Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Forest fire forces evacuation west of Ottawa
The Township of Greater Madawaska in eastern Ontario says people with homes around Centennial Lake have been asked to leave because of a forest fire that started Sunday afternoon.
Massive forest fires are coating much of Quebec in haze and smoke
The fires prompted air quality warnings across Quebec on Monday morning, including in Montreal, where Environment Canada urged residents to take precautions against smog.
Federal data forecasts grim wildfire season this summer
As hundreds of fires continue to burn across the country, officials with the federal government said this morning they're forecasting higher-than-normal fire activity across most of Canada through to August at least.
Introducing super drought: A new framework and web service
In recent years, the world has witnessed an alarming increase in the occurrence and severity of catastrophic droughts across various regions. While extensive research has been dedicated to understanding extreme...
River diversions may cause microplastics to remain longer on land and in streams before reaching oceans
Diverting streams and rivers to irrigate crops or provide drinking water may significantly extend the time microplastics spend in river catchments before they flow into our oceans, a new study...
Good seaweed news: Sargassum belt has actually shrunk. It may mean cleaner beaches
The ominous mass of seaweed looming in the Atlantic and creeping our way set size records earlier this spring—it was huge. But last month it actually shrank, according to scientists...
'Glamorous' trailer: Kim Cattrall plays makeup mogul in Netflix series
"Glamorous," a drama-comedy series starring Miss Benny and Kim Cattrall, is coming to Netflix in June.
Bodies of 3 more victims found in collapsed Iowa apartment building
The bodies of three residents who lived in the apartment building that collapsed in Davenport, Iowa, were found over the weekend.
LIGO project begins new gravitational wave hunt
May 24 marked the start of Observation Run 4, the latest gravitational-wave hunting effort of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. But only LIGO is fully operational at the moment.
The digital dark matter clouding AI
Artificial intelligence has entered our daily lives. First, it was ChatGPT. Now, it's AI-generated pizza and beer commercials. While we can't trust AI to be perfect, it turns out that...
Scientists propose novel method to estimate human-caused heat emission
Why are cities usually warmer than rural areas? Scientist have long known that cities retain heat more than rural areas, a phenomenon known as urban heat island (UHI), which is...
New report underscores importance of microbes in climate change modeling
The American Academy of Microbiology, an honorific leadership group and scientific think tank within the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), has released a new colloquium report, "Microbes in Models: Steps...
Predictive models show wildlife managers where to find destructive feral swine
Feral swine are considered one of the top invasive species of concern in North America because of the damage they do to agricultural and natural systems. To best manage them,...
U.S. Treasury sanctions seven for plot to destabilize Moldovan government
The United States sanctioned seven Russian nationals Monday, for their attempts to help destabilize the government of Moldova and "subvert democracy."
Officially reported temperatures underestimate Miami's heat burden, new study finds
Miami summers are hot and humid, but is climate change making them dangerous?
World first: Researchers create CO2 measurement tool to calculate emissions caused by stored digital data
A unique carbon footprint tool has been created that will allow businesses to measure the CO2 output of their stored data. By using the tool, believed to be the first...
Microbes key to sequestering carbon in soil
Microbes are by far the most important factor in determining how much carbon is stored in the soil, according to a new study with implications for mitigating climate change and...
Amount of warming triggering carbon dioxide in air hits new peak, growing at near-record fast rate
The cause of global warming is showing no signs of slowing as heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere increased to record highs in its annual Spring peak, jumping at one...
Montreal Canadiens, winger Cole Caufield agree to $63M deal
The Montreal Canadiens and winger Cole Caufield agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth nearly $63 million, the team announced Monday morning.
Watch: Dog alerts residents to canine companion trapped in storm drain
Firefighters in Texas came to the rescue of a dog that somehow became trapped in a storm drain.
Indigenous control of land leads to better reforestation outcomes
Researchers at the Australian Catholic University, Australia; Columbia University, New York; and the University of Massachusetts teamed up to investigate secondary forest growth in previously deforested areas. In their paper,...
New study explores phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge in China for environmental sustainability and cost analysis
In a new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from Tianjin University evaluate the environmental sustainability and socio-economic costs of recovering phosphorus (P) from sewage sludge...
Scientists discover air quality monitoring stations are collecting urgently needed biodiversity data
The accelerating loss of biodiversity and increasing rate of species extinction is a major threat to ecosystems around the globe. And yet, quantifying those losses at a large scale hasn't...
Air pollution sensors can double as biodiversity monitors
Imagine being able to get a “DNA report” that, based on traces of genetic material in the environment, lists all the plants and animals in the area, the way a daily weather...
Weather anomalies found to be keeping insects active longer
As Earth's climate continues to warm due to the emission of greenhouse gasses, extreme and anomalous weather events are becoming more common. But predicting and analyzing the effects of what...
Climate justice: Global North owes $170 trillion for excessive carbon dioxide emissions, says study
Industrialized nations responsible for excessive levels of carbon dioxide emissions could be liable to pay a total of $170 trillion in compensation or reparations by 2050 to ensure climate change...
Fungi stores a third of carbon from fossil fuel emissions and could be essential to reaching net zero, new study reveals
Mycorrhizal fungi have been supporting life on land for at least 450 million years by helping to supply plants with soil nutrients essential for growth. In recent years, scientists have...
Wildfire in Northern Michigan 90% contained as crews arrive from other states
A wildfire responsible for destroying roughly 2,400 acres of Northern Michigan has been 90% contained as firefighters from other states arrived over the weekend to help battle the rural inferno,...