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Many new-model electric vehicles (EVs) now have a driving range greater than 320 kilometers (200 miles). Consequently, range anxiety—the fear of running out of battery power before completing a trip or reaching a charging station—is becoming less…

The Hudson River estuary in the United States experiences a tide from New York Harbor (river kilometer 0/river mile 0) to Troy, New York (river kilometer 244/river mile 152). In the lower 60 kilometers (37 miles) of the Hudson River, the water is…

Atmospheric ozone plays a critical role in the biosphere by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere—the layer of the atmosphere about 10 to 50 km (6 to 30 mi) above Earth’s surface. Since the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in…

The Paris Agreement is a treaty signed by 196 member nations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in an effort to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, primarily of carbon dioxide and methane, thereby limiting the…

Scientists predict that Earth’s climate will continue changing, depending in large part on the additional amount of greenhouse gases that humans emit into the atmosphere, leading to negative consequences for life on Earth. To avoid the most harmful…

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon in many ecosystems, including forests along the U.S. Pacific West Coast, as natural fires serve to rejuvenate ecological communities. However, from mid-August through mid-September 2020, forests in California,…

Using traditional welding methods, rocket engine nozzles and combustion chambers are some of the most difficult parts to fabricate, requiring up to a year to produce a single part. Now, however, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration…

There is a growing body of evidence that many of the thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications ultimately make their way into water bodies and drinking-water supplies. Typical wastewater treatment plants may not be effective at…

Microplastics are raining down on national parks and other protected areas in the western United States at the rate of about 132 pieces of microplastic per square meter every day, according to a report in the journal Science (June 2020).…

Although asphalt (also known as bitumen) is a naturally occurring substance found in deposits within the earth, it is also a by-product of petroleum processing. Almost all the bitumen used for asphalt pavement and roofs comes from petroleum refining…