Extreme temperatures and humidity levels (excessive rain or drought) projected for the Amazon in the context of climate change may increase the volume of methane-producing microorganisms in flooded areas and reduce potential uptake of this greenhouse gas in upland forests by 70%, with global impacts, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil. An article reporting their findings is published in the journal Environmental Microbiome.

A collaborative research team involving Texas A&M University geologist Dr. Franco Marcantonio has examined the source of lead contamination in a Tibetan glacier, concluding that human activities have introduced the pollutant metal in some of the most remote regions of the world.

About 18 months ago, climate scientists began to notice something strange.

There’s more to thunderclouds than rain and lightning. Along with visible light emissions, thunderclouds can produce intense bursts of gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, that last for millionths of a second. 

Arctic sea ice retreated to near-historic lows in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, likely melting to its minimum extent for the year on Sept.11, 2024, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). 

MIT researchers have some good environmental news: Mercury emissions from human activity have been declining over the past two decades, despite global emissions inventories that indicate otherwise.

A mysterious, globally observed and unprecedented 9-day-long seismic signal in September 2023 was caused by a massive landslide in Greenland. 

As Florida and other southeastern states were reeling from Hurricane Helene’s effects in early October 2024, another tropical threat brewed over the Gulf of Mexico.

Plastic pollution – tiny bits of plastic, smaller than a grain of sand – is everywhere, a fact of life that applies even to newborn rodents, according to a Rutgers Health study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Researchers have long observed that a common family of environmental bacteria, Comamonadacae, grow on plastics littered throughout urban rivers and wastewater systems.