Tag Archives: nature

Days of heavy rain in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul have caused the worst floods the country’s southernmost state has seen in at least 80 years — and the sheer impact of it can be seen in new drone footage. Since 2 May, 417 of the state’s 497 cities have …

A coral farm in the Bahamas is proving that the most efficient way to restore coral reefs may be growing them on land.Coral Vita is a reef restoration project which grows corals using microfragmentation — the process of cutting corals into small pieces and positioning them near each other to …

On Jan. 14, Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted for the second time since December, when intense seismic activity prompted evacuations in the nearby town of Grindavík. Following the new eruption, an earth crack opened around 450 meters from the town and lava from the fissure reached Grindavík, destroying several houses and …

The entire country of Portugal ran on renewable energy for six days in a row.Between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, the state’s National Electric system ran entirely on energy from wind, hydropower, and the sun – for 149 hours straight. Portugal produced 1102 GWh of renewable energy, surpassing its demand …

If the human ear could hear impending seismic activity, this is what people across Iceland would be hearing right now. A jarring symphony, reminiscent of the sounds of slamming doors and thunderstorms,can be listened to in full on Northwestern University’s Earthtunes app, which transforms seismic frequencies into audible pitches. Potent …

We’ve known for a while that Greenland’s ice sheet is melting worryingly fast. But a new study from Northwestern University and the University of Copenhagen has found that Greenland’s thousands of peripheral glaciers have entered a new and widespread state of rapid retreat. In their research, published in Nature on …

Bird-watching, or birding, is an admittedly curious pastime. You're essentially spying on little feathery creatures trying to go about their lives. Rather than landing you in jail though, this hobby can actually make you friends, improve your focus and concentration, and enrich your life. (Maybe even get you a show …

Eat almost anything. Sleep almost anywhere. These, it seems, are the secrets to surviving in the city as a wild animal. Among the species that dominate urban spaces—pigeons, cockroaches, rats, foxes—these are the most obvious characteristics successful city dwellers have. But they aren’t the only tactics for urban survival. A …

Before Michelle Fournet moved to Alaska on a whim in her early twenties, she’d never seen a whale. She took a job on a whale watching boat and, each day she was out on the water, gazed at the grand shapes moving under the surface. For her entire life, she …

The way we build our cities turns them into unbearable heat-trapping greenhouses — a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. As global temperatures rise, some cities could become unliveable unless we learn how to cool them sustainably. Mashable’s How to Change a City series dedicates three of its …