Our Planet

Demonstrators on the first Earth Day, Union Square, New York.

Age of Humans

Why Didn't the First Earth Day's Predictions Come True? It's Complicated

More than half a century ago, scientists and activists predicted utter doom for the planet. That hasn't happened yet, but it's nothing to cheer about

Severe drought killed this stand of trembling aspen trees, Populus tremuloides, near Fairplay, Colorado.

What Does a Dying Forest Sound Like?

As temperatures rise, scientists scramble to pinpoint trees in danger of drought

Ginseng roots

The Fight Against Ginseng Poaching in the Great Smoky Mountains

A profitable black market for the native shrub pits the National Park Service against poor residents of Appalachia

Workers in Sumatra process an oil palm harvest from the plantation on the left even as the remnants of the natural peat swamp forest in the distance are burned to make way for new plantations.

Journey to the Center of Earth

The Mad Dash to Figure Out the Fate of Peatlands

As the planet’s peat swamps come under threat, the destiny of their stored carbon remains a mystery

Water spreads like inky-blue fingers into mangrove forests along the shore of Australia's Ord River (top). The sediment load in the water shows up as yellow and orange while mudflats stick out like a light blue bull's-eye on the lower left.

Journey to the Center of Earth

These Stunning Satellite Images Turn Earth Into Art

These images illustrate the brutal beauty geologic processes carve into our planet

How a Giant Lazy River of Grass Became the Everglades

The Florida Everglades are home to a patchwork of ecosystems in a constant state of change—so much so, they look different from one year to the next

Coral bleaching

Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef May Get a Lot Worse in the Future

Climate change could alter temperature patterns in a way that stops corals from preparing for bleaching events

Germany, Hamburg, Speichrstadt and Hafencity district

Age of Humans

Coastal Cities Need to Radically Rethink How They Deal With Rising Waters

"Transitional architecture" is both a futuristic solution to sea-level rise and a hearkening back to older ways of living

Hoh Rainforest moss

National Parks

Is This the Quietest Square Inch in the U.S.?

An acoustic ecologist reveals his findings

As we turn towards Kawaihae, I get another turn at the steering paddle. All of us steered at different times, sometimes two or three at once to handle the paddle in rough seas.

A Firsthand Account of What It Takes to Pilot a Voyaging Canoe Across the Ocean

More than just a desire to learn, a seat aboard the historic vessel Hōkūle`a requires skill, dedication and well, . . .obsession

A crackmeter in action, measuring the gaps between a rock sheet and a rock wall

Why Rockfalls Happen on Beautiful Days in Yosemite

Temperatures drive rocks to expand and contract—until one lovely day when slabs may suddenly fall

How Do Butterflies Fly and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

When Dinosaurs Roamed the (Not Yet) Petrified Forest

Recent surprise discoveries at the national park have prompted a complete rethinking about the creatures of the Jurassic Era

Zacharia Muinde of Map Kibera Trust shows teachers and students their school's page on Open Schools Kenya, a mapping project that helps residents find information on local schools.

Age of Humans

DIY Cartographers Are Putting Slums on the Literal Map

When a community makes its way onto a map, it's that much harder to deny, say activists.

Stalactites hang inside of Australia's Jenolan Caves, each one a record of Earth's past.

Caves Can Now Help Scientists Trace Ancient Wildfires

But the chemical clues for fire add an unexpected snarl for researchers using those same caves to track climate change

Meghan Fellows sprays flame on a patch of lesser celandine, an invasive weed, while volunteer Jim Anderson looks on. If "flaming" the plants (heating them up but not burning them) kills them reliably, the technique may replace pesticides in vulnerable stream environments.

Age of Humans

A New Weapon in the War on Weeds: Flamethrowers

Long used in agriculture, land managers are now wondering whether cooking weeds to death is better than pesticides

The museum has generated controversy over gentrification of Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Age of Humans

Imagining an Alarming Future at Brazil's Museum of Tomorrow

The ambitious museum looks at where humankind is headed—and asks how they'll live in a post-climate-change world

The highly regular spacing of fairy circles in Australia becomes visible in dense vegetation. The grasses in the foreground of the image are patchy as they rebounding from fire.

New Research

Mysterious Fairy Circles Have Been Found in Western Australia

Once thought to exist only in Namibia, circles spotted 6,200 miles away are helping sort out how these odd features form

A woman sits amid the ruins of the Great Stone Church, which collapsed in an 1812 earthquake, at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Journey to the Center of Earth

San Andreas May Have Had Help Triggering a Historic Earthquake

New evidence about a devastating quake in 1812 hints that the San Jacinto fault may be a bigger seismic risk than anyone thought

Houses on the New Jersey shore sit in ruins in July 2013, roughly eight months after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the area.

New Research

Twitter May Be Faster Than FEMA Models for Tracking Disaster Damage

Real-time online activity could provide speedier assessments as disaster unfolds than tools currently used by the government agency

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