Tobacco plants have been modified with a protein found in algae to improve their photosynthesis and increase growth, while using less water, in a new advance that could point the way to higher yielding crops in a drought-afflicted future.
Under a new “self-reliant India” plan by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to boost the economy post-Covid-19 and reduce costly imports, 40 new coalfields in some of India’s most ecologically sensitive forests are to be opened up for commercial mining.
The lie is that we can separate human life from the environment, using concrete, glass, steel, maps, planning, and infrastructure to forge a space apart. To live in the world, we must see our cities for the complex environmental assemblages that they are.
The story of mountain gorillas shows that through governmental leadership, on-the-ground partnership, and community-based initiatives to improve life for people nearby, we can change the tide for a species on the brink of extinction — and for the planet.
Abolishing the livestock industry and replacing it with vast new forests could achieve more than electrifying the entire transport sector. It would be easier and quicker to accomplish because it requires no new technologies or dramatic infrastructural changes.
The one-tonne, six-wheeled rover was launched out of Florida by an Atlas rocket on a path to intercept the Red Planet in February next year. When it lands, the NASA robot will also gather rock and soil samples to be sent home later this decade.
Some campaigners remain unconvinced that U.S. presidential candidate Biden could be as aggressive as necessary with the fossil fuel industry, but his campaign believes they are on the winning path by connecting the environment with jobs.
The invasion of livestock in areas inhabited by traditional populations is widespread in Brazil’s Amazon. Emboldened by a promised amnesty on land seizures, ranchers are felling brazil nut trees, edging out families who have harvested them for generations.
As city populations soar, it might seem like there isn’t much room for trees. But ecologists say these climatic powerhouses are an often overlooked solution to the health and environmental issues greater density brings.
The cost of preventing further pandemics over the next decade by protecting wildlife and forests would equate to just 2% of the estimated financial damage caused by Covid-19, according to a new analysis.
A site in Mexico may contain evidence of human occupation that places people in North America around 30,000 years ago—roughly twice as early as most current estimates for when the first humans arrived on the continent.
Scientists have predicted for the first time when, where, and how polar bears are likely to disappear because of climate change. As early as 2040, it is likely that many polar bears will begin to experience reproductive failure, leading to local extinctions.
In an unusually strongly worded speech, António Guterres urged major reform to the UN security council, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, to address systemic inequalities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The world is ill-prepared for the global crash in children being born, say researchers. Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century. And 23 nations are expected to see their populations halve.
From Dublin to Dessau, cities are leaving once manicured green spaces to rewild with native flowers and grasses that attract more diverse insects, birds, and wildlife. Such a paradigm shift will take time, however.
