeline.
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Livestock like sheep and cows are responsible for huge amounts of methane emissions. Now, an international team of researchers has analyzed the gut microbes of different sheep and found clues that may help us curb the problem.
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An expedition to the “Lost City of the Monkey God” in Honduras has revealed a trove of natural treasures. The pristine forests house an incredibly rich ecosystem, including species new to science, some unknown in the area, some that haven’t been seen in decades and others that were believed extinct.
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There are currently fewer than 80 Southern Resident Killer Whales left in North America's Pacific Northwest, and unfortunately boat collisions with them are on the rise. In order to address the problem, scientists are now looking to artificially-intelligent infrared cameras.
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Although many people do send paper off to be recycled, the recycling process isn't entirely eco-friendly – it requires a lot of power, and incorporates toxic chemicals. Now, however, scientists have developed a method of simply removing the printed text from sheets of paper, so they can be reused.
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The UN has published a new report detailing the dangers of climate change and how it will shape the issue of poverty in the coming decades. It paints a grim picture for not just those suffering in the current day, but the millions upon millions that will be pushed into poverty as a result.
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