Environmental Science News

November 9, 2025

Top Headlines

Microbes That Breathe Rust Could Help Save Earth’s Oceans

Nov. 9, 2025 — Researchers from the University of Vienna discovered MISO bacteria that use iron minerals to oxidize toxic sulfide, creating energy and producing sulfate. This biological process reshapes how scientists understand global sulfur and iron cycles. By ...

Meet the Desert Survivor That Grows Faster the Hotter It Gets

Nov. 9, 2025 — In Death Valley’s relentless heat, Tidestromia oblongifolia doesn’t just survive—it thrives. Michigan State University scientists discovered that the plant can quickly adjust its photosynthetic machinery to endure extreme temperatures that ...

9,000-year-old Ice Melt Shows How Fast Antarctica Can Fall Apart

Nov. 9, 2025 — Around 9,000 years ago, East Antarctica went through a dramatic meltdown that was anything but isolated. Scientists have discovered that warm deep ocean water surged beneath the region’s floating ice shelves, causing them to collapse and ...

Deep-sea Mining Starves Life in the Ocean’s Twilight Zone

Nov. 8, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that deep-sea mining plumes can strip vital nutrition from the ocean’s twilight zone, replacing natural food with nutrient-poor sediment. The resulting “junk food” effect could starve life across entire marine ...

Antarctica’s Collapse May Already Be Unstoppable, Scientists Warn

Nov. 6, 2025 — Researchers warn Antarctica is undergoing abrupt changes that could trigger global consequences. Melting ice, collapsing ice shelves, and disrupted ocean circulation threaten sea levels, ecosystems, and climate stability. Wildlife such as penguins ...

Turning CO2 Into Clean Fuel Faster and Cheaper

Nov. 5, 2025 — A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of carbon-neutral synthetic ...

Frozen for 6 Million Years, Antarctic Ice Rewrites Earth’s Climate Story

Nov. 5, 2025 — Scientists discovered 6-million-year-old ice in Antarctica, offering the oldest direct record of Earth’s ancient atmosphere and climate. The finding reveals a dramatic cooling trend and promises insights into greenhouse gas changes over millions ...

Bamboo Tissue Paper May Not Be as Eco-friendly as You Think

Nov. 3, 2025 — Bamboo tissue paper, often marketed as an eco-friendly alternative, may not be as green as consumers think. Researchers at NC State University found that while bamboo fibers themselves are not more polluting than wood, China’s coal-dependent ...

Scientists Predict a Wetter, Greener Future for the Sahara Desert

Nov. 3, 2025 — UIC researchers predict that the Sahara Desert could see up to 75% more rain by the end of this century due to rising global temperatures. Using 40 climate models, the team found widespread precipitation increases across Africa, though some regions ...

A “Scary” New Spider Species Found Beneath California’s Beaches

Nov. 2, 2025 — UC Davis scientists uncovered Aptostichus ramirezae, a new trapdoor spider species living under California’s dunes. Genetic analysis revealed it was distinct from its close relative, Aptostichus simus. The species was named after pioneering ...

A Warming Earth Could Accidentally Trigger a Deep Freeze

Nov. 2, 2025 — Earth’s climate balance isn’t just governed by the slow weathering of silicate rocks, which capture carbon and stabilize temperature over eons. New research reveals that biological and oceanic feedback loops—especially involving algae, ...

Soil Microbes Remember Drought and Help Plants Survive

Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers discovered that soil microbes in Kansas carry drought “memories” that affect how plants grow and survive. Native plants showed stronger responses to these microbial legacies than crops like corn, hinting at co-evolution over time. ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:18pm EST

Astronomers Capture a Violent Super-Eruption from a Young Sun

Nov. 3, 2025 — Astronomers observed a massive, multi-temperature plasma eruption from a young Sun-like star, revealing how early solar explosions could shape planets. These fierce events may have influenced the ...

Scientists Uncover What Delayed Earth’s Oxygen Boom for a Billion Years

Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers uncovered that trace compounds like nickel and urea may have delayed Earth’s oxygenation for millions of years. Experiments mimicking early Earth revealed how their concentrations ...

Those Halloween Fireballs Might Be More Dangerous Than You Think

Oct. 31, 2025 — The Taurid meteor shower, born from Comet Encke, delights skywatchers but may conceal hidden risks. Research led by Mark Boslough examines potential Taurid swarms that could increase impact danger in ...

Scientists Shocked by Reversed Electric Field Around Earth

Oct. 31, 2025 — Earth’s magnetosphere, once thought to have a simple electric polarity pattern, has revealed a surprising twist. New satellite data and advanced simulations show that the morning side of the ...

Your Pumpkin Might Be Hiding a Toxic Secret

Oct. 30, 2025 — Researchers in Japan have revealed how some gourds draw pollutants into their fruits. The secret lies in a protein that carries contaminants through the plant sap. By manipulating this protein’s ...

Earth Has Hit Its First Climate Tipping Point, Scientists Warn

Oct. 29, 2025 — Global scientists warn that humanity is on the verge of crossing irreversible climate thresholds, with coral reefs already at their tipping point and polar ice sheets possibly beyond recovery. The ...

Earth’s “boring Billion” Set the Stage for Complex Life

Oct. 28, 2025 — Scientists have traced the origins of complex life to the breakup of the supercontinent Nuna 1.5 billion years ago. This tectonic shift reduced volcanic carbon emissions, expanded shallow seas, and ...

Ancient Tides May Have Sparked Humanity’s First Urban Civilization

Oct. 27, 2025 — New research shows that the rise of Sumer was deeply tied to the tidal and sedimentary dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia. Early communities harnessed predictable tides for irrigation, but when deltas ...

Scientists Just Found a Surprising Twist in Earth’s Extinction Story

Oct. 27, 2025 — Extinction rates are not spiraling upward as many believe, according to a large-scale study analyzing 500 years of data. Researchers found that species losses peaked about a century ago and have ...

Hidden 5-Mile Wide Asteroid Crater Beneath the Atlantic Revealed in Stunning 3D

Oct. 27, 2025 — A massive crater hidden beneath the Atlantic seafloor has been confirmed as the result of an asteroid strike from 66 million years ago. The new 3D ...

Scientists Turn Flower Fragrance Into a Mosquito Killer

Oct. 27, 2025 — A team of researchers has developed a floral-scented fungus that tricks mosquitoes into approaching and dying. The fungus emits longifolene, a natural scent that irresistibly draws them in. It’s ...

Scientists Say Dimming the Sun Could Spark Global Chaos

Oct. 21, 2025 — Scientists are taking the once-radical concept of dimming the sun through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) seriously, but a Columbia University team warns that reality is far messier than models ...

Scientists Just Found Hidden Life Thriving Beneath the Arctic Ice

Oct. 21, 2025 — Melting Arctic ice is revealing a hidden world of nitrogen-fixing bacteria beneath the surface. These microbes, not the usual cyanobacteria, enrich the ocean with nitrogen, fueling algae growth that ...

Melting Ice Is Hiding a Massive Climate Secret Beneath Antarctica

Oct. 27, 2025 — The Southern Ocean absorbs nearly half of all ocean-stored human CO2, but its future role is uncertain. Despite models predicting a decline, researchers found that freshening surface waters are ...

El Niño Could Soon Turn Deadly Predictable, Scientists Warn

Oct. 24, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that El Niño and La Niña could become far more powerful and predictable as the planet warms. By 2050, the tropical Pacific may hit a tipping point, locking ENSO into ...

China’s Coastal Cities Are Sinking as Seas Rise at Record Speed

Oct. 23, 2025 — Sea levels are rising faster than at any time in 4,000 years, scientists report, with China’s major coastal cities at particular risk. The rapid increase is driven by warming oceans and melting ...

MIT Finds Traces of a Lost World Deep Within Planet Earth

Oct. 17, 2025 — Researchers have discovered chemical fingerprints of Earth's earliest incarnation, preserved in ancient mantle rocks. A unique imbalance in potassium isotopes points to remnants of “proto ...

Forged in Fire: The 900°C Heat That Built Earth’s Stable Continents

Oct. 16, 2025 — New research reveals that Earth’s continents owe their stability to searing heat deep in the planet’s crust. At more than 900°C, radioactive elements shifted upward, cooling and strengthening ...

Earth’s Climate Just Crossed a Line We Can’t Ignore

Oct. 13, 2025 — Humanity has reached the first Earth system tipping point, the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs, marking the beginning of irreversible planetary shifts. As global temperatures move beyond ...

Earth Is Splitting Open Beneath the Pacific Northwest

Oct. 25, 2025 — For the first time, scientists have seen a subduction zone actively breaking apart beneath the Pacific Northwest. Seismic data show the oceanic plate tearing into fragments, forming microplates in a ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 — Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are ...

Scientists Shocked as Birds Soaked in “forever Chemicals” Still Thrive

Oct. 8, 2025 — Tree swallows in polluted U.S. regions are accumulating high levels of “forever chemicals.” These durable pollutants, used in firefighting foams and consumer products, are found everywhere from ...

Record Amazon Fires Release More Carbon Than an Entire Country

Oct. 8, 2025 — The Amazon has suffered its most destructive fire season in more than two decades, releasing a staggering 791 million tons of carbon dioxide—on par with Germany’s annual emissions. Scientists ...

When Sunshine Became Cheaper Than Coal

Oct. 7, 2025 — Solar energy is now the cheapest source of power worldwide, driving a massive shift toward renewables. Falling battery prices and innovations in solar materials are making clean energy more reliable ...

Ocean Heatwaves Are Breaking Earth’s Hidden Climate Engine

Oct. 7, 2025 — Marine heatwaves can jam the ocean’s natural carbon conveyor belt, preventing carbon from reaching the deep sea. Researchers studying two major heatwaves in the Gulf of Alaska found that plankton ...

From Gentle Giants to Ghostly Hunters, Sharks Face an Unseen Peril

Oct. 4, 2025 — New research reveals that deep-sea mining could dramatically threaten 30 species of sharks, rays, and ghost sharks whose habitats overlap with proposed mining zones. Many of these species, already at ...

1,000 Swiss Glaciers Already Gone, and the Melting Is Speeding Up

Oct. 2, 2025 — Swiss glaciers lost nearly 3% of their volume in 2025, following a snow-poor winter and scorching summer heatwaves. The melt has been so extreme that some glaciers lost more than two meters of ice ...

The Billion-Year Reign of Fungi That Predated Plants and Made Earth Livable

Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years ...

Scientists Just Recreated a Wildfire That Made Its Own Weather

Oct. 2, 2025 — In 2020, California’s Creek Fire became so intense that it generated its own thunderstorm, a phenomenon called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. For years, scientists struggled to replicate these explosive ...

Japan’s Hot Springs Hold Clues to the Origins of Life on Earth

Oct. 2, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot ...