Climate Change

Climate Hawks Could Take Over Two U.S. Financial Agencies

The intent is to blunt the impact of climate change on the U.S. financial system

Natural Disasters

New Wildfire Tactic: Help People Flee

California firefighters are updating evacuation maps and keeping routes free

Ecology

Suspect List Narrows in Mysterious Bird Die-Off

Here’s how researchers are zeroing in on the culprit

Climate Change

Paleoclimate Data Raise Alarm on Historic Nature of Climate Emergency

The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report uses data from our planet’s distant past to better understand current warming

Climate Change

Are 'Green Banks' Really Better for the Environment?

Consumers can indeed lower their financial carbon footprint once they know how to navigate the hype

Climate Change

How Much Worse Will Thawing Arctic Permafrost Make Climate Change?

Global warming is setting free carbon from life buried long ago in the Arctic’s frozen soils, but its impact on the climate crisis is unclear

Conservation

World's Largest Wildlife Bridge Could Save Mountain Lions

An ambitious and popular project to connect the dangerously inbred Santa Monica mountain lions to a larger population is about to break ground

Natural Disasters

Could the Infrastructure Bill Make Wildfires Worse?

The legislation provides billions of dollars for thinning forests in ways that some scientists think are wrongheaded

Arts

A Plot Twist for Climate Change, the Power of Occam's Razor, and Other New Books

Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American

Fossil Fuels

New Tech Can Reveal a Vast Network of Methane Leaks

But it is unclear if oil and gas companies and their regulators will respond

Pollution

Tiny Robots Could Clean Up Microplastic Pollution

In a proof-of-concept study, microscopic self-propelled devices found and broke down microplastic particles

Climate Change

Walling Off One Coastal Area Can Flood Another

Seawalls and levees may simply shift rising water elsewhere—often into disadvantaged communities

Climate Change

Let's Start Naming Climate-Related Disasters for Polluters and Their Enablers

The Marathon Oil Megadrought has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Ecology

Summer of Science Reading, Episode 2: Life beneath Our Feet

In Science Book Talk, a new four-part podcast miniseries, host Deboki Chakravarti acts as literary guide to two science books that share a beautiful and sometimes deeply resonant entanglement.

In this week’s show: Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake, and Gathering Moss, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Scientific American Volume 325, Issue 2