Detroit Zoo polar bear give birth to twins after unsuccessful pregnancies

After losing her baby cubs in two different pregnancies, the Detroit Zoo's 8-year-old polar bear, Suka, successfully gave birth to two cubs on Nov. 17. The two unnamed cubs are the first polar bears to be successfully born and raised in the Detroit Zoo since 2004, the zoo said in a news release this week.

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Why hydrogen is the most promising zero-emission technology

It is the clean energy carrier that is making the transport industry—from automotive and rail to shipping—sit up and take notice: hydrogen. For Airbus VP of Zero-Emission Aircraft Glenn Llewellyn, hydrogen is more than just an industry buzzword: it is potentially the future of aviation.

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Scientists solve a major climate mystery, confirming Earth is hotter than it's been in at least 120 centuries

Scientists have resolved a controversial but key climate change mystery, bolstering climate models and confirming that Earth is hotter than it's been in at least 12,000 years, and perhaps even the last 128,000 years.

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This acquisition could help make sustainable packaging the norm

In Manteca, California, a small company is pioneering the creation and production of paper bottles for brands such as L'Oreal and Seventh Generation. Across the U.S. in St. Petersburg, Florida, a manufacturing giant is strategizing on design, development and packaging services for the likes of Apple, Cisco Systems and HP Inc.

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Two-thirds of the world’s population think climate change is an emergency

The UN conducted the survey through ads in popular games like Angry Birds and Words With Friends.

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Ridiculously Tiny Chameleons Discovered in Madagascar

Researchers have found a minuscule chameleon in Northern Madagascar, which they believe to be the smallest reptile on the planet. Small body, big attitude—just look at that face. The chameleon is Brookesia nana, abbreviated to B. nana (if you squint, it does kind of look like a banana). Females of the species are larger than males, at about three-quarters of an inch from snout to vent. The new record holders are the adult males, which are less than an inch including the tail. Oh, and the males also have huge hemipenes (genitals) in proportion to their size.

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These Are the Highest Resolution Photos Ever Taken of Snowflakes

Photographer and scientist Nathan Myhrvold has developed a camera that captures snowflakes at a microscopic level never seen before

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Climate Change Could Cost Australia Billions, Report Says

Australia is failing to keep up with the growing threat of extreme weather as global warming increases the risk in areas once thought to be safe, according to a new report. Australia is a land well used to nature’s extremes. It is the world’s driest inhabited continent, where droughts can last for years. The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were the most intense on record.

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Pablo Escobar's Pooping Hippos Are Polluting Colombia's Lakes

A new study suggests the hulking creatures are changing local water bodies with their bathroom habits

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How superfast charging batteries can help sell the transition to electric vehicles

Israeli company StoreDot recently announced it can now mass produce electric vehicle batteries that can be fully charged in just five minutes. “The bottleneck to extra-fast charging is no longer the battery,” claimed the firm’s chief executive. But is this fast-charging battery really a gamechanger? And if so: exactly how?

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Earth Has Lost 28 Trillion Tons of Ice since the Mid-1990s

Melt has accelerated over recent decades, contributing to sea level rise

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Biden to place environmental justice at center of sweeping climate plan

President Biden will make the needs of low-income Americans and communities of color the focus of his plan Wednesday, according to two individuals briefed on it, making environmental justice a top priority for the first time in a generation.

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Joe Biden's 'climate day' of executive actions signals clean break with Trump

Joe Biden is to instruct the US government to pause and review all oil and gas drilling on federal land, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and transform the government’s vast fleet of cars and trucks into electric vehicles, in a sweeping new set of climate executive orders.

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Antarctica just hit 65 degrees, its warmest temperature ever recorded

It comes days after Earth's warmest January on record.

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Martha Stewart launching line of cannabis products for dogs

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart on Tuesday launched a line of cannabis-infused oil drops and soft-baked chews for dogs

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Death by 1,000 cuts: Are major insect losses imperiling life on Earth?

Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition.

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The Climate Crisis Is Worse Than You Can Imagine. Here’s What Happens If You Try.

A climate scientist spent years trying to get people to pay attention to the disaster ahead. His wife is exhausted. His older son thinks there’s no future. And nobody but him will use the outdoor toilet he built to shrink his carbon footprint.

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Archaeologists in Turkey Have Discovered a Mysterious Ancient Kingdom Lost in History

It was said that all he touched turned to gold. But destiny eventually caught up with the legendary King Midas, and a long-lost chronicle of his ancient downfall appears to have literally surfaced in Turkey.

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Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be Largest Land Animal Ever

The skeleton is still far from complete but paleontologists say what they've found suggests the dinosaur may be more than 120 feet long

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How creating wildlife crossings can help reindeer, bears – and even crabs

Sweden’s announcement this week that it is to build a series of animal bridges is the latest in global efforts to help wildlife navigate busy roads

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Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA

Solar power is up to 50% cheaper than thought, according to new analysis from the International Energy Agency. 

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Google Maps will soon show COVID vaccine locations

Vaccine site listings will show access requirements and appointment info.

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Two former Trump officials to be investigated for posting papers denying climate change

The Commerce Department's Office of Inspector General said it will investigate how two former Trump officials posted dubious papers questioning man-made climate change using government logos but without the approval of the Trump administration.

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A quarter of all known bee species haven't been seen since the 1990s

The number of bee species appears to have declined sharply in the past 30 years, which could mean many types of bee are extinct or so rare that no one has recording a sighting

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Scientists Make First 'Invisible Solar Panels' You Can Integrate Into Smartphones

A long time after the Paris Climate Agreement, nations have kept on enhancing on the mission to make a smooth exit from non-renewable energy and to change to renewable energy sources for electricity. Korean Scientists from Incheon National University exhibits how they have made the first fully transparent solar cell.

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Biden restoring rolled back environmental rules could take years

President Joe Biden, vowing to restore environmental protections frayed over the past four years, has ordered the review of more than 100 rules and regulations on air, water, public lands, endangered species and climate change that were weakened or rolled back by his predecessor.

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Biden's Interior Department temporarily blocks drilling on public lands

The Interior Department took swift action to deliver on President Biden’s campaign pledge to block oil and gas drilling on public lands, freezing such leases for the next 60 days. An order signed by acting Secretary Scott de la Vega on Wednesday bars the department from pushing ahead with any new leasing or drilling permits. It also blocks any new major mining actions.

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Why cats are crazy for catnip

Cat owners flood the internet with videos of their kitties euphorically rolling and flipping out over catnip-filled bags and toys. But exactly how catnip—and a substitute, known as silver vine—produces this feline high has long been a mystery. Now, a study suggests the key intoxicating chemicals in the plants activate cats’ opioid systems much like heroin and morphine do in people. Moreover, the study concludes that rubbing the plants protects the felines against mosquito bites.

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The viral ‘Wellerman’ sea shanty is also a window into the remarkable cross-cultural whaling history of Aotearoa New Zealand

The whaling story behind 'Soon May the Wellerman Come' reminds us of the crucial connections between Māori and Europeans that shaped early 19th century settlement.

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Restoring Environmental Rules Rolled Back by Trump Could Take Years

President Biden has promised to reinstate more than 100 rules and regulations aimed at environmental protection that his predecessor rolled back. It won’t happen overnight.

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Cruz Roasted For Tweet That Appears To Reveal His Ignorance About The Paris Climate Agreement

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) mocked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) early Thursday for wrongly suggesting that a multinational pact on climate change — the Paris Agreement — was designed to serve “the people of Paris.”

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From mummies to mosques—new Google Arts & Culture initiative brings Egypt’s archaeological treasures to the masses

New online platform aims to turn traditionally scholarly subject into something "easily digestible and fun to explore"

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One, two, tree: how AI helped find millions of trees in the Sahara

When a team of international scientists set out to count every tree in a large swathe of west Africa using AI, satellite images and one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, their expectations were modest. Previously, the area had registered as having little or no tree cover.

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Biden to 'hit ground running' as he rejoins Paris climate accords

Joe Biden is set for a flurry of action to combat the climate crisis on his first day as US president by immediately rejoining the Paris climate agreement and blocking the Keystone XL pipeline, although experts have warned lengthier, and harder, environmental battles lie ahead in his presidency.

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Cleaner air and a climate solution, are now within reach — if we have the political will

Clean air, cheaper energy and responding to climate change all have the same solution — and Americans are ready.

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Scientists Have Described a Dinosaur's Butthole in Exquisite Detail

When a dog-sized Psittacosaurus was living out its days on Earth, it was probably concerned with mating, eating, and not being killed by other dinosaurs. It would never even have crossed its mind that, 120 million or so years later, scientists would

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This fossil reveals how dinosaurs peed, pooped and had sex

We know a lot about dinosaurs -- what they looked like, what they ate and what killed them off -- but no fossils have definitively preserved two dinosaurs in the act of mating.

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Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

Exclusive: first factory production means recharging could soon be as fast as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles

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50 ancient coffins uncovered at Egypt's Saqqara necropolis

Wooden sarcophagi discovered at site south of Cairo along with funerary temple of Queen Naert

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Biden plans to fight climate change in a way no U.S. president has done before

Managing climate change requires a systems approach, with strategic coordination across all sectors

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COVID-19 is awful. Climate change could be worse.

But there are lessons from the current crisis that should guide our response to the next one.

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Caligula’s Garden of Delights, Unearthed and Restored

Relics from the favorite hideaway of ancient Rome’s most infamous tyrant have been recovered and put on display by archaeologists.

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Shocking Study Finds Electric Eels Hunt Together

The study challenges what researchers know about eels’ supposed loner behavior.

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The planet is dying faster than we thought

A triple-threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and overpopulation is bearing down on Earth.

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Trump auction of oil leases in Arctic refuge attracts barely any bidders

The Trump administration’s last-minute attempt on Wednesday to auction off part of a long-protected Arctic refuge to oil drillers brought almost zero interest from oil companies, forcing the state of Alaska into the awkward position of leasing the lands itself.

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Ex-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder And 8 Others Criminally Charged In Flint Water Crisis

Together the group faces 42 counts related to the drinking water catastrophe roughly seven years ago. The crimes range from perjury to misconduct in office to involuntary manslaughter.

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What we’ve lost: the species declared extinct in 2020

Dozens of frogs, fish, orchids and other species may no longer exist due to humanity’s effects on the planet

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Most Europeans plan to curb flying, eat less meat for climate, EU poll says

A majority of European citizens intend to fly less and already eat less meat to help fight climate change, according to a survey published by the European Investment Bank (EIB) on Monday.

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Plants are soaking up far less extra CO2 than we thought they would

Computer models have overestimated the boost in plant growth from increases in carbon dioxide levels, meaning plants will soak up less of the greenhouse gas than expected

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Why It’s Falling To You—And Not Your Government—To Decarbonize The Food System

The food system arguably produces more greenhouse-gas emissions than any other sector, and yet it remains the most neglected by policymakers. Food is responsible for more than a third1 of the emissions that must vanish by 2050, and yet food was nowhere on the agenda at the Paris Climate Conference. In fact, menus at the conference cafeterias were dominated by carbon-intensive meat and cheese.

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