Environment / Global Warming

The State of the Climate—and of Climate Science

Four scientists discuss where the climate is and where it's going. 06.30.2009

Forget Lightning. How Do We Catch Sunshine in a Bottle?

Renewable power is inspiring clever new ways to store electricity—and to uncork it exactly when and where it is needed. 06.17.2009

New Tech Could Make Nuclear the Best Weapon Against Climate Change

Two new designs aim to make nuclear reactors safer and vastly more efficient. 06.08.2009

The Red Badge of Climate Change

Tracing the flow of a blood-red fluorescent dye may reveal the ultimate fate of the Greenland's ice. 05.18.2009

The Strange Forests that Drink—and Eat—Fog

Several forests around the world use fog to get critical moisture and nutrients. 03.30.2009

Sustainable Architecture Takes Cues From the Original Green: Nature

Glass that "breathes" like gills, solar cells that imitate leaves, and other biomimetic technologies 03.02.2009

The Climate Drone That Goes Where Scientists Fear to Tread

The Manta explores and monitors Greenland's treacherous glaciers. 02.23.2009

#1: The Post-Oil Era Begins

Electricity may be what fuels our future—electricity from renewables, nuclear, and even from burning biomass. 12.22.2008

#4: Slime Is Turning the Seas Into Dead Zones

Pollution, overfishing, and the rise of microbes spell doom for many bodies of water. 12.22.2008

#5: Nations Stake Their Claims to a Melting Arctic

Undiscovered oil and gas reserves below the ice set off a polar gold rush. 12.22.2008

#20: The “Doomsday Vault” Stores Seeds for a Global Agriculture Reboot

Humanity's chances to survive global warming and nuclear attacks just increased. 12.19.2008

#25: EPA Searches Soul, Tries to Figure out If It's a Climate Cop

The agency moves toward acting on greenhouse gases, but change will probably wait for Obama. 12.17.2008

#49: Plant Migration Tied to Climate Change

When the going gets hot, vegetation runs for the hills. 12.13.2008

#55: Polar Bears (Finally) Make the Endangered Species List

At long last, the government acknowledges the species is threatened. 12.12.2008

#73: Giant Ice Meteors Fall From Clear Skies

20-pound chunks of ice falling on a sunny day? It's no urban myth. 12.09.2008

#94: Seaweed Creates Its Own Sunscreen

The soggy brown kelp protects itself with iodides. 12.05.2008

Carbon Trading: Environmental Godsend or Giant Shell Game?

The lively debate over whether cap-and-trade really does much to fight global warming 12.03.2008

20 Best Brains Under 40

Young innovators are changing everything from theoretical mathematics to cancer therapy. 11.20.2008

10 Studies That Revealed the Great Global Amphibian Die-Off—and Some Possible Solutions

In our planet's sixth great mass extinction event, amphibians are among the hardest hit. 11.04.2008

Global Warming Math: The Hard Numbers

A clear-eyed look at the magnitude of global warming problem—and the cost in getting rid of it. 10.18.2008

The History of the World, Contained in a Block of Ice

Ice core samples reveal the atmosphere's secrets as far back as 400,000 years. 10.14.2008

From Booze to Garbage to Fusion: The Future of Energy

How will we fuel the world in 50 years? By putting everything from wood chips to balloons to liquid plasma to work for us. 09.24.2008

Forecasting the Future May Be a Matter of Fun and Games

A new online game uses crowdsourcing to find out how to save humans from extinction. 09.05.2008

Want to Save the Trees? Try Paying People Not to Chop Them Down.

A few test projects show that landowners protect forest when it's valuable to them. 08.20.2008

A Complete History of Carbon

A new book takes readers through the birth and unstoppable rise of this dangerous element. 08.04.2008

Fighting Cow Methane at the Source: Their Food

Genetically modified grass could be the key to reducing cow emissions. 07.08.2008

10 Ways Methane Could Brake Global Warming—or Break the Planet

The enigmatic gas is a valuable fuel and a dangerous digestive waste product. 07.04.2008

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Oil

Learn more about the world's biggest fuel source—while it's still around. 06.28.2008

Special Report: Endless Summer—Living With the Greenhouse Effect

Global warming has begun, and we had better start preparing for the dramatic changes to come. 06.23.2008

Ever Wonder What a Famous Physicist Reads at Night?

Freeman Dyson gives DISCOVER a peek at his stash of bedroom reading. 06.11.2008

Harnessing the Weather

Could new technology help humans eliminate "acts of God"? 06.06.2008

Whither the Coral Reefs?

Global warming and overfishing are killing reefs while scientists struggle to save them. 06.05.2008

Two Strokes and You're Out

Impressive new tech reduces pollution from small engines by almost 90 percent. 05.21.2008

What Will It Take To Ditch All That Carbon?

A new book explores methods of collecting and storing all the carbon in the atmosphere. 05.19.2008

The Next Steps Toward a Sustainable Planet

Environmental activist Laurie David gives a state of the union on the environment. 05.16.2008

Want to Help the Environment? Eat Insects.

A group of experts endorse bugs as a nutritious and sustainable food source. 05.07.2008

The "It" Bag that Might Actually Be Good for the Earth

Gum wrappers and subway maps get a dose of recycled chic. 05.01.2008

Is Nuclear Energy Our Best Hope?

Even the creator of the holistic Gaia hypothesis has come around. 04.25.2008

How Big Is DISCOVER's Carbon Footprint?

That one little magazine is responsible for 2.1 pounds of carbon dioxide. 04.21.2008

Biofuel Farming Looks to Be an Environmental Disaster

Growing corn for ethanol may increase greenhouse gases for over a century. 04.03.2008

The Great Forgotten Clean-Energy Source: Geothermal

The U.S. uses less than 1 percent of our available geothermal energy. 04.03.2008

Would Al Gore Call You Naughty or Nice?

Calculate your personal CO2 emissions and find out your climate righteousness. 03.31.2008

How Much Carbon Dioxide Does a DISCOVERer Produce?

See how DISCOVER’s editorial and creative directors compare to the US and the world. 03.31.2008

The Great Carbon Dioxide Scorecard

How much are you, the average person, and DISCOVER altering the atmosphere? 03.31.2008

The Robo-Sub That Helps Predict Where the Ocean's Headed

An underwater glider measures parts of the ocean that scientists can't reach. 03.03.2008

The Key to Safe and Effective Carbon Sequestration

Some rock acts as a natural stopper to buried carbon dioxide. 02.29.2008

A New Source of Green Energy: Burning Tires?

If rubber recycling hits a glut, there may be little choice. 02.12.2008

The Latest Weapon Against Global Warming: Your Fridge

Smart appliances react to the grid to prevent blackouts—and pollution. 02.11.2008

If Life Gives You Methane, Make Methane Energy

The global warming risk that's also a great opportunity 01.31.2008

4. Arctic Thaw

Rapidly melting ice in the Far North alarms climatologists and lures nations into competition for newly accessible trade routes and resources. 12.12.2007

6. Conservation Gets A Green Light

Can fluorescent bulbs save the planet? 12.12.2007

1. China’s Syndrome

Tainted products and choking pollution spark anxiety across the globe. 12.12.2007

A Spaceport for Treehuggers

Can a green building offset the potentially giant impact of spaceflight? 11.26.2007

After the Thaw

Global warming in the once-icy Arctic sets the stage for a modern-day landgrab. 11.21.2007

Halloween Science: Bacteria of the Living Dead

Chop up their DNA and the buggers still keep comin' back to life. 10.31.2007

Climate Change Triggers Bloodshed

Giving a new definition to "cold war" 09.25.2007

Global Warming, the Great Lifesaver

Bjorn Lomborg says balmier weather could ward off millions of deaths. 08.31.2007

Arctic Land Grabs Could Cause Eco-Disaster

After nations carve up the fast-melting region, will there be anything left? 08.30.2007

Does Global Warming Really Boost Hurricanes?

Chris Mooney's book says yes—and we're in trouble. 08.09.2007

Sun's Shifts May Cause Global Warming

Physicist says carbon dioxide's no big deal 06.25.2007

Warming May Radically Change Ecosystems

Amazonia becomes savanna. The Sahara? No one knows. 06.15.2007

Black Gold of the Amazon

Precious soil could save the rainforest and combat global warming. 04.30.2007

Raw Data: Beacon Bird of Climate Change

Penguin poop reveals secrets of the Antarctic climate. 04.04.2007

Global Warming Sinks

Greenhouse gases could go undersea. 11.27.2006

Earth's Before and After Pics

Old family albums reveal close-ups of climate change. 11.06.2006

The Grapes of Warmth

Bye-bye, Bordeaux: Global warming threatens the world's best vineyards. 09.18.2006

Plants Grab Control Of The Global Greenhouse

German researchers identify a previously unknown emitter of methane. 05.28.2006

The Year in Science: Environment

Siberian methane, the recovering ozone layer, hurricane history in tree rings, and more. 01.30.2006

Rubies of Winter

12.01.2005

Littlest Butterfly

12.01.2005

Climate

Heading toward twice the CO2 in the atmosphere by 2100 10.24.2005

Up a Creek

Two rivers, a raft of experts, way too many mosquitoes, and one question: What's the answer to global warming? 09.08.2005

Counting Carbons

How much greenhouse gas does your family produce? 08.06.2005

Ask Discover

03.31.2005

As the World Warms

02.06.2005

1: Turning Point

Evidence of global warming became so overwhelming in 2004 that now the question is: What can we do about it? 01.05.2005

An SUV From EPA

09.30.2004

Ask Discover

05.29.2004

A New Ice Age: The Day After Tomorrow?

Worried about global warming? Talk to a few scientists at Woods Hole. Oceanographers there are seeing big trouble with the Gulf Stream, which warms both North America and Europe 05.22.2004

The Ice Cap Melteth

02.05.2004

Environment

01.02.2004

Is Global Warming Shrinking Harvests?

This year's sizzling summer ravaged Europe's crops. Was it a portent of what's to come? 10.07.2003

Watery Grave

Some scientists believe that we can regain stability and prevent global warming by pumping more atmospheric carbon dioxide into Earth's oceans. 10.01.2003

Watery Grave

Can we bury enough carbon in the oceans to curb global warming? 10.01.2003

Environment

01.01.2003

Future Tech

We put the pedal to the hydrogen 10.01.2002

The Next Ice Age

Worried about global warming? Talk to a few scientists at Woods Hole. Oceanographers there are seeing big trouble with the Gulf Stream, which warms both North America and Europe 09.01.2002

Lovin' Hydrogen

Maverick energy guru Amory Lovins says a profitable, pollution-free hydrogen economy is just over the horizon. It's merely a matter of taming the most powerful gas on the planet 11.01.2001

Future Tech

A burial might be just the thing to deep-six global warming 08.01.2001

The Gospel According to John

When this world-class atmospheric scientist insists there's no such thing as global warming, is he talking science—or religion? 02.01.2001

Works in Progress

Whither the biggest iceberg in recorded history? 10.01.2000

Why Is Our Weather So Wild?

The evidence increasingly points to global warming as the culprit. And if you think mother nature's shifts from one extreme to another are bad now, brace yourself for the future 06.01.2000

Antarctica's Hot Spot

Braving hurricane winds and 40-foot waves, scientists struggle to unerstand Antarctic warming. 11.01.1999

What Icebergs?

10.01.1999

Energy Drain Plug

Energy Drain Plug 07.01.1999

Carbon Cuts and Techno-Fixes

10 Things To Do About the Greenhouse Effect (Some of Which Aren't Crazy) 06.01.1998

April in Winnipeg

01.01.1997

The Blobs

09.01.1996

Verdict (Almost) In

01.01.1996

The Tsunami of 1700

01.01.1996

Birth of a Berg

01.01.1996

Under the Influence of Clouds

Floating overhead are mysterious arbiters of our climate. Clouds do more than just deliver rain and snow: by absorbing and reflecting light, they help control the flow of energy around the planet. 09.01.1995

Forests in the Gas

If you're a plant, carbon dioxide is your favorite greenhouse gas. And you'll get a lot more of it in the future. But is twice as much too much of a good thing? 10.01.1994

Future Imperfect

11.01.1993

The Parasol Effect

A hazy umbrella of sulfur particles is reflecting enough sunlight and heat back into space to offset global warming. You might think that's good news. Think again. 07.01.1993

A Vision of the End

05.01.1993

What Drives Climate?

From ice age to hothouse, Earth seems to change its temperature by adjusting its blanket of CO2. 11.01.1992

Cold Comfort

08.01.1992

Batteries Included

Designed by a team of visionary engineers, a unique new car is fast, sexy, and--with zero emissions--environmentally correct for the nineties. 03.01.1992



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