future earth

Why Cities Are Better at Fighting Climate Change Than Countries

As the second week of global climate negotiations gets underway, the world waits for national leaders to make meaningful commitments to save the planet. But it’s become clear that cities, not countries, are leading the way in the fight against climate change. There’s a good reason for that: the world’s cities account for 70 percent…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Dec 8

Why Algae Could Be the Greatest—and Trickiest—Fuel Source of All

From powering airplanes to replacing nuclear energy, algae has been touted as a green energy miracle. So if our waterways are already filled with the stuff, why isn’t it filling the world’s skies with biofueled planes? Algae is a tricky creature that presents a lot of challenges and misconceptions. Here’s why it’s difficult to harness—and…

Climate Change Bryan Lufkin Dec 8

This Is How We Can Secure Our Food Supply and Stabilize Our Climate

As the Paris climate summit draws to a close and world leaders scramble to find more ways to make a dent in humanity’s carbon problem, a commonsense but oft-ignored strategy has made its way onto the table: sticking carbon back in the soil. Worldwide, soils contain more carbon than live vegetation and the atmosphere combined.…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Dec 8

Scientists Have Found Arsenic from Chilean Mines in Antarctica

A team of researchers working in Antarctica have discovered ice that contains arsenic, thought to have originated from copper mines in northern Chile. Arsenic is used to smelt copper, and is typically released into the air during the process. In this instance, though, the substance appears to have drifted over 4,000 miles south to Antarctica.…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Dec 8

What Life Is Like in Beijing During China’s Worst Pollution Crisis Ever

The “airpocalypse” of smog swirling over Chinese cities has reached its most dangerous levels yet. Beijing issued its first-ever red alert today, closing schools and taking cars off the road. How bad is it? According to EPA guidelines levels are at 6: “Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion.” While the short-term effects of being exposed…

Climate Change Alissa Walker Dec 7

Global Emissions Might Have Started to Decrease in 2015

There might not be any better news as 196 countries head into a second week of climate negotiations in Paris. A Stanford-led study claims that we might have hit global peak emissions in 2014. But that’s not a call for complacency: There is still much work to be done. The study by the Global Carbon…

Climate Change Alissa Walker Dec 7

By 2080, Corn Won’t Be America’s Top Crop Anymore

America has a huge, sprawling, incredibly productive agricultural system, the slow-grown product of our history as a farming nation. But that system has already begun changing—and what we’re growing on those farms is going to change dramatically too. The Climate of the Future Using nine different climate future scenarios, the USDA recently put together a…

Tech News Ria Misra Dec 7

This Is How the Ocean Makes Earth Livable

Seventy percent of Earth’s surface is ocean, and without it, the other 30 percent would barely be inhabitable. The ocean absorbs and distributes heat around the globe, and it acts as a planet-sized CO2 scrubber, saving us all from a runaway greenhouse effect like the one that turned Venus into a hell-world. But the ocean,…

Climate Change Kiona Smith-Strickland Dec 7

China’s Airpocalypse Is So Bad, It’s Banning Half the Cars in Beijing

Beijing issued its first-ever red alert on Monday. The radical measure means that half the cars in the capital must stay off the streets, outdoor construction must stop, and schools must close. The pollution is simply too dangerous. While it should surprise no onethat China’s still struggling with its smog problems, the red alert in…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Dec 7

Earth’s Tropical Rainforests Could Look Completely Different By the End of the Century

In 2005, an intense heatwave struck a mountaintop rainforest in northeast Australia. Accounts of the event were rather apocalyptic: birds dropping dead out of the sky; entire patches of forest withering to a crisp. But the biggest casualty of all was a snow-white furball that scampered amongst the branches at the highest elevations. The white…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Dec 5

Uruguay Is Putting the World’s Largest Carbon Emitters to Shame

As the world’s top carbon offenders attempt to one-up each other with commitments in Paris this week, one country is quietly snickering from the sidelines. That’d be Uruguay, which already sources a staggering 94.5% of its electricity from renewables. Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I didn’t misplace a decimal. Uruguay used to be…

Tech News Maddie Stone Dec 5

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

Happy Friday, Gizmodo! We spent the week looking at the future of our favorite planet*. How’re things in your neck of the woods? Our Future Earth mission is ongoing—we’ll have more dispatches for you next week—but here’s a round-up of everything you might have missed: We’re Spending the Next Two Weeks Envisioning Our Future Earth…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Dec 4

7 Great Books That Show How Terrifying an Environmental Apocalypse Could Be

A world ravaged by climate change is hard to imagine—but that world could be in our future, unless we do a better job of imagining it now. So we’re lucky that some of our most talented authors have tackled the challenge of depicting an environmental apocalypse. There’s a whole genre of fiction taking on the…

Books & Comics Maddie Stone Dec 4

You Can Barely Even See Yosemite’s Largest Glacier Anymore

Lyell Glacier was Yosemite’s National Park’s largest glacier. In 1883, park officials took a photograph of the ice giant. This year, NASA’s climate team recreated that photo with the glacier in its current state. The comparison is stunning. Lyell Glacier is not only the largest in Yosemite, it’s also the second largest in the Sierra…

Climate Change Ria Misra Dec 4

The World’s Food Supply Is In Jeopardy But Here’s How We Can Save It

As the world warms, we lose arable land to grow the food we all need to survive. But although our changing climate is one big problem our food supply faces, it’s certainly not the only one—and even fixing the effects of climate change might not generate enough food to feed future generations. “There are 795…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Dec 4

This is What Will Happen to Antarctica in 100 Years

In more temperate parts of the world, ice is just ice, but in Antarctica, ice is everything. It defines Antarctica: Earth’s southern polar ice cap, a 5.4-million square mile ice sheet, covers 98% of the continent. But within the next hundred years, Antarctica stands to lose much of that ice, especially in its western half.…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Dec 4

Elon Musk Is Probably Our Best Hope Yet For Moving Beyond Fossil Fuels

As the leaders of 196 countries negotiate a carbon emissions goal for the planet to prevent an environmental apocalypse, the real work will fall to the companies that will need to deliver change to consumers. And no single person is doing as much to help change our energy consumption as one Elon Musk. In a…

Tech News Alissa Walker Dec 3

The Building Industry Could Cut Our Global Emissions By One Third–So Why Hasn’t It?

The building and construction industry is a massive source of global CO2 emissions—but it could easily reduce its impact with existing technology. At today’s climate talks in Paris, 18 countries and 60 organizations formed a new alliance aimed at doing just that. Just how widely does the construction and building industry affect emissions? The numbers…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Dec 3

France Plans to Build an Electric Car for Under $7,500

At the climate talks in Paris, the French government has announced a global competition which aims to create a small electric car that will sell for under $7,500. In a translation provided at the event, Madame Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, explained that she wanted to “create an electric…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Dec 3

We Need a ‘Space Race’ Approach to Saving the Planet

In the late 1960s a good chunk of the world’s brightest minds and fanciest labs were devoted to one thing: space exploration. When NASA’s funding peaked in 1966 the organisation employed 400,000 people and consumed more than 4% of the US federal budget. Three years later, after less than a decade of serious investment, man…

Space & Spaceflight Christopher Grainger Dec 3

Why Cities Are Better at Fighting Climate Change Than Countries

Why Algae Could Be the Greatest—and Trickiest—Fuel Source of All

This Is How We Can Secure Our Food Supply and Stabilize Our Climate

Scientists Have Found Arsenic from Chilean Mines in Antarctica

What Life Is Like in Beijing During China’s Worst Pollution Crisis Ever

Global Emissions Might Have Started to Decrease in 2015

By 2080, Corn Won’t Be America’s Top Crop Anymore

This Is How the Ocean Makes Earth Livable

China’s Airpocalypse Is So Bad, It’s Banning Half the Cars in Beijing

Earth’s Tropical Rainforests Could Look Completely Different By the End of the Century

Uruguay Is Putting the World’s Largest Carbon Emitters to Shame

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

7 Great Books That Show How Terrifying an Environmental Apocalypse Could Be

You Can Barely Even See Yosemite’s Largest Glacier Anymore

The World’s Food Supply Is In Jeopardy But Here’s How We Can Save It

This is What Will Happen to Antarctica in 100 Years

Elon Musk Is Probably Our Best Hope Yet For Moving Beyond Fossil Fuels

The Building Industry Could Cut Our Global Emissions By One Third–So Why Hasn’t It?

France Plans to Build an Electric Car for Under $7,500

We Need a ‘Space Race’ Approach to Saving the Planet

Beats Solo 4 Headphones Are Back at Black Friday Pricing and Over 4x Cheaper Than AirPods Max

‘The Testaments’ Cast on How Their Show Mirrors Our Real-Life Dystopia

Meta to Smart Glasses Owners: Stop Hitting Yourself

Gaming Handhelds Are Getting Really Funky—and We’re Here for It

This 44% Off Portable Monitor Makes Adding a Second Screen Surprisingly Affordable

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Netflix Wants You to Stop Yelling at It About ‘Steel Ball Run’

Blueair Smart Air Purifier Returns at Record Low Just in Time for Spring Allergy Season (1,800 Sq Ft HEPASilent Air Cleaner)

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Let us help find what you are looking for...