Environment
Environmental science may be the most important area of study in the 21st century. Refractor is dedicated in its focus on keeping you up to date with honest and accurate coverage of the latest in this field.
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Norwegian chemical company Yara has inaugurated the largest industrial carbon capture facility in all of Europe this week. Set up at the company's ammonia and fertilizer plant in Sluiskil, the Netherlands, it can capture 800,000 tons of CO2 per year. -
The volatile seismic zone along the roughly 750-mile San Andreas Fault beneath California are "critically stressed" – a level of pressure that has reached its highest point in 1,000 years – increasing the likelihood of a big earthquake hitting the US. -
Nearly 15 years ago, scientists found that plants had a biological mechanism that directs their form – thought to have only been something seen in animals. Now, researchers have uncovered how it works. It's essentially a tree's version of a muscle.
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Latest News
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August 30, 2026 | Bronwyn ThompsonMost of us have learnt that life on land involved transitioning from the water and evolving the physiological means to do so. But a new study has found solid evidence that this formative process involved more diverse species also making the move. -
August 17, 2026 | Bronwyn ThompsonWe're closer to understand who is most likely to feel invisible aftershocks following even small earthquakes. While they feel real at the time, the phantom quakes may just be your brain trying to make sense one of the weirdest sensations on Earth. -
July 29, 2026 | Toluwalogo Niji-OlawepoSixteen different PFAS compounds have been discovered in the feathers of Antarctic penguins, demonstrating that the insidious spread of "forever chemicals" now reaches the most remote wildlife on Earth. -
July 23, 2026 | Bronwyn ThompsonHuge sinkholes in nature have traditionally been viewed as a win for biodiversity, protecting plants that would otherwise be exposed to environmental stressors above ground. However, a new genetic study indicates they are an evolutionary death trap. -
June 29, 2026 | Mike McRaeJacob Haqq-Misra and Eric Wolf, researchers with the charity Blue Marble Space, argue in their recently published paper that Earth could stay green for nearly 1.9 billion years or more, depending on how the future plays out.