Freakishly Warm Weather in the Arctic Has Climate Scientists 'Stunned'

During the Arctic winter, when the sun hides from October to March, the average temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around a bone-chilling minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius). But this year, the Arctic is experiencing a highly unusual heat wave.

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Greenland is Melting

The front lines of climate change run through the rapidly warming Arctic. The changes taking place on this faraway, frozen island will be felt much closer to home, wherever you live. From the top of the world, meet the scientists looking for clues of what to expect from a warming world.

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African elephants are migrating to safety—and telling each other how to get there

It's just one survival mechanism elephants have developed in response to poaching, conflict, urbanization, and other pressures.

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There’s a heat wave. In the Arctic. In the middle of winter.

It’s been downright toasty at the North Pole, at least by Arctic standards. The northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland, saw temperatures stay above freezing for almost 24 hours straight last week, and then climb to 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6.1 degrees Celsius) on Saturday before dropping again.

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Scientists Fear for Colombia’s ‘Melted Rainbow’

Ángela Díaz stood on a rock ledge above a creek called Caño Piedras and pointed out an unassuming olive-colored plant growing below. Macarenia clavigera, she said, is the key to the future of this remote region in central Colombia. When the rains come in May, the rivers will rise and the plant will turn a brilliant red. “This plant has the peculiar quality of turning distinct colors,” she said. “You can see it from May to November.”

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Arctic Storm Blankets Europe | Pictures

Several trucks and cars stand deserted after a pileup near Sjobo, Sweden.

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Neanderthals – not modern humans – were first artists on Earth, experts claim

More than 65,000 years ago, a Neanderthal reached out and made strokes in red ochre on the wall of a cave, and in doing so, became the first known artist on Earth, scientists claim. The discovery overturns the widely-held belief that modern humans are the only species to have expressed themselves through works of art.

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Cambodia, Laos losing the last of their trees

Despite official pledges to halt the trade, smugglers in Cambodia and Laos are finding ways to illegally ship timber to neighboring Vietnam. The precious hardwood is often used in furniture factories that ship their products largely to China. This lucrative illegal trade in Cambodia has been exposed largely by environmental activists and patrollers who take great risks in attempting to document the smuggling. Powerful officials and Cambodian businessmen are reported to be supporting and profiting from the smuggling.

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Louisville Under Water | Pictures

Water covers downtown streets after the Ohio River flooded in Louisville, February 26, 2018.

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Automated Vehicles Can’t Save Cities

They could actually make cities much worse.

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Billions of Birds Migrate. Where Do They Go?

Migratory birds have made their thousand-mile flights for millennia, but we are just now learning to map their mesmerizing journeys.

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MIT Engineers Have Built a Device That Pulls Electricity Out of Thin Air

Temperature changes large and small are happening around us all the time, and scientists have come up with a machine that can convert those fluctuations into electricity, potentially powering sensors and communication devices almost out of thin air.

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After rising for 100 years, electricity demand is flat. Utilities are freaking out.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the latest to be caught short.

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Mining for asteroids will be the next gold rush

Forget cryptocurrency — the next big “gold rush” isn’t even on Earth. Physicist Michio Kaku, writing in his new book “The Future of Humanity” (Doubleday), believes a bonanza is coming from mining asteroids, which he calls “flying gold mine[s] in outer space.”

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Opinion | The Pain of Loving Old Dogs

It’s hard to know what to do when age brings a faithful companion so much fear and suffering.

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Scientifically Speaking Which Is Better, Male or Female Orgasms?

For most of us, how the opposite sex experiences an orgasm is one of life's great mysteries.

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White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities

Pioneers and early archaeologists credited distant civilizations, not Native Americans, with building these sophisticated complexes

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The brutal world of sheep fighting: the illegal sport beloved by Algeria’s 'lost generation'

The long read: Algeria’s ‘lost generation’ has been shaped by years of conflict, unemployment and state repression. Sheep fighting offers an arena where young men can escape the constant supervision of the state

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7.5-magnitude quake strikes Papua New Guinea

A large earthquake has struck the middle of Papua New Guinea. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-7.5 quake hit about 89 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Porgera early Monday in the Pacific island nation. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso says the quake, which had a depth of 35 kilometers (22 miles), occurred in a rural, jungle area near a mountain range.

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California sets wind+solar record, 38% of US electricity from rooftops, polysilicon efficiency up, more

Estimating rooftop solar technical potential across the US using a combination of GIS-based methods, lidar data, and statistical modeling – 38% of US electricity could come from rooftops and solar power only. There is no longer a sound argument that intermittent energy sources – wind+solar – can’t power the country. An aside, as a commercial sales guy, I’d love to get a hold of these databases of nationwide rooftop viability scans and turn them into a lead database. Gold mine.

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Egypt Constructs World’s Largest Solar Park

Egypt currently constructs what is set to be the world’s largest solar park, Benban Solar Park, near the southern city of Aswan that aims to reach between 1.6-2.0 GW by the middle of 2019, according to Electrek.

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This Roman ‘gate to hell’ killed its victims with a cloud of deadly carbon dioxide

Priests survived because they were taller than their animal sacrifices

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Individual who ate adopted pig banned from future adoptions

A British Columbia resident who adopted a potbellied pig named Molly from the SPCA and then ate it has been banned from future SPCA adoptions. Molly was one of 57 potbellied pigs to be seized following an animal cruelty investigation on Vancouver Island a year ago. SPCA staff say they spent months nursing the pigs back to health before they could be adopted.

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Toxic Waste from Norwegian Hydro Threatens Amazon and Drinking Water Supply in Brazil

Half state owned Norwegian aluminum company Hydro is accused of serious environmental damage in Brazil. In addition to a leak of toxic mining debris that has contaminated several communities in Barcarena, the Norwegian giant Hydro is accused to have used a “clandestine pipeline to discharge untreated effluent”, according to Brazilian media.

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Individual who ate adopted pig banned from future adoptions

A British Columbia resident who adopted a potbellied pig named Molly from the SPCA and then ate it has been banned from future SPCA adoptions.

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Arctic temperatures soar 25 degrees above normal in the dead of winter

Shipping can navigate easily through the Arctic Ocean as the ice melts in abnormally high temperatures for February.

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Having kids may literally shave years off your life

As any mother will tell you, having kids does a lot to a person’s body—and new research suggests it may even change a woman on a cellular level. Sections of genetic material associated with lifespan called telomeres are shorter in women who have given birth, according to a paper published February 14 in Human Reproduction. Specifically, the telomeres of women who have had children are as short as if they were childless and 11 years older.

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Your orange juice exists because of climate change in the Himalayas millions of years ago

According to a genetic analysis of almost 60 varieties of citrus fruits

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New shark species discovered in the Atlantic Ocean had ancestors older than dinosaurs

Scientists have discovered a new species of shark which makes its home in the Atlantic Ocean. This particular family of the deep-sea predators was so elusive that it took scientists decades to identify that a new species exists in the Atlantic Ocean. The species belongs to the sixgill sharks family and has been named the Atlantic sixgill shark. Unlike the sixgill sharks residing in the Indian and Pacific oceans, who share similarities with each other, the Atlantic sixgill sharks are different, although the differences are not easy to spot for the naked eye.

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'One in a Million' Yellow Cardinal Spotted

Experts propose different theories for why bird's plumes have a mysteriously mustard hue.

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Kentucky, area cities declare state of emergency as river rises; shelters open in Tri-State

Heavy rain returns Friday through early Sunday, setting the Ohio River up for its highest flood level since 1997.

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Tracking Atmospheric “Rivers” Could Help Us Predict Extreme Weather

Current models can only predict atmospheric river activity 1-2 weeks in advance, but a new method allowed researchers to predict activity up to five weeks ahead of time. This could give communities more time to prepare for a natural disaster the weather event can bring about.

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The mighty bin chicken is helping scientists predict how T-rex walked

The humble Australian white ibis, notoriously referred to as the bin chicken, helps scientists gain insight into how dinosaurs would have walked.

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America’s Most Toxic Town Is Not Where You Think

A small city in remote Alaska is working to reduce contamination from the nearby Red Dog Mine.

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Earthquake Swarms Are Shaking Yellowstone's Supervolcano. Here's What That Means.

Hundreds of earthquakes have rocked the famous supervolcano in the past few days, but this seismic activity is regular in the region.

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Renault's 'smart island' runs on wind power and recycled batteries

Renault aims to prove you can live without fossil fuels with its "smart island" experiment.

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Tiger-smuggling US teenager jailed

A US teenager has been sentenced to six months in prison after he was found guilty of trying to smuggle a Bengal tiger cub across the US-Mexico border. The six-week-old cub was found in a box on the floor of the teenager's car as he was crossing from Mexico into the US near the city of San Diego. His lawyer argued that his client had had "a lapse of judgement" and that he wanted to keep the tiger as a pet.

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Taiwan to ban single-use plastic drinking straws, plastic bags, disposable utensils entirely by 2030

Taiwan is set to ban single-use plastic drinking straws in several phases, starting with the food and beverage industry next year. The Environmental Protection Administration announced the plan last Tuesday.

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When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries

When it supports their claims, Western scientists value what Traditional Knowledge has to offer. If not, they dismiss it

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Mystery of 8,000-Year-Old Impaled Human Heads Has Researchers Stumped

Archaeologists have never before encountered this grisly phenomenon in Mesolithic Scandinavia, and they're hard-pressed to explain it.

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Damming the Nile: Explore with 360 video

Travel the length of the Nile with BBC News to find out how a new dam being built in Ethiopia is threatening to cause a serious rift with neighbouring countries Egypt and Sudan.

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Theewaterskloof Dam near Cape Town, South Africa

Sand blows across a normally submerged area at Theewaterskloof dam near Cape Town, South Africa. The dam, which supplies most of Cape Town's potable water, is currently dangerously low as the city faces 'Day Zero', the point at which taps will be shut down across the city.

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The Fulshear Fish Fall

One of the best documented cases ever of a ‘rain’ of fish took place in Cross Creek Ranch, a planned community development in Fulshear, Texas on the afternoon of January 16, 2018. By Paul Cropper.

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Cape Town drought a 'national disaster'

South Africa has declared the drought which has seen Cape Town hurtling towards "Day Zero" a national disaster. The government made the announcement after reassessing the "magnitude and severity" of the three-year drought. It has badly affected three of the country's nine provinces.

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One Million Trees Pledged to 'Trump Forest' to Offset President's Anti-Climate Agenda

Trump Forest—a global reforestation project aiming to offset President Trump's anti-climate policies—has reached 1 million trees after thousands of pledges from around the world. Trump Forest was launched just under a year ago after POTUS announced he was pulling the U.S. from the Paris agreement.

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Cages are better for chickens than intensive free-range, farmers say

Caging hens, away from dust and their faeces 50 years ago, dramatically improved their survival, says a caged egg farmer on the outskirts of Melbourne. Now Brian Ahmed at Werribee is being asked to consider major upgrades that could cost millions that he said would not guarantee happier or healthier hens.

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High School Student Nicknamed ‘Trash Girl’ by Bullies Refuses to Stop Collecting Litter

Many people may not want to think about our plastic pollution problem, but it’s imperative that we do. Every year, we produce 300 million tons of plastic and around 8.8 million tons of it get dumped in the oceans, threatening countless animals, many of which are on the verge of extinction as a result. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s now estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

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'Loneliest tree' records human epoch

A remote spruce planted on a Southern Ocean island holds a defining record of humans, scientists argue.

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A cave in China is filled with exotic plants that shouldn't be there—but researchers may have figured out why

This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. From Plato to Polyphemus, caves have long been literary symbols of the mysterious and the unknown. And in the real world, they often live up to that reputation: underground rivers, weirdly preserved skeletons, rare bacteria that make them shine like gold.

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Plastic Smells the Same as Fish to a Seabird

A sweeping look at ten species of seabirds gives insight into why their numbers have plummeted over the past 60 years. By Simon Worrall.

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