Archive

Explore Anthropocene’s story archive by clicking on the topics below or entering your own search terms.

Scientists develop a plastic that can be turned into fertilizer

Researchers say a modified plant-derived polymer offers a possible alternative to conventional plastics—one designed to end its life as crop fertilizer, not landfill waste.

Building codes are holding back low-carbon concrete. A new study shows why.

Building standards treat all concrete the same, hindering the use of greener concrete, but climate conditions play a much bigger role in determining a structure’s durability

Low carbon concretes corrosion problem isnt chemistry its climate

In a first, probiotics helped real coral survive a real heatwave

Past studies of coral probiotics stayed in the lab. This one tested them on wild coral in the Red Sea during an actual marine heatwave—and the microbes held up.

The fix for EV battery waste isn’t recycling. It’s geography.

Retired EV batteries and clean-energy demand are on opposite sides of China. Reuniting them could be one of decarbonisation’s cheapest wins.

Intensive farming may yield a bumper crop of drug-resistant pathogens

Researchers find that changing the use of tilling, fertilizers, and chemicals could reshape the microbiomes of farm soils—reducing the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens.

Intensive farming yields a bumper crop of drug resistant pathogens

Mushroom leather may finally be ready for mass production

Plastic-free, ethical leather alternatives that perform like the real thing are hard to make. Researchers may have cracked the code to produce such materials on large scale.

Even the sound equivalent of a library can detract from the health benefits of listening to nature.

In a new study, people who listened to audio recordings of birds singing report getting less benefit when paired with even quiet traffic sounds.

City noise can detract from the health benefits of listening to nature

Solar panels could cool down farms—and farmworkers

A new model of agrivoltaic farms shows shading crops with solar panels doesn’t just protect tomatoes from a warming climate. It makes outdoor labor safer, too.