The U.S. is no longer a rogue climate nation
The U.S. is no longer acting like an insolent child peeing in a swimming pool. On Nov. 4, 2020, the Trump administration quit the Paris Agreement, becoming the only nation…
Why winter, yes winter, fires are burning in California
During the deep of California’s winter, telltale plumes of smoke are rising from the hills. Midwinter Western fires are unusual because the cooler, wet season dampens the potential for flames.…
Top U.S. scientists: 2020 was damn hot
Top U.S. research agencies confirmed Thursday that 2020 rivaled 2016 for the warmest year on record. Modern records go back 140 years. NASA data shows 2020 matched 2016 for the…
NASA drops an unsettling new video
[embedded content] Humanity is radically disrupting the planet. In a succinct new video released Thursday, NASA announced that 2020 tied 2016 for the warmest year on record. Importantly, the science…
The polar vortex has just been disrupted. What does this bode?
The stratosphere is a powerful place. Perhaps the most influential guitar ever devised is even named after this lofty layer in the atmosphere, which exists between some 10 to 30…
20 really good things that happened in 2020
By now it’s an article of faith that 2020 was a uniquely terrible year. The COVID-19 pandemic killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide, an undeniable and at least partly…
The world’s most suspenseful iceberg is breaking apart
Crack. Crack. Crack. Last week, iceberg A-68a was larger than Rhode Island. By Dec. 23, satellite footage showed the berg had broken apart into several (though still massive) chunks of…
The deep sea discoveries of 2020 are stunning
This spring, in a canyon over 2,000 feet beneath the Indian Ocean surface, a robot happened upon a fantastical, coiled creature. This siphonophore, found laying like loosely piled rope on…
Hawaii’s Kīlauea volcano awakes, awesomely fountains lava into the air
The lava has returned. On Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey reported an eruption at Kīlauea, the youngest Hawaiian volcano whose gushing lava rivers captivated the world in 2018. For…
Suspenseful journey of a colossal iceberg captivates scientists
Meet the most suspenseful berg on Earth. Enormous iceberg A-68a, which at some 1,500 square miles is currently larger than Rhode Island, has captured the attention of Antarctic and earth…