Environment

December 31, 2024

Kinetic Clam Sculptures Translate Water Quality Data Into Hauntingly Beautiful Music

In nature, clams serve an essential function despite their plain appearance. While feeding, they filter pollutants through their bodies, improving water clarity by reducing sediment loads, turbidity, and excess nutrients. Clams, an interdisciplinary project by artist Marco Barotti, focuses on this indispensable role through a unique multisensory experience. Originally created in 2019, Clams is a collection of kinetic sound sculptures resembling their eponymous creature.

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December 3, 2024

Nearly 500 Scientists Gather at Emergency Summit To Urge Immediate Action for Antarctica’s Future

While the devastating effects of climate change are already being felt, hundreds of scientists recently gathered in Australia for an emergency summit to address the threatened future of Antarctica. They’re warning that the rapid ice loss in the region highlights the urgent need to act now to prevent devastating sea level rises globally. The 2024 Australian Antarctic Research Conference, organized by the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP)

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October 26, 2024

Toxic Algae Turns Lake Erie Bright Green

Anyone who lives near the Great Lakes of North America is likely familiar with the green algae that can encroach upon its deep blue waters. The Great Lakes hold a fifth of Earth's fresh surface water. They are incredibly valuable aquifers and ecosystems, hosting plenty of plant and animal life. But like all ecosystems, they change with the seasons and the times. Scientists track these changes in many ways, perhaps most dramatically through satellite imagery.

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October 11, 2024

Scientists Have Found a Way To Thicken Arctic Sea Ice

During an era of unprecedented climate disaster, good news about our changing environment is harder to come by. 2023 marked the 36th year in a row that glaciers lost rather than gained ice, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Record temperatures last year resulted in Greenland’s third highest melt season and a 4% volume loss in Switzerland’s glaciers.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.