environmental

U.S. Forces Are Leaving a Toxic Environmental Legacy in Afghanistan

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As U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban immediately rushed in, and it recently took over the country’s major cities in just a few days. The end of the two-decade American occupation has not only produced a fraught political situation; it has also created an environmental one. Some of the military bases the U.S. handed … Read more

Don’t miss: The live launch of NASA’s latest environmental satellite

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New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss Humans 23 February 2022 Read Carbon Queen is Maia Weinstock’s account of the remarkable life of nanoscience pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus, who, from the 1950s, defied society’s expectations of women to become an influential scientist and engineer. Daniel … Read more

We Need a Global Plastics Treaty to Stop an Environmental Disaster

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A dump truck’s worth of plastic enters our oceans every minute. Tiny bits of plastic are in many of the foods we eat, to the point we may be ingesting about a credit card’s weight of the material every week. As with climate change, we’re running out of time to solve the plastics problem. According … Read more

Large Review Identifies Common Household Things That Can Make Your Asthma Worse

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One in every nine people in Australia has asthma. It is a health burden for many children, and expensive for families because of medication, hospital and out-of-hospital expenses.   The pandemic has added further stress and extra testing measures to check respiratory symptoms. COVID infection can co-exist with asthma and, although research shows allergic asthma … Read more

Noise Pollution, Wildfires Top U.N. Report on Emerging Environmental Threats

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Urban noise pollution is getting worse. Wildfires are growing more severe. And climate change is disrupting the timing of natural events and the life cycles of plants and animals all over the world. These are the major threats highlighted in a new United Nations report on emerging environmental concerns. The report, released today, is the … Read more

Our Environmental Crisis Requires Political Fixes, Not Technological Ones

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Whether via West Coast wildfires that shrouded New York City’s skyline in smoke or historic floods in Germany, in 2021, signs of the climate crisis were everywhere. A group of the world’s leading ecologists summarized humanity’s predicament when they recently argued that our main goal now as a species is to “avoid a ghastly future.” … Read more

A Love For Nature May Come From an Unexpected Place, Finds Large Twin Study

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Do you love spending time in nature? Or are you a city slicker, happier in the concrete jungle than the great outdoors? Back in 1986, the US biologist EO Wilson proposed that humans have an innate connection with the natural world, an idea known as biophilia.   Almost every aspect of our lives depends on … Read more

We Have Breached The Safe Planetary Limit For Synthetic Chemicals, Scientists Warn

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From sea to land to sky, Earth’s systems are contaminated with synthetic substances, and scientists warn it has already pushed the integrity of our planet over the brink. Today, there are about 350,000 human-made chemicals on the market, including plastics, pesticides, industrial chemicals, cosmetic chemicals, antibiotics, and other drugs.   The fact this number continues … Read more

Many People Seem Disgusted by The Thought of Eating Cultured Meat

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Cultured meat grown in a lab has the potential to be much more environmentally friendly than current practices in the agriculture industry, but a new study has revealed a looming problem: a lot of people really don’t like the idea of eating it.   We’re talking here about meat produced in the laboratory from real … Read more