New archaeological sites discovered at Gona, Ethiopia

This year Sileshi Semaw, archaeologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion humana (CENIEH), has led a new field survey and excavations at Gona (Ethiopia), where new archaeological sites have been discovered at Kilaitoli, a site dated to 14,000 years, where work began in 2019.

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By 2035, 90 percent of the US could be powered by renewables

Despite America’s continued reliance on fossil fuels as its primary source of energy, the plummeting costs of alternative energy sources—like power harnessed from the sun or wind—is making them an increasingly viable choice on the competitive market. So much so, that a UC Berkeley report released on Tuesday argues that by 2035, 90 percent of the US could be powered by renewables.

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Largest nuclear fusion project begins assembly

The world's biggest nuclear fusion project has entered its five-year assembly phase.

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Routine gas flaring is wasteful, polluting and undermeasured

Flaring, or burning, waste gas from energy production has sharply increased over the past decade. It wastes usable fuel, pollutes the air, and helps drive climate change.

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Molten Salt Reactors Are Nuclear's Future. How Do We Get There?

A new breakthrough could help engineers truly crack the next phase of nuclear energy.

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Australia's fires 'killed or harmed 3bn animals'

Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced during Australia's devastating bushfires of the past year, scientists say. The findings meant it was one of "worst wildlife disasters in modern history", said the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which commissioned the report. Mega blazes swept across every Australian state last summer, scorching bush and killing at least 33 people.

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Ghislaine Maxwell: lawyers ask judge to stop accusers from posting evidence online

Lawyers don’t want women who claim Maxwell abused them to use evidence from criminal case to boost lawsuits by posting online

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Rewilding Britain: the plan to restore an area the size of Manchester

A new nature network wants to rewild 300,000 acres of land in the UK, in a bid to boost biodiversity and tackle climate change

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Longevity study reveals why ancient trees can stave off death

Earth's oldest trees have been rooted for millennia. Why they can live so long is explained in a new review.

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California’s Only Known Gray Wolf Pack Has Eight New Pups Giving Hope To The Future Of Their Species

California’s only known wolf family, the Lassen pack, has produced its fourth litter of pups. The pups’ father joined the pack recently, after the pack’s first breeding male disappeared last summer. “We’re elated at the birth of the Lassen pack’s endearing pups, who are breathing new life into the Golden State’s wolf recovery,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior West Coast wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity in a statement.

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COVID has Caused the Longest and Deepest Reduction in Human Noise on Record

With most of the world in lockdown, the "seismic noise" produced by humans has reduced by up to 50 percent.

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California's only known wolf pack produces new litter of pups

At least 14 wolves now in Lassen family after new male joined pack following disappearance of original father in June last year

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Top 10 Most Powerful Dogs In The World

Some types of dogs are extremely powerful. They possess incredible strength. They have very strong bites. These dogs can be used for various different purposes. See the fantastic explanations and discussions of these strong dogs. See an amazing giant mastiff. He could be 5 feet tall sitting down. See fantastic huge dog breeds.

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Biden plots $2tn green revolution but faces wind and solar backlash

Joe Biden’s $2tn plan to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from the US electricity grid within 15 years has been applauded by climate campaigners, but the enormous overhaul will have to pick its way through a minefield of community as well as lobbyist opposition.

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They spent millions to protect polluters. Then they got busted by the FBI.

A year ago, the Ohio legislature rammed through a law to save four unprofitable nuclear and coal-fired power plants from retirement, while it rolled back energy efficiency and renewable targets and passed on the $1.3 billion cost to customers. Opponents of the HB6 law, which included an unlikely alliance of environmentalists and the natural gas industry, began to organize a referendum to repeal it, saying it amounted to a corporate bailout for the utility player FirstEnergy.

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U.S. eyes building nuclear power plants for moon and Mars

The U.S. wants to build nuclear power plants that will work on the moon and Mars, and on Friday put out a request for ideas from the private sector on how to do that. The U.S. Department of Energy put out the formal request to build what it calls a fission surface power system that could allow humans to live for long periods in harsh space environments.

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Well-preserved mammoth skeleton found in Siberian lake

Russian scientists are working to retrieve a well-preserved skeleton of a woolly mammoth from a lake in northern Siberia

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Farming in the desert: Are vertical farms the solution to saving water?

With high temperatures and water scarcity, the Emirates might seem an unlikely place for a farm. Yet, as coronavirus and climate change heighten the desire for food security, could vertical farms be the solution?

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To prevent the next pandemic, we might need to cut down fewer trees

Investing in halting deforestation and limiting the wildlife trade could be a cost-effective way to reduce the risk of pandemics, a new analysis finds.

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Scientists discover volcanoes on Venus are still active

A new study identified 37 recently active volcanic structures on Venus. The study provides some of the best evidence yet that Venus is still a geologically active planet. A research paper on the work, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland and the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, was published in the journal Nature Geoscience on July 20, 2020.

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Student files first climate change lawsuit against Australian government

A 23-year-old student has filed a lawsuit against Australia's government alleging it has failed to disclose climate change-related risks to investors in the country's sovereign bonds, in the first such action.

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With fewer cars on US streets, now is the time to reinvent roadways and how we use them

Sticking closer to home because of COVID-19 has shown many people what cities can be like with less traffic, noise, congestion and pollution. Roads and parking lots devoted to cars take up a lot of land. For example, in Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York City these spaces account for over one-third of each city’s total area.

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This Bizarre River of Black Sludge in Arizona Is Totally Real

On 15 July 2020, what looked like your typical dry waterway was engulfed by a sickening dust puffing black sludge, reminiscent of the villainous cartoon toxin, Hexxus from FernGully: The Last Rainforest.

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Mexican Cave Find Hints That People Lived in North America 30,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists in Mexico found stone tools and other signs that people were living in North America 30,000 years ago, much earlier than widely believed.

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Dogs may use Earth's magnetic field to navigate

A team of researchers from Czech University of Life Sciences, Virginia Tech and Barry University has found evidence that suggests dogs may use Earth's magnetic field as a navigational aid. In their paper in the eLife Sciences initiative, the group describes their study of dog navigation and what they learned from it.

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Long-Range Electric Cars and Planes Could Be a Reality With Battery Breakthrough

In the pursuit of a rechargeable battery that can power electric vehicles (EVs) for hundreds of miles on a single charge, scientists have endeavored to replace the graphite anodes currently used in EV batteries with lithium metal anodes.

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There Are Sharks Living in a Volcano, for the Love of God

“Sharkcano” isn’t the latest trashy summer movie with bad special effects. It’s the very real phenomenon of sharks making a home in lava water, and now a Nat Geo special.

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Climate change: Polar bears could be lost by 2100

Scientists say we have time to save polar bears if we act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Dogs may use Earth’s magnetic field to take shortcuts

GPS-equipped hunting dogs take a curious north-south jog, which seems to help them get their bearings

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In a Fascinating Twist, Animals That Do Math Also Understand More Language Than We Think

It is often thought that humans are different from other animals in some fundamental way that makes us unique, or even more advanced than other species. These claims of human superiority are sometimes used to justify the ways we treat other animals,

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Rollback of Environmental Regulations Will Affect More Than Our Ski Season

The climate has been in crisis for decades, but recent reversals and relaxations of long-held environmental regulations in the U.S. have quickened the pace of environmental decline. While this has negative implications for the health of climates and communities across the country, the impact of these changes will affect certain communities more intensely than others.

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This Century Will See Massive Shifts in the Global Population, Economy, and Power Structure

A lot of the predictions we hear about the future involve a hot, crowded planet, one where we need some serious science to figure out how to feed everyone and control rising global temperatures. The UN’s population forecast of almost 10 billion people by 2050 is widely quoted, and with it has come much conjecture about what such a world will look like. Where will all those people live? What kind of jobs will they have? What will they eat?

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Cities Are Becoming Climate Death Traps

As the coronavirus pandemic continues throughout the United States, another deadly pandemic comes out to strike in the summer: extreme heat. Year after year, more people are dying because it’s simply too hot. As of right now, both this country and others lack even an accurate way of counting those deaths—let alone a comprehensive plan to reduce them. Thanks to climate change, it’s about to get much worse.

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New York to invest $750 million to expand electric-vehicle infrastructure

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced an investment program that would allocate $750 million to build charging stations and other electric-vehicle infrastructure as part of the state's long-term goal to reduce emissions.

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Hugh Laurie: How We Treat Animals Now Will Be Condemned In 100 Years

Hugh Laurie Tweeted about the changing perception of animal rights, climate change, and other social issues—how might we feel in 100 years?

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Solar panel recycling has a long way to go, and silicon may be the key

A group of researchers evaluates the way forward.

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Devices can reduce fibers produced in laundry cycle by up to 80%

Using fiber-catching devices as part of the laundry process can dramatically reduce the amount of microscopic particles potentially entering the marine environment, according to new research.

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Machine learning insight saves 250,000 tonnes of shipping CO2 emissions

Maritime engineers have trained an energy shipping app to save over a quarter of a million tonnes of CO2 emissions by applying machine learning to its predictive system. Researchers from the University of Southampton and Shell Shipping and Maritime have developed a digital dashboard that helps captains respond to changing sea conditions.

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Car tyres are major source of ocean microplastics – study

Wind-borne microplastics are a bigger source of ocean pollution than rivers, say scientists

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Farmers hatch plan to return area the size of Dorset to wild nature

Returning an area the size of Dorset to wild nature, reintroducing extinct lynx, pelicans and beavers and championing regenerative farming to restore soil health are the radical aims of a new charitable foundation. But the most revolutionary feature of WildEast may be that it is founded by three farmers in the most intensively farmed region of Britain.

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How bacteria read and follow the Earth’s magnetic field

Magnetotactic bacteria have magnetosomes with which they can sense magnetic field lines. This allows magnetotactic bacteria to swim towards North or South

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Methane rises to highest level on record

Animal farming and fossil fuels have driven global emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane to the highest level on record, putting the world on track for dangerously increased heat levels of 3C to 4C. Since 2000 discharges of the odourless, colourless gas have risen by more than 50m tonnes a year, equivalent to 350m cars or double the total emissions of Germany or France, according to the latest Methane Budget study by a global team of scientists.

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Scientists warn of rapid melting of Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday glacier’

Thwaites glacier is losing ice at an accelerating rate, threatening catastrophic sea-level rise

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Like Humans, Beluga Whales Form Social Networks Beyond Family Ties

A researcher from FAU’s Harbor Branch and collaborators are the first to uncover the role kinship plays in complex groupings and relationships of beluga whales in 10 locations across the Arctic.

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First signs of success in bid to reintroduce pine martens to England

The first pine martens to be reintroduced to England have had kits, marking a milestone in efforts to boost their recovery, conservationists said. The native carnivores all but vanished from England in the face of extensive hunting and loss of their woodland homes over the past two centuries, and in Scotland they were pushed to a stronghold in the north-west Highlands.

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The Dogs That Sniff Out 5,000-Year-Old Bones

Archaeologists are using canine assistants to uncover ancient remains.

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Living in a bubble: Did this failed 90s experiment predict the future?

It's like something straight out of a sci-fi film.

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Siberian Fires Have Released a Record Amount of Carbon This Year

The wildfire crisis in Siberia continues unabated. This year’s blazes have smashed records, including the northernmost fires on record and the highest total of Siberian carbon emissions. If you want to know what a climate emergency looks like, this is it.

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Coronavirus pandemic prompts record drop in global emissions, study finds

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the largest drop in heat-trapping emissions in human history, according to a new study. Lockdowns, travel bans and closed manufacturing sites have caused global emissions to drop by 4.6%, or 2.5 gigatonnes, according to a University of Sydney review of 38 regions and 26 sectors published in the journal Plos One. Fine particle pollution decreased by 3.8% and two other types of air pollution declined 2.9%: sulfur dioxide – which is linked to a number of respiratory issues, and nitrogen oxide, which leads to smog.

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Mysterious pink "watermelon snow" has been appearing in the Italian Alps — and it may warn of environmental disaster

At first glance, the snow that's changed from white to bright pink in the Italian Alps seems like a stunning feat of nature. But scientists say it may actually be a warning sign of environmental trouble. Algae are to thank — or blame — for the pink layer that currently coats the Presena Glacier in northern Italy. Scientists say it's not an uncommon phenomenon in the spring and summer, but they warn that it could become a problem if it starts occurring more frequently.

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