The Fossils of the 21st Century
In 100 million years, human civilization will have bit the dust. Perhaps a nuclear war scorched the planet, or a…
Human Carbon Emissions Are Dissolving the Ocean Floor
It seems humanity isn’t just content to screw up the surface of the planet. We’re gonna do the deep ocean, too.
Hotter Fires Could Mess With Entire Food Webs
As photos of charred forest remains emerge from California’s latest round of explosive wildfires, it’s becoming clear…
The First Marine Wilderness Map Shows There’s Not Much of It Left
For the first time, scientists have mapped how much oceanic wilderness remains. Only 13.2 percent of the oceans are…
Human Activity Has Been Chemically Changing the Earth Since Well Before the Industrial Revolution
It’s no secret that modern humans, with our fuel-burning cars, massive ranching and agriculture practices, and penchant…
A Trippy '80s Book on Life After Humans Is Now More Relevant Than Ever
Fifty million years after humanity’s extinction, the world has once more grown wild. In the forests of North America,…
We're Not as Doomed as We Think, Ecologists Argue
It’s hard to talk to ecologists these days without drowning in doom. But a new review paper from members of the…
Annihilation Reminds Us Why We Need Ecological Horror Stories
Annihilation isn’t a perfect movie. But it deserves credit for striving to tackle a subject few mainstream films ever…
Fittingly, This Sad Tree May Define Our New Geologic Epoch
A team of scientists have a new contender for determining the precise date that we entered the so-called Anthropocene:…
Earth’s Heaviest Organism Could Be Eaten to Death…By Deer
Think of the heaviest living organism on Earth, and an image of a blue whale might come to mind. In fact, the honor…
Scientists: Maybe We Should Stop Ruining the Earth
More than 15,000 scientists from 184 nations have penned an open letter to humanity, politely asking their fellow…
Invasive Hippos, Camels, and Elephants Offer a Glimmer of Hope for Earth’s Megafauna
It’s standard news to hear about the rapid decline of wildlife these days: As humanity’s environmental impact has…
We’ve Grossly Underestimated How Much Cow Farts Are Contributing to Global Warming
A new NASA-sponsored study shows that global methane emissions produced by livestock are 11 percent higher than…
Welcome to Earther
As we plunge deeper into the 21st century and the digital worlds we’ve built, a group of scientists is weighing a…
A Wild Explanation For Why These Sea Snakes Are Losing Their Stripes
Sea snakes are a striking sight on the sun-dappled Pacific and Indian Ocean coral reefs they call home. They swim with…
We Finally Know the Immense Weight of Humanity's Footprint
It should be obvious to everyone at this point that humans are having an enormous impact on the planet. But how much,…
The Sixth Mass Extinction Will Be Like Nothing In Earth's History
The sixth mass extinction—the one that seven billion humans are doing their darnedest to trigger at this very moment—is…
There Is A Lot Of Confusion About What Geologic Epoch We're In
For the record, planet Earth is still in the Holocene.
Six Signs That We've Entered a New Geologic Age
We’ve heard a lot of buzz recently about the Anthropocene, the geologic epoch of man and machine. Does it exist? Are we…
Swarms of Octopus Are Taking Over the Oceans
Something strange is happening to the oceans. As coral reefs wither and fisheries collapse, octopuses are multiplying…