Environment

The first satellite in a constellation designed specifically to locate wildfires early and precisely anywhere on the planet has now reached Earth's orbit, and it could forever change how we tackle unplanned infernos.

It's both challenging and crucial to recycle wind turbine blades, because they are built to last decades and don't degrade quickly in landfills. An Australian firm has hit upon a radical solution: it's turning those old fins into surfboards.

Old, discarded wind turbine blades don't biodegrade. They do, however, float if sealed. Finnish startup Reverlast is capitalizing on that fact, by taking end-of-use blades and converting them into stylish floating docks.

Singapore's Tuas mega port has now successfully handled 10 million containers since it kicked off operations in September 2022, and is expected to handle 65 million shipping containers a year in the 2040s when its development is complete.

Stanford researchers have found a way to activate commonly found rocks so they capture CO2 out of the air at room temperature. The team believes it could be relatively inexpensive, and can easily scale to help sort our emissions problem worldwide.

While it's great that many types of paper can now be recycled, textile waste is still mostly dumped or burned. A new technique could change that by combining the two materials, using discarded cotton clothing to boost the strength of packaging paper.

Using scented products indoors changes the chemistry of the air, producing as much air pollution as car exhaust does outside, according to a new study. Researchers say that breathing in these nanosized particles could have serious health implications.

As much as wind turbines are great for producing clean energy, disposing of them when the time comes can be challenging. Researchers in China have hit upon a clever way to use discarded blades to build long-lasting roads.

Methylmercury is an extremely toxic compound, and unfortunately it's often present in the fish that we eat. Scientists are now developing a method of removing it from the environment, utilizing engineered fish and flies that take up the compound and neutralize it.

A preserved tree fossil gives an unprecedented view into a moment 42,000 years ago when the Earth’s magnetic field went haywire, triggering environmental chaos, influencing everything from an increase in cave paintings to the Neanderthal extinction.

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ are increasingly showing up in the environment, our food and drinking water, and our bodies. But we might have a new weapon: scientists have identified a bacterium that can eat these chemicals, as well as their byproducts.

Whales are not only the biggest animals on the planet, but they’re among the longest-lived, too. A new analysis reveals that right whales can live for more than 130 years, almost twice as long as previously thought.

Nuclear waste. We've all heard about it but what exactly is it and why is it so important? How big is the problem and is it a problem without a solution? New Atlas takes a look at the basics.

Traffic in the vicinity of Antarctica has become a bit trickier now that A23a, the world's oldest and largest iceberg, has broken free of its watery trap north of the South Orkney Islands and is floating northward on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

When the Swiss and Italian governments got together to redraw the alpine border that divides the two countries last year, due to rapidly retreating glaciers, it put into stark focus a challenge that is expected to face many nations that have natural structures that mark territories.