Parts of California, Oregon and Montana are facing unhealthy levels of air pollution after several major wildfires, including the Northern California Park Fire, which has become the fifth largest in the states’ history. Because wildfire smoke can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, the smoke poses a danger to people in the immediate area… Read More »
Microplastics are so widely dispersed that they are difficult to track. These tiny particles are formed by the breakdown of larger plastics and have been linked to heart attacks, fertility problems and cancer. Recent research suggests they may also lower sperm count. According to a 2019 Canadian study, humans consume up to 52,000 particles of… Read More »
It is widely accepted that humans have been warming the planet by burning coal, oil, and natural gas for more than a century. The Earth has warmed almost 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, and the planet is poised to quickly surpass the hoped-for 1.5 degree Celsius warming limit. But few people… Read More »
DUNE’s neutrino detectors will be located a mile underground in South Dakota.Matthew Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility Neutrinos are tiny particles that may hold the secrets of some of the universe’s greatest mysteries. The DUNE project hopes to learn more about these difficult-to-study “ghost particles.” To do this, the project will beam neutrinos approximately 800… Read More »
The world is under constant bombardment cosmic raysShowers of high-energy particles blasting our planet from all directions at near the speed of light. While this may seem like a foreshadowing of a science fiction alien invasion, it is a real phenomenon that scientists have been aware of for over a century. Despite their dramatic description,… Read More »
If you consume protein, you could be swallowing hundreds of small pieces of plastic every year, research finds. A new study by researchers from the non-profit Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto found that microplastics — tiny particles ranging from a micrometer (thousandth of a millimeter) to half a centimeter in size — were… Read More »