Pollution

What you need to know about the gases, toxins, and garbage that make their way into water, air, and land.

Latest in Pollution

Curious humpback whale swims to the camera.

Whales can’t hear each other in the noisy ocean. This inventor has a solution 200 years in the making.

By Mack DeGeurin

Diver examining underwater UC-30 sub wreck

Sunken WWI sub is leaking TNT into the North Sea

a small fish with silver and rainbow scales

These fish rely on teamwork to find food in murky water

By Laura Baisas

LOS ANGELES - 1978: Country singer Dolly Parton poses for a portrait session in 1978 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images)

Butterfly wing crystals inspire new eco-friendly glitter

Vintage colorized photograph of ice man posing with ladies.

How Americans stayed cool before air conditioning: From sitting on smelly ice to sleeping on the roof

By Mack DeGeurin

NEIJIANG, CHINA - NOVEMBER 30: A worker transfers PVC pipes at a factory of Sichuan Hongyu Hengchuang Plastic Products Co., Ltd. on November 30, 2022 in Neijiang, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Lan Zitao/VCG via Getty Images)

Hard-to-recycle PVC turned into sustainable lubricant

A man in a silver hazmat suit stands in front of a sign.

During WWII, Great Britain poisoned sheep with anthrax on an idyllic Scottish island

By RJ Mackenzie

a grey sponge on the floor of a harbor

Blobby chicken kidney sponges clean dirty water surprisingly well

By Laura Baisas

A crow picks up a cigarette end on the parking of Le Puy du Fou, in Les Epesses, western France on August 14, 2018. - Six crows specially trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish were put to work last week at a French historical theme park. (Photo by SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / AFP) (Photo credit should read SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS/AFP via Getty Images)

No, crows aren’t cleaning up cigarette butts in Sweden

Concept art showing design of hydrogen fuel commerical plane with four propellors

Airbus wants to build world’s first hydrogen fuel jet engine

Smoke emanates from smokestacks at the Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery in Linden, New Jersey, on March 18, 2026. Oil prices surged Wednesday following a strike on a major Iranian gas facility as the Federal Reserve raised its inflation forecast while holding interest rates steady. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP)

Air pollution may be changing sperm

Smiling man standing next to Barbie Power Wheels Dream Camper next to gas pump at gas station

Handyman adapts Barbie Dream Camper to handle soaring gas prices

Illustration showing clouds of space junk orbiting Earth

Almost half of everything orbiting Earth is space junk

Young white boy in grey pullover holds a robot turtle posing in front of a small pond.

Teen builds ‘Bionic Underwater Robotic Turtle’ to detect ecological threats

By Laura Kiniry

Artemis patch against capsule window in Orion with Earth beneath it

Why you can’t see space junk in Artemis II photos

Little baby and stack of diapers on bed, closeup

Japan makes breakthrough in dirty diaper recycling

Minamitorishima island in Pacific Ocean seen from above

Japan eyes distant island for nuclear waste dump

Poison warning label layered atop brown hair

Hair samples reveal the benefits of lead regulation

Lake Lipno frozen with green cyanobacterial blooms in winter

Toxic algae turned a frozen lake green

a big group of oysters still in the shell

Pills, powders, and opioids stress out oyster babies

By Laura Baisas