Articles for category: Climate & Environment

Explore the dramatic geothermal landscape with steaming vents and distant mountains.

6 Sites Around the World That Show Earth’s Violent Past

Maria Faith Saligumba

Our planet might seem peaceful today, but beneath its serene surface lies a story written in stone, ash, and twisted metal. Earth has endured catastrophes so immense they’ve reshaped continents, wiped out entire species, and left scars that remain visible millions of years later. These aren’t just geological curiosities – they’re windows into our planet’s ...

a hill covered in lots of trees next to a forest

Can We Control the Climate? A Teen’s Guide to Geoengineering Debates

Maria Faith Saligumba

Picture this: It’s 2050, and scientists deploy giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight away from Earth. Massive machines pull carbon dioxide straight from the air like cosmic vacuum cleaners. Ocean-spraying ships create artificial clouds to cool our planet. This isn’t science fiction anymore – it’s the wild world of geoengineering, where humans attempt to ...

Emerging Research and Discoveries

Beyond the Bag: What Happens When Animals Ingest Plastic

Annette Uy

Picture this: a majestic sea turtle gliding through crystal-clear waters, mistaking a floating plastic bag for its favorite meal – a jellyfish. This isn’t just a tragic accident; it’s happening millions of times across our planet every single day. From the tiniest plankton to the largest whales, creatures everywhere are consuming plastic at an alarming ...

A dramatic scene of a dust storm engulfing a building and sparse vegetation in the foreground.

The Dust Bowl’s Echo: Could It Happen Again in the 21st Century?

Maria Faith Saligumba

Picture this: you’re driving down a highway in Kansas when suddenly, the sky turns black. Not from storm clouds, but from billions of particles of topsoil being ripped from the earth and hurled skyward by relentless winds. For those who lived through the 1930s Dust Bowl, this nightmare was reality. Today, as we face unprecedented ...

The Power of Citizen Science

5 Times Citizen Scientists Made Major Contributions to Science

Trizzy Orozco

Picture this: you’re sitting in your backyard, casually observing birds, when suddenly you notice something unusual. Maybe it’s a migration pattern that doesn’t quite match what you’ve read about, or perhaps a species showing up where it shouldn’t be. What if I told you that observation could lead to a groundbreaking scientific discovery? This isn’t ...

9 National Parks Where Bighorn Sheep Are Back

9 National Parks Where Bighorn Sheep Are Back

Andrew Alpin

The thundering hooves of majestic wild sheep once echoed across America’s rugged mountain ranges and desert canyons, but those sounds fell silent for decades. Disease, hunting, and habitat loss drove these incredible creatures to near extinction in many areas. Yet today, something remarkable is happening in our national parks. From the towering peaks of the ...

10 American Caves With Rare Glow Worm Displays - What Causes the Glow

10 American Caves With Rare Glow Worm Displays – What Causes the Glow

Gargi Chakravorty

Deep beneath the rolling hills and ancient mountains of America, a magical phenomenon awaits those brave enough to venture into the darkness. Nature’s own version of a planetarium exists in select caves across our continent, where tiny creatures create stunning displays of electric blue light. These aren’t your typical earthworms glowing faintly in garden soil. ...

a large body of water surrounded by rocks

The Feedback Loop Problem: When Climate Change Starts Fueling Itself

Maria Faith Saligumba

Picture this: you’re pushing a boulder down a hill, and suddenly it starts rolling faster on its own, picking up rocks along the way, growing bigger and more unstoppable with each passing second. This isn’t just a physics experiment gone wrong – it’s exactly what’s happening with our planet’s climate system right now. The Earth ...

Gyres: The Ocean's Plastic Collecting Systems

Ocean Currents and Trash: How Far a Plastic Bag Can Travel

Annette Uy

Picture this: you’re walking along a beautiful beach, the salty breeze carrying the sound of crashing waves. Suddenly, you spot a plastic bag dancing in the wind before it tumbles into the ocean. What happens next might shock you. That simple plastic bag you just witnessed entering the water could potentially travel thousands of miles, ...

10 U.S. Forests That "Breathe" After Rain - Microclimate Explained

10 U.S. Forests That “Breathe” After Rain – Microclimate Explained

Gargi Chakravorty

You know that magical feeling when you step into a forest right after a downpour? The air seems alive, almost breathing with an ethereal rhythm. Fog’s function extends beyond its role as a moisture provider; it acts as a regulator of microclimate within rainforests. You’re witnessing one of nature’s most intricate dance performances where temperature, ...