The aquarium industry is bigger than you think. And it could be harnessed to help save reefs.
New research shows saltwater aquariums are a multi-billion dollar industry with more than 6 million hobbyists. That could mean a lot of people interested in protecting reefs.
Bluebird feathers inspire battery and filter material
A microscopic network of channels in bluebird feathers gives it its characteristic hue; mimicking that structure could give better batteries and water filters
An ingenious ultrathin film keeps crops warm at night and slashes food waste. No energy required.
The almost invisibly thin film—many microns thinner than a human hair—might not only replace plastic sheeting and heaters in agriculture, but also protect telephone lines and electric cables.
Has Wind Power Blown It?
Financial headwinds could be a passing storm or a long-term headache for the carbon-free energy source.
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Resetting carbon offsets from the bottom up
Inside one quest to restore tarnished carbon markets, one family forest at a time
The World Is Our Battery
BatteryBatteries don’t have to be small or even portable. Here are five ambitious technologies that store energy in the rocks, water, and air all around us.
Engineers devise clever system for EVs to share charge—while driving
Think military jets being refueled in-flight by tanker aircraft . . .on a smaller scale with a lot less carbon emissions.
This material can store the sun’s energy for months, maybe even years
Thin coatings of the material could soak up sun in summer months and provide heat to buildings in winter, all without using fuel or electricity
Tiny, needle-like sensors inserted into plants are the latest addition to precision agriculture
Using microneedles, a technology borrowed from medicine, researchers mine real-time data to make farming hyper-efficient—and more sustainable
Research spoiler: Reducing food waste has unintended consequences
In a first of its kind global assessment, researchers show that tackling food waste could drive a ‘rebound effect’ whereby people end up buying more food. Good for food security; but bad for the environment.
Employment in the energy sector will dramatically expand as economies decarbonize
A team calculated that a decarbonized world could lose 9.5 million fossil fuel jobs—and gain a whopping 17.4 million renewable jobs.
The Future Will Not Be Dry
In a world of melting ice caps, storm surges, and tropical cyclones, the most resilient cities aren’t the ones that fight the water back—but the ones that absorb it.
First-of-their-kind maps show that biochar from crop residues could lock up 510 MMT of carbon
And that was the researchers’ more conservative estimate.
David Quammen
What if evolution isn’t linear, as Charles Darwin proposed when he first sketched the tree of life?
Emily Anthes
Amphibious architecture responds to floods like ships to a rising tide, floating on the water’s surface.
Oliver Morton
The godlike powers of geoengineering irrevocably change the human’s relationship with Planet Earth.
Frances Cairncross
What is the optimal rollout of carbon taxes and research subsidies to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy?
David Biello
Welcome to the brave new world of artificial intelligence for conservation.
Veronique Greenwood
The rise of fast fashion and the technology that needs to change to keep your clothes out of the garbage.
Fred Pearce
Some economies may be quietly, and surprisingly approaching a phenomenon economists call “peak stuff.
Akshat Rathi
What if we could transform cement from a climate wrecker into a carbon sponge?
Ted Nordhaus
The climate change apocalypse problem
Andrew Revkin
The word “anthropocene” has become the closest thing there is to common shorthand for this turbulent, momentous, unpredictable, hopeless, hopeful time—duration and scope still unknown
Vandana Singh
How might science fiction constructively contribute to the Human Age?
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