The future of coffee production is looking darker than the contents of your morning cup of joe. A deadly combination of climate change, disease and deforestation is gradually pushing a multi-billion-dollar industry right to the edge. Researchers at UK’s Kew Gardens have calculated that out of the 124 coffee species known to science, nearly 60

We’ve had chances. Lots of chances. But humanity has a history of squandering chances, despite everything we know about climate change. Despite everything riding on us addressing it. As it happens, the odds may still be in our favour. A new study estimates there’s a 64 percent chance that peak global average temperature rise can

It’s been compared to crop circles, or the strange handiwork of aliens. Others say it looks like the Moon, if it somehow materialised in the chilly waters of the Presumpscot River. But this massive churning formation in the city of Westbrook, Maine isn’t evidence of something from outer space, but rather a bizarre and brilliant

Every year, ocean waves are getting stronger and more destructive – and according to new research, it’s only going to get worse. A new study has found a correlation between warming oceans and wave size and strength, suggesting that the more things heat up, the more destructive our oceans will become. Ocean waves are built by the

Australia is sweltering through an intense heatwave this week that’s scorching the country from coast to coast with temperatures as high as 49.3 degrees Celsius (120.7 degrees Fahrenheit). In numerous locations, temperature records have already been broken, with minimum overnight temperatures in three towns of 33°C (91°F) showing even the night offers no escape from

The world needs to rethink its plan for addressing climate change. That’s the assertion of political scientist Joshua S. Goldstein and energy engineer Staffan A. Qvist. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal published an essay in which the duo argues that we can’t address the global climate problem as quickly as needed using just renewables

Antarctic glaciers have been melting at an accelerating pace over the past four decades thanks to an influx of warm ocean water – a startling new finding that researchers say could mean sea levels are poised to rise more quickly than predicted in coming decades. The Antarctic lost 40 billion tons of melting ice to

It started in December, just before Christmas. Hundreds of dead perch were discovered floating along the banks of the Darling River – victims of a “dirty, rotten green” algae bloom spreading in the still waters of the small country town of Menindee, Australia. Things didn’t get better. The dead hundreds became dead thousands, as the

George, a Hawaiian tree snail – also a 14-year-old local celebrity and the last known snail of his kind – will no longer be able to entertain school children, or eat tree fungus. He died on New Year’s Day, according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). The death of George, and

Siberia’s wilderness is experiencing a new kind of gold rush. As melting permafrost gives up the bones of long extinct megafauna, a new breed of ivory hunter is cashing in on the remnants of creatures that vanished millennia ago. Trade in mammoth tusk isn’t illegal, and in China it’s actually viewed as an ethical alternative

As Europe wilted in the sweltering, record-breaking harshness of summer 2018, strange things happened. Mysterious outlines of ancient societies revealed themselves across the seared landscape, but it’s not just traces of ghostly architecture resurfacing. So too are grim words of warning. Inscribed boulders known as ‘hunger stones’ are reappearing in Czechia after a prolonged drought afflicting

When China declares war, it means business. So when China announced an all-out blitz on pollution in the face of red alert smog levels so bad they can make entire skylines vanish, it was a big, progressive step. But a new study has revealed there’s also been an unexpected downside to the move. China’s official

Antarctica has a new hole. It’s more than a kilometre (just under 4,000 feet) deep, barely a hand-span or two in width, and ends in a body of water named Lake Mercer. Lake Mercer is what’s called a ‘lost’ lake, as it exists deep below the ice, making it inaccessible to usual experiments. Researchers can

Every unprofitable coal mine in the European Union must cease production by the first day of 2019, the date on which all public funds for the mines will come to an end. In Spain, that means that 26 coal mines are about to close up shop, according toReuters. This move away from coal is a refreshing

Earlier this year, researchers found a deposit of rare-earth minerals off the coast of Japan that could supply the world for centuries, according to a study. The study, published in the journal Nature in April 2018, says the deposit contains 16 million tons of the valuable metals. Rare-earth minerals are used in everything from smartphone batteries

Dogs, cats, or goldfish probably can’t have conversations with each other about times long gone by – it’s a feature we’ve thought was pretty much exclusive to humans. But a recent study is shaking up that idea, showing that orangutan mothers wait on average seven minutes after a potential predator is out of sight, before

No matter how much or how little attention you pay to climate change, there seem to be more and more moments lately when it becomes impossible to ignore the harsh reality of what we’re facing. 2018 was no exception. So, in case you missed any of this year’s doomy drama, here are some of the

Above our heads, something is not right. Earth’s magnetic field is in a state of dramatic weakening – and according to mind-boggling research from earlier this year, this phenomenal disruption is part of a pattern lasting for over 1,000 years. Earth’s magnetic field doesn’t just give us our north and south poles; it’s also what

As the scale and impacts of climate change become increasingly alarming, meat is a popular target for action. Advocates urge the public to eat less meat to save the environment. Some activists have called for taxing meat to reduce consumption of it. A key claim underlying these arguments holds that globally, meat production generates more

You can add river erosion to the list of geological triggers capable of setting off an earthquake, according to new research: and it could help explain the reason why so many earthquakes occur far away from the edges of tectonic plates. Those slabs of rock, and the friction and pressure that builds up as they

An ambitious project to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has hit an unexpected snag, just three months after being launched. Developed by The Ocean Cleanup, the huge floating contraption was designed to drift with the currents, scooping up thousands of tons of plastic waste as it bobs along. The first prototype, System 001,

The weather was closing in. For a week, cryosphere scientist Luke Trusel and his team hadn’t been able to access their remote drill site in western Greenland, and if they didn’t act now, there was no telling when they’d get another chance. Spying a brief window where helicopter flight was safe, the researchers grabbed only

Last month, new research from Harvard and Yale led to a flurry of news claiming scientists were proposing to ‘dim the Sun’ in an “ingenious but as-yet-unproven way to tackle climate change”. Only, they weren’t. As other outlets made clear, the paper was actually an analysis of whether solar geoengineering is technically and economically feasible,

The fate of civilisation itself lies squarely in the hands of today’s leaders, Sir David Attenborough has warned in a strident address on behalf of the world’s peoples. Speaking at the opening of the United Nations COP24 Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland, Attenborough implored the assembled delegates and decision-makers to listen to the voices

Our environment is changing, and changing fast, putting pressure on our hardworking scientists to come up with ever more ingenious ways of meeting the needs of humankind – like pulling drinkable water right out of the air, in this case. A new prototype device, developed at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Kiel, Germany: The herring here – both a symbol of the seaside region and a staple food that locals eat salted, pickled or fried – have plummeted to about a third of their population in the 1990s. Cod have declined drastically, too. And they are getting smaller and thinner. Scientists have observed fish in their

A huge, gaping cave has been discovered hidden in the remote Canadian wilderness, and despite the overwhelming scale of this stunning natural void, researchers suggest it may never have been seen by human eyes before. Nicknamed the ‘Sarlacc Pit’ after the monstrous pit-dwelling beast in Star Wars, the giant cave – concealed amidst the rugged

There’s mounting pressure on the world to grapple with its plastic addiction. Landfills and oceans alike are choking on waste plastic, which is made from crude oil and can take centuries to decompose. New evidence, though, suggests that small changes in plastic policy can make large changes in aggregate. When Australia’s two largest supermarket chains

The Woolsey and Paradise wildfires brought widespread devastation to California in November, killing more than 90 people and torching 250,000 acres of land. With the fires now fully contained, residents have returned home to find nothing but scorched foundations. Officials are still on the hunt for hundreds of missing people – a process made more

Scientists are at a loss to explain a strange seismic event that shook the planet on November 11 and was picked up by earthquake sensors stationed across the globe. While the cause of this mysterious disturbance remains unknown, it’s somehow linked to an ongoing seismic swarm that’s been rumbling the archipelago of Mayotte in the

On the eve of the most important global climate meeting in years, a definitive United Nations report has found that the world is well off course on its promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions – and may have even further to go than previously thought. Seven major countries, including the United States, are well behind

Cruise liners are a surprisingly large source of greenhouse gases and pollution, but Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten says it’s on its way to carbon neutrality – and all thanks to dead fish. Although this sounds crazy, it does actually make a lot of sense. Norway has a large fishing industry, and leftovers and off-cuts are

The unseen depths of the Great Australian Bight are absolutely teeming with life, a new study study has revealed. But soon enough, even these deep-sea creatures could be subject to the probing fingers of the oil industry. The Great Australian Bight is a 1,160-kilometre (720 mile) open bay that takes a sizeable chunk out of

The idea was once taboo, but desperate times may just call for desperate measures. If humans are able to spray millions of tons of sulfate aerosol into the sky, we could create a sort of chemical canopy that reflects heat from the Sun and takes the edge off global warming. This kind of atmosphere-hacking could be dangerous,

The federal government on Friday released a long-awaited report with an unmistakable message: The effects of climate change, including deadly wildfires, increasingly debilitating hurricanes and heat waves, are already battering the United States, and the danger of more such catastrophes is worsening. The report’s authors, who represent numerous federal agencies, say they are more certain

Keeping an eye on your water usage is a good way to save money and help the planet at the same time. Plenty of us have bad habits that could be costing us hundreds of dollars in water bills over the long run. Here are a few ways that you could be wasting water without realising it,

Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag about three times more water down into the deep Earth than previously believed, according to a seismic study that spans the Mariana Trench. The observations from the deepest ocean trench in the world have important implications for the global water cycle, researchers say. “People knew that

Researchers have developed catalysts that can convert carbon dioxide—the main cause of global warming—into plastics, fabrics, resins, and other products. The electrocatalysts are the first materials, aside from enzymes, that can turn carbon dioxide and water into carbon building blocks containing one, two, three, or four carbon atoms with more than 99 percent efficiency. Two

Sir David Attenborough’s passionate voice is one few would struggle to recognise. Next month, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland, world leaders will be listening to it as the famous British naturalist delivers a speech. And you can even help him write it. A new UN campaign called the “People’s Seat” has been

Solar power has never been cheaper, and it’s often held up as a success story for clean energy advocates. In the past four decades, the cost of some solar panels, like photovoltaic cells (PTV), has plummeted by as much as 99 percent. But while the technology’s growth is impressive, until now we didn’t have a

Our planet is constantly changing each and every day, and now thanks to researchers at the University of Cincinnati, we can see some of those shifts mapped over the course of a quarter of a century. The new maps published by the team show 22 percent of Earth’s livable surface has dramatically altered between 1992

Humanity is likely responsible for the death of yet another sperm whale. After it washed ashore Kapota Island in the Wakatobi National Park in Indonesia, park officials found its stomach full of plastic. Over 1,000 individual pieces were found, including 115 plastic cups, 25 plastic bags, two flip-flops, and a sack containing over 1,000 pieces

When it comes to measuring ice loss at the poles, and predicting what might happen next, scientists need as much accurate data as they can get – and a new study suggests there’s a big source of geothermal heat underneath East Antarctica that we haven’t yet factored into our calculations. Ice in this area appears

Nowhere is climate change more obvious than in the Arctic. Experiencing rapid and, at times, unprecedented atmospheric change, the cold crest of our planet has taken on a burden greater than any other region in the world. But while it’s clear the Arctic is especially vulnerable to greenhouse gases, the physical causes that are driving

Some 4,000 years ago, a thriving civilisation in the Indus River Valley inexplicably abandoned its cities, leaving their empty buildings to decay. The Harappa culture (of what is now Pakistan) had a booming local economy and long-distance intercultural trade. Yet, by around 1800 BCE, they had moved from their cities with mod cons such as

Palm oil can be found in food and cosmetics everywhere: in fact, half of the world’s population uses palm oil in food. But public awareness about the loss of wildlife through deforestation caused by palm oil crops is growing, and there’s mounting pressure on retailers to reduce their sales of palm oil products, or boycott

Dogs, cats, or goldfish probably can’t have conversations with each other about times long gone by – it’s a feature we’ve thought was exclusive to humans. But a new study is shaking up that idea, showing that orangutan mothers wait on average seven minutes after a potential predator is out of sight, before sounding the

In the driest and oldest desert on Earth – a place so barren and bleak it’s effectively hell on Earth – things don’t work quite the same way they do in other places. Take water. We tend to think of water as a universally life-giving blessing, but in the hyperarid core of Chile’s Atacama Desert,