Special Report

Age of Humans

© 237/Martin Barraud/Ocean/Corbis

Children at the Free School Under the Bridge, an outdoor, donation-supported school under a highway overpass, learn about not just reading and math, but climate change and the ozone layer.

How India Is Teaching 300 Million Kids to Be Environmentalists

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

What Is Wind?

The world as we knew it.

How Geography Shaped Societies, From Neanderthals to iPhones

See How Humans Have Reshaped the Globe With This Interactive Atlas

Paris has spread along the banks of the Seine since 1900.

Make Cities Explode in Size With These Interactive Maps

Travel Through Deep Time With This Interactive Earth

Featured story

Many boundaries between geologic eras are marked by physical golden spikes. This one, in South Australia, marks the end of the Ediacaran period, 635 million years ago.

Where in the World is the Anthropocene?

Some geologists believe we’ve entered a new era. Now they have to search for the rocks that prove it

Air

A couple sits atop Tourkovounia Hill in Athens as clouds of Saharan dust cover the capital city.

Skies Over Athens Turn a Martian Orange Amid Saharan Dust Storm

Christian Thorsberg

Piles of coal sit in front of a power plant in Utah. Such coal-fired power plants emit greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

What Myths About the Anthropocene Get Wrong

Jan A. Zalasiewicz, Scott L. Wing and the Anthropocene Working Group

Researchers from the University of Washington conducted an initial experiment of cloud brightening technology in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.

A Secretive Experiment Released Salt Crystals Over San Francisco Bay—Could It Help Curb Warming?

Christian Thorsberg

A man in Seattle wears a mask as wildfire smoke descends on the city in September of 2020.

Four Ways to Protect Yourself From Harmful Air Pollution Caused by Wildfires

A large dust storm, or haboob, sweeps across downtown Phoenix on July 21, 2012.

How Climate Changed-Fueled “Mega Droughts” Could Harm Human Health

Ploy Pattanun Achakulwisut, Loretta Mickley and Susan Anenberg, The Conversation

Health

Air temperatures in Joshua Tree, California, exceeded triple-digits on June 5, 2024.

Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Should Be Considered 'Major Disasters' by FEMA Amid Climate Crisis, Advocates Say

Christian Thorsberg

Smog and other types of pollution were linked to nine million deaths in 2015 by a new report

One in Six Global Deaths Linked to Pollution

Yes, Sperm Counts Have Been Steadily Declining—But Don’t Freeze Your Sperm Yet

Water

An orange tributary of the Kugororuk River.

Alaska's Rivers Are Turning Orange as Thawing Permafrost Releases Metals Into Waterways

Christian Thorsberg

Boiling and filtering tap water, researchers suggest, could reduce concentrations of microplastics by more than 80 percent.

Boiling Tap Water Could Help Remove 80 Percent of Its Microplastics, Study Suggests

Christian Thorsberg

Plastics break down over time into micro- and nanosized particles that litter our water and air.

One Liter of Bottled Water May Contain 240,000 Tiny Plastic Fragments

Even at thresholds of sodium chloride that were considered safe at 230 milligrams of chloride per liter of water in the U.S. to 120 milligrams of chloride per liter in Canada, researchers found a significant loss of zooplankton populations an increase in algae.

Road Salt Pollution Levels Deemed Safe in U.S. and Canada May Not Protect Freshwater Ecosystems Enough

Elizabeth Gamillo

A brown trout caught in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge

Meth Pollution in Waterways Turns Trout Into Addicts

Culture

The Algodón River flows through a forest of the Amazon Basin in the remote northeastern corner of Peru. Scientists collected and analyzed a series of ten roughly 3-foot-long soil cores from three sites, each located at least a half-mile away from river courses and floodplains.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

In a Remote Amazon Region, Study Shows Indigenous Peoples Have Practiced Forest Conservation for Millennia

While looters discard bones, they are invaluable to archaeologists’ research.

As Mongolia Melts, Looters Close In On Priceless Artifacts

Julia Kate Clark, The Conversation

English Bulldogs illustrate the dramatic turn dog evolution has taken at the hands of humans.

The Evolution of Petface

This celestial chart from 1687 is one of many illustrations from books, charts, and maps showing artists’ imaginings of polar bears.

How Polar Bears Became the Dragons of the North

Michael Engelhard, Hakai Magazine

From the Batpod to the Batcomputer, the Caped Crusader's gadgets use up a whole lot of energy and spew a whole lot of carbon. But when it comes to carbon footprints, Gotham's techiest hero has nothing on some of pop culture's other saviors.

Which of Your Favorite Superheroes Is Destroying the Earth?

Smithsonianmag.com

Food

The bear was only a few years old and had become comfortable around humans.

A Young Black Bear Was Put Down After Humans Fed It, Took Selfies

Since commercial harvesting of sea cucumbers began in British Columbia, indigenous people have grown more worried about the long-term sustainability of catching them.

Is the Mysterious Sea Cucumber Slipping Out of Our Grasp?

Lorraine Boissoneault

Humans overwhelmingly rely on only a few crops like wheat, making our food supplies vulnerable to climate change

Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth's Food Supply. And That's a Problem

Americans have started feeding their pets an abundance of high-quality meats, suitable for human consumption. But fido doesn't need filet mignon.

America's Fancy Pet Food Addiction Is a Big Problem for the Environment

Cookie Dough was among 10 flavors found to contain low levels of glyphosate

Trace Amounts of Pesticide Found in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Shelter

Albina Yard, a 16,000-square-foot office building in Portland, uses wood, not steel and concrete, as its structural support.

Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

Michelle Z. Donahue

Tokyo is the world's largest city...for now.

Five Things to Know About Megacities

Cubicles: Not just mind-numbing, but unhealthy too?

How Climate Change Could Make Office Work Even Unhealthier

Joshua Rapp Learn

Germany, Hamburg, Speichrstadt and Hafencity district

Coastal Cities Need to Radically Rethink How They Deal With Rising Waters

Zacharia Muinde of Map Kibera Trust shows teachers and students their school's page on Open Schools Kenya, a mapping project that helps residents find information on local schools.

DIY Cartographers Are Putting Slums on the Literal Map

Economics

Municipal solid waste (aka garbage) being burned in an incinerator; this incinerator can handle 17 tons of trash an hour.

Is Sustainable Trash-Burning a Load of Rubbish?

Learning about bugs at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio.

Americans Think National Parks Are Worth Way More Than We Spend On Them

Linda J. Bilmes and John Loomis

A male greater sage-grouse dances for a female.

New Schemes Pay You to Save Species—But Will They Work?

Nature

A mule deer crosses a road near Aspen, Colorado.

How Roads Have Transformed the Natural World

A magpie nest in Antwerp, Belgium, made with anti-bird spikes

Crows and Magpies Snatch Anti-Bird Spikes to Build Their Nests

Victoria Sayo Turner

The fuzz of the fingernail-sized rosy maple moth may remind you of a teddy bear.

These Moths Are So Gorgeous They 'Put Butterflies to Shame'

Shi En Kim; Photographs by Carla Rhodes

The Chilean crocus, "Tecophilaea cyanocrocus," was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2001. It's been considered "critically endangered" under ICUN guidelines ever since.

Plant Species Have Been Disappearing 500 Times Faster Than Normal, Thanks to Humans

Maddie Burakoff

Recent research found that fully one third of humanity can't see the Milky Way because of light pollution

Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?

Latest Anthropocene Stories

Asteroid impacts and volcanism have led to mass extinctions on our planet.

Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

Human-caused biodiversity loss is a major factor that could contribute to more frequent and severe disease outbreaks, according to a new study.

Biodiversity Loss Increases the Risk of Disease Outbreaks, Analysis Suggests

Christian Thorsberg

Piles of coal sit in front of a power plant in Utah. Such coal-fired power plants emit greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

What Myths About the Anthropocene Get Wrong

Jan A. Zalasiewicz, Scott L. Wing and the Anthropocene Working Group

A coal power plant in Germany.

80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies, Report Shows

Christian Thorsberg

Scientists conduct sampling at Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, in April 2023. Last summer, a working group chose the lake as a representative location for the influence of human activity on the planet due to the history recorded in its sediment.

Scientists Reject Proposal to Define the Anthropocene, a Geological Age Marked by Human Activity

Boiling and filtering tap water, researchers suggest, could reduce concentrations of microplastics by more than 80 percent.

Boiling Tap Water Could Help Remove 80 Percent of Its Microplastics, Study Suggests

Christian Thorsberg

In a photo illustration, a hawk moth lands on a flower with an exhaust pipe polluting the interaction.

Air Pollution Makes Flowers Smell Less Appealing to Pollinators, Study Suggests

Christian Thorsberg

Greenhouse gas emissions that result from burning fossil fuels drive climate change.

Six Big Ways Climate Change Could Impact the United States by 2100

A hermit crab wears the top of a broken bottle as a shell.

Hermit Crabs Are Using Trash as Shells Across the World, Scientists Find

Christian Thorsberg

John Akomfrah at his London studio, 2016

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Artist John Akomfrah Is Having a Moment

Inventions for Good

Researchers found that tadpole embryos were better able to fight off infection when their cells' natural electrical charge was manipulated.

Tweaking the Tiny Electrical Charges Inside Cells Can Fight Infection

Albina Yard, a 16,000-square-foot office building in Portland, uses wood, not steel and concrete, as its structural support.

Move Over, Steel: The High Rises of Tomorrow Are ‘Plyscrapers’

Michelle Z. Donahue

The casein film can either be used as wrappers, like this, or it can be sprayed onto food.

Here's a Food Wrapper You Can Eat