Sustainability(Page 2)

Our best advice for how to live in a climate-changing world.

Latest in Sustainability

A photo collage with a vintage illustration of a futuristic, brown and orange sailboat, with a large sail-like structure and a smokestack, positioned on a deep blue sea with white waves. In the background, there's a faint, light-tan newspaper clipping with the headline "A Sailing Ship" and a masthead for "POPULAR SCIENCE" from February 1925.

100 years ago, ‘ghost ship’ sails baffled Einstein—now they’re making a comeback

By Bill Gourgey

Hand with microgel sunscreen applied next to jar of sunscreen and bowl of camellia seeds used in recipe

Is pollen the secret to eco-friendly sunscreen?

White polo shirt with yellow sweat stain under the sleeve

Blue light beats bleach for yellow stains

Stack of plastic bottles for recycling against blue sky

Easier plastic recycling is on the horizon

Cacao Beans in seed pods next to chocolate chunks in cacao seed pod

How to make perfect chocolate, according to science

Sailing stone in Death Valley with movement trail behind hit

Ice moves by itself on experimental metal surface

A large white mushroom cloud explodes into the upper atmosphere in a vintage photograph of a hydrogen bomb.

When the U.S. almost nuked Alaska—on purpose

By Shoshi Parks

Close up of three wasps

Radioactive wasp nest found at former nuclear weapons site

a 3d printer on a counter

3D printer transforms food waste into coffee mugs and coasters

By Mack DeGeurin

3D printed house in Japan

This 3D-printed home is built from dirt

Used cigarettes in ashtray

Recycled cigarette butts can make roads more durable

Six Tesla electric cars burn on the trailer of the moving lorry carrying them after one of them catches on fire due to unknown reasons in Istanbul, Turkiye on October 06, 2023. (Photo by Muhammed Gencebay Gur/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

New lithium batteries have built-in fire extinguishers

Three Action Comics issues with Superman on cover

Yes, Superman’s kryptonite is (sort of) real

Solar panel station in Australian outback in front of mountains

Indigenous calendars could make solar power more efficient

a pot boil on induction stovetop

Why induction stoves are better than gas

Drawer for recycling electronics

Your outdated tech might be a ‘goldmine’

By Mack DeGeurin

Air conditioner in house window on Summer day.

New paint ‘sweats’ to keep buildings cool

Lab grown salmon on sushi rice on a plate

FDA approves lab-grown salmon

a solar power device in a field

How a 1,200-person village in Senegal traded diesel generators for solar power

By Kristin Shaw

white fava beans

Why fava beans taste gross (and how scientists want to fix them)

By Margherita Bassi

luffa acutangular, Cucurbitaceae green vegetable fresh on brown fabric in garden on nature background

A trip to the farm where loofahs grow on vines

By Alisha McDarris

Open dishwasher with clean dishes in the white kitchen

The science of why you should use your dishwasher

Urban farming sustainability concept, captured in Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Surviving global catastrophe is a matter of community, not commerce

Side by side of uncooked and cooked 3D printed vegan calamari rings

3D-printed calamari is back on the menu

Four urinals mounted on tiled wall

New urinal designs use physics to prevent pee splashback

Transparent wood sample overlaying 'Transparent wood (TW)' on computer screen

Eggs, sticky rice, and transparent wood create new kind of window

An Apollo 12 high-oblique view of the lunar nearside looking northeast toward the crater Copernicus (in center near horizon), as photographed from lunar orbit.

A startup wants to mine the moon for helium

View of fog at the Atacama desert in Iquique, some 2000 km north of Santiago, on April 19, 2016. Catholic University of Chile researchers' challenge is to implement a fog collection system -which uses large pieces of vertical canvas to make the fog condense into droplets- in small communities which don't have drinkable water in Atacama desert. / AFP / MARTIN BERNETTI (Photo credit should read MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images)

In the driest place on Earth, water hides in plain sight

By Lauren Leffer

Crane installing wind turbine wings

New wind turbines will test out the world’s longest wooden blades

Thermogalvanic fridge prototype device held in blue gloved hand

The electrochemical cells that could power fridges of the future

Modern eco home illustration. Building modern design. Energy conservation and wind turbine. Flat vector linear illustration. Tree and bushes. Trendy line style vector.

6 easy ways to make your home more sustainable

cattle grazing in a field

Feeding seaweed to gassy cattle can reduce methane

By Laura Baisas

Gloved hand pointing to LignoSat wooden satellite prototype

World’s first wooden satellite shares material with samurai sword sheaths

Rusty-patched Bumblebee gathering nectar from a yellow flower

Rare bees kill Meta’s nuclear-powered AI data center plans

two baseballs held in two hands. one is bright white and the other is coated with a brown mud

Baseball’s legendary ‘magic mud’ finally analyzed by scientists

By Laura Baisas

A tiny home made using the nacelle casing from a wind turbine

Recycled wind turbines may one day become tiny homes and floating playgrounds

FastRig wing-sail deployed on cargo ship at dock

A nuclear waste tanker ship is testing a 65-foot-tall wing-sail

Jeff VanderMeer next to book cover for Absolution

Jeff VanderMeer talks about his new novel and ‘deranged court jester’ Elon Musk

glass bowl filled with brown seaweed

Bye, kale: Marine scientists want you to eat more seaweed

By Alisha McDarris

Spinach rows in farm field

Your recycled pee may be better for crops than synthetic fertilizer

Using the microwave oven to heat food. Woman's hand puts plastic container with broccoli and buckwheat in the microwave

Seriously, stop microwaving your food in plastic

By Lauren Leffer

toilet paper shaped like sad face

Why you should consider a bidet

By Debbie Wolfe

Closeup of broken eyeglasses with damaged colored lens surrounded by different lenses on table in optical shop. Replacement of glasses lens. Glasses service and repair concept

Don’t throw away your old sunglasses

By Debbie Wolfe

The Best Solar Power Banks Of 2024 on a plain white background.

The 7 best solar power banks to keep devices going on the go, tested by experts

a brick pathway through a lawn with clover

Should you plant a clover lawn? The pros and cons.

By Debbie Wolfe

The best portable chargers

The best portable chargers

By Brittany Vincent, Brandt Ranj

The 8 best portable solar panels for on-the-go charging, tested by experts

The 8 best portable solar panels for on-the-go charging, tested by experts

aerial drone view of an industrial installation that produces per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS

LED lights may be key to breaking down forever chemicals

a purple race track, with whit lane lines

Paris Olympics’ purple track is made with crushed mussel and clam shells

By Laura Baisas

two people standing and looking at a cuckoo clock on a hotel

This 500-year-old hotel in Germany’s Black Forest is an energy self-sufficient wonder

By Alisha McDarris

The Best Home Wind Turbines Of 2024 on a plain white background.

The best home wind turbines, according to experts

By John Alexander, Nick Hilden

Suspended skyscraper at Three Gorges

7 wild concepts from the 2024 Skyscraper Competition

banana peel, orange peel, eggshells, coffee grounds on a wood countertop

6 kitchen scraps to throw in your garden

By Debbie Wolfe

Ocean trash can now be tracked from space

California Forever concept art of utopian cityscape

California’s billionaire utopia may not be as eco-friendly as advertised

Concept art of superstructure with gravity battery inside

Colossal skyscrapers could harness height for gravity batteries

Close-up of three cows

Cow poop might make cleaner hydrogen gas a reality

beer being poured from a tap

How recycled beer yeast can remove lead from water

Metamaterial film on glass

New material looks like frosted glass but lets in more light than a window

Private jet on tarmac at sunset

Tracking private jets just got much harder

Factory worker overseeing steel forge

Zero-emission ‘electric cement’ is an ‘absolute miracle’

An aerial view of the rust-colored Kutuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Thawing permafrost is exposing minerals to weathering, increasing the acidity of the water, which releases metals like iron, zinc, and copper.

Why are Alaska’s rivers turning orange?

By Laura Baisas

toilet seat on wooden bench with bucket of saw dust, toilet brush, and toilet paper

How does a composting toilet work? Ditch the flush.

Chicken looking at camera against black background

Chicken fat supercapacitors could store green energy of the future