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Climate

A New Ice Age Was Beginning. Then Humans Started Burning Fossil Fuels
Ice, Ice Maybe

A New Ice Age Was Beginning. Then Humans Started Burning Fossil Fuels

Ancient plants reveal that the vestiges of the North American ice sheet started expanding a few thousand years ago, but that climate change caused it to reverse course.
Molly Taft
Climate Change Has It In for the World’s Best Surfing
We’re Kooked

Climate Change Has It In for the World’s Best Surfing

Damian Carrington
Egypt’s Climate-Resilient ‘Super Corals’ Are Starting to Feel the Heat
Hot Stuff

Egypt’s Climate-Resilient ‘Super Corals’ Are Starting to Feel the Heat

Eli Siegel-Bernstein

Regulations and Solutions

Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery

Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery

Backup by BioLite is designed to power your fridge when the grid goes down. It works, but protecting your ice cream doesn’t come cheap.
Christopher Null
This Is the Kitchen Composter I’d Buy Now

This Is the Kitchen Composter I’d Buy Now

Reencle has made your favorite kitchen composter cheaper—with a few compromises.
Kat Merck
Oil Spills Wreak Havoc on the Bottom of the Ocean, Even a Decade Later

Oil Spills Wreak Havoc on the Bottom of the Ocean, Even a Decade Later

While oil is known to float, new research finds that over time it can permeate even extremely deep marine habitats, with animal populations declining by as much as 80 percent.
Bob Berwyn
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Make Your Phone Hot. Here’s How to Keep It Cool

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Make Your Phone Hot. Here’s How to Keep It Cool

Powering a car dashboard is more demanding on your handset than you might think. These tips will save battery life and help your phone chill out.
David Nield

Oceans and Waterways

I Installed a $1,000 Water Filter. Here’s What You Should Know

I Installed a $1,000 Water Filter. Here’s What You Should Know

The Waterdrop X12 improved the taste of my tap water, but reverse osmosis comes with costs beyond the purchase price.
Christopher Null
Microplastics React With Water, a New Study Says. That’s a Problem for Biology

Microplastics React With Water, a New Study Says. That’s a Problem for Biology

Though plastic is usually inert, tiny pieces of it have the potential to react with one of the most pervasive molecules in the environment and in our bodies.
Jorge Garay
We Put These Reusable Water Bottles Through the Daily Grind

We Put These Reusable Water Bottles Through the Daily Grind

We dropped them, tossed them in bags, and cleaned their fiddly lids. Here are the ones we recommend.
Boutayna Chokrane and Alexis Berger
A Startup Has a Plan to Make Water From Air Using Data Centers’ Waste Heat

A Startup Has a Plan to Make Water From Air Using Data Centers’ Waste Heat

Atoco’s new machines use specialized materials that can harvest water from some of the driest air on Earth without using electricity.
Brian Kahn and Molly Taft

Extreme Heat

The Super El Niño Won’t Fix the West’s Water Crisis

The Super El Niño Won’t Fix the West’s Water Crisis

“People have talked about the Colorado River crisis for decades—we’re now in it,” says one expert. “Everyone you talk to is like, ‘Shit, man.’”
Molly Taft
Puerto Rico Is Rationing Water. It Could’ve Avoided It by Harvesting Rainwater

Puerto Rico Is Rationing Water. It Could’ve Avoided It by Harvesting Rainwater

The island could capture billions of gallons of water a year if it implemented systems to catch it as it falls from the sky.
Yessenia Funes
Spokane Shows What the New Era of Wildfires Looks Like

Spokane Shows What the New Era of Wildfires Looks Like

With rising temperatures and drier conditions, fires are more likely to explode. And with more people living next to forests, the results can be catastrophic.
Sachi Kitajima Mulkey
France Had Never Seen a ‘Fire Cloud’ Until This Month’s Record-Smashing Blazes

France Had Never Seen a ‘Fire Cloud’ Until This Month’s Record-Smashing Blazes

Extreme fire conditions on the ground have created unprecedented conditions in the atmosphere.
Brian Kahn