The Captivating Venus Flytrap
By Matt SmithIt's late spring, and the Venus flytraps are blooming in the marshy countryside near the Carolina coast, their white flowers jutting far above the plants' business ends.Their vividly pink...
View ArticleCoral Reefs Lost to Kīlauea Eruption
By Dan ZukowskiWhen searing black lava from fissure 8 slid into the Pacific Ocean at Kapoho Bay on June 3, it had been five weeks since the collapse of the Pu'u 'Ō'ō crater, along the eastern rift...
View Article'Eating Animals' Drives Home Where Our Food Really Comes From
It started with a call from actress and animal rights activist Natalie Portman to author Jonathan Safran Foer. The latter had recently taken a break from novel-writing to publish 2009's New York Times...
View ArticleAmerica’s Most Obscure Desert Is in Alaska
By Michael EngelhardTime slipping, a tabula rasa. Footprints erased, slopes advanced, ripples unsculpted. A whole world recast by whims of weather. Besides snowfields and foreshores, few landscapes...
View ArticleThe Lake Powell Pipeline Is a Hot, Expensive Mess
By Sam SchipaniWith rainfall at record lows, water is an increasingly precious commodity in the deserts of southern Utah. But in the driest reaches of redrock country, one long-waged water war...
View ArticleFood's Environmental Impact Varies Greatly Between Producers
By Jason DaleyThere's no way around it—everything in the grocery store, from nuts and kale to beef and apples, has an environmental impact. Fertilizer causes water pollution, farm fields can encroach...
View ArticleBreaking: Sierra Club Demands Pruitt’s Emails After Only 1 Disclosed by EPA
As part of ongoing litigation, the Sierra Club has demanded that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) search Scott Pruitt's personal email accounts for work-related emails, or certify...
View ArticleCan Reflective Roofing Save Energy and Help the Environment?
By Bob SchildgenHey Mr. Green,I liked your article about the amount of space needed to provide solar power in the United States. I have wondered how many roofs would have to be painted white to...
View Article'Extinct' San Quintín Kangaroo Rat Still Exists
By Carly NairnAt dusk, San Diego Natural History Museum mammalogist Scott Tremor set up a few live traps in some abandoned agricultural fields in Baja California, Mexico. With Sula Vanderplank, a...
View ArticleA Coder and a YouTuber Provide DIY Power for Puerto Rico
By Tom CassauwersBefore the hurricane came, I was a software engineer. I'd graduated with a bachelor's degree in graphic design and animation, but here in Puerto Rico there weren't many jobs in that...
View ArticleJuly Astronomical Highlights: Five Planets and a Micromoon
By Kelly Kizer WhittKnown since ancient times, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can normally all be seen with the naked eye. Greeks called them "wandering stars" or "asteres planetai." This...
View ArticleFloat On This Season With 9 Paddling Must-Haves
By Conor MihellAfter nearly 20 years of venturing in canoes and kayaks down wild rivers and along all three of North America's seacoasts, plus guiding multiday tours on the Great Lakes, I have...
View ArticleWhat Can Dockless Bikes Tell Us About Cities?
By Enrique Gili This past spring, clusters of brightly colored dockless shared bikes (DSBs) began to proliferate on San Diego's city sidewalks like tulips after a spring rain. They were put there by...
View Article6 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Stop Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee
By Courtney HightDonald Trump announced that he will be nominating another extremist judge to the Supreme Court—Brett Kavanaugh. If the Senate lets Trump successfully install Kavanaugh to fill this...
View Article300+ Mammal Species Could Still Be Discovered, Scientists Say
By Sara NovakYou can't protect an animal that you don't know exists. Tapanuli orangutans, for example, are found only in the Tapanuli region of Sumatra; they were only identified as a species last...
View ArticleNight-Hiking With the San Luis Valley's Bachelor Bats
By Stacey McKennaI'm sitting on a ridge at 9,000 feet, overlooking the world's largest alpine valley. The mid-June sun drops behind a nearby cliff band and the clouds shift, leaving errant rays of...
View ArticleHenry Coe State Park Is the Bay Area’s Best-Kept Backpacking Secret
By Jason MarkNormally, a writer writes to reach an audience. But what I'm about to tell you, I want you to keep just between us, OK? Whatever you do, don't email this article to your friends, don't...
View ArticleAntibiotic-Resistant Genes Are Airborne, Exposing Millions
By Jonathan HahnIn 1991, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District launched a Spare the Air program to keep residents in the San Francisco Bay Area informed of high ozone-level days, when air is...
View ArticleAugust Astronomical Highlights: Summer’s Best Meteor Shower
By Kelly Kizer WhittAugust is the time to sit back, relax and enjoy the free show overhead. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most prolific annual meteor showers and the only one that occurs in...
View ArticleA Toxin in Every Household
By Alison CagleWhen was the last time you looked around your kitchen or bathroom for chemicals that are toxic to your health? In many households, those chemicals don't just come in the form of liquid...
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