Environment

Wildlife, oceans, forests, climate and conservation

In Environment, ECOnews covers wildlife and biodiversity, oceans, forests, climate change, pollution, recycling and conservation. Surprising stories from around the planet that explain how nature works and how people are changing it.

Green plastic rock formations spread across a rocky shoreline, showing fused plastic and sediment on a polluted beach

It is no longer floating trash: “rocks” made of plastic have been discovered that could remain on Earth as fossils of the future

By ECONEWS

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March 18, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Close-up of a small spider with parasitic mite larvae attached around its body, forming a necklace-like cluster.

A spider with a “pearl necklace” has been discovered, and the most disturbing thing is that each pearl is a living parasite attached to its body

By ECONEWS

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March 17, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, reflected in a pond, illustrating the site traditionally recognized as the birthplace of Buddha.

The exact place where Buddha was born more than 2,500 years ago and which today faces a race against time

By ECONEWS

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March 16, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Illustration of atmospheric pollution showing how refrigerant gases break down into trifluoroacetic acid that returns to Earth in rain.

Between 2000 and 2022, humanity dumped 335,500 tons of an “eternal chemical” while trying to save the ozone layer, and now it appears in water, the Arctic, and even in our blood

By ECONEWS

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March 16, 2026 at 2:46 PM

Satellite-based visualization of global freshwater loss showing regions experiencing long-term continental drying.

Water security: 6 billion people live in countries losing freshwater since 2002, a satellite study finds

By Adrian Villellas

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March 16, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Ice and meltwater flowing from the West Antarctic ice sheet, a process scientists say could influence the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

What seemed like bad news could take an unexpected turn: fresh water from West Antarctica could help the AMOC better withstand the impact of Greenland’s melting ice and, in some scenarios, even prevent its collapse

By ECONEWS

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March 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Juvenile great white shark accidentally caught by fishermen in waters near Alicante, Spain in the western Mediterranean.

A great white shark has been caught in waters near the Spanish coast: this is the third verified sighting in less than 11 years and reopens the debate about their presence in the Mediterranean

By ECONEWS

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March 15, 2026 at 8:45 AM

People and cyclists on a European city street, illustrating daily life in a region that could be affected by sharp cooling if the AMOC collapses.

A climate model simulates an AMOC collapse and finds temperatures in northwestern Europe could fall 10-15 °C

By ECONEWS

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March 14, 2026 at 6:31 PM

Illustration of Alnashetri, a tiny bird-like dinosaur from Patagonia, showing the species that is reshaping alvarezsauroid history

A dinosaur the size of a cat and weighing less than 2.2 pounds changes history; the 90-million-year-old Alnashetri fossil rewrites its lineage

By ECONEWS

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March 14, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Person walking across cracked dry land carrying water containers, illustrating worsening drought and future global water shortages.

A study warns that “Day Zero” water scarcity could hit the Mediterranean, southern Africa and North America this century

By ECONEWS

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March 14, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Tree plantations and restored vegetation on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China, where regreening affected water availability

China planted trees like crazy to slow the advance of the Gobi Desert and ended up causing another big problem: water began to disappear from the soil and aquifers as rainfall patterns changed

By ECONEWS

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March 14, 2026 at 6:10 AM

Satellite view of a large phytoplankton bloom in Antarctic waters, illustrating research linking seafloor earthquakes to surface marine life.

Earthquakes beneath the waters of Antarctica could be “fueling” explosions of life on the surface, and the mechanism surprises even experts

By Adrian Villellas

—

March 13, 2026 at 10:15 AM

Aerial view of dense mixed forest in Germany, illustrating research on how forest soils respond to climate change and absorb methane.

Nature responds to climate change in surprising ways, and German forests are proof of this

By Adrian Villellas

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March 12, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Arctic coastal landscape with melting ice and exposed tundra, illustrating how warming may open the region to invasive species.

More than 2,500 invasive species are poised to conquer the Arctic as the ice disappears

By ECONEWS

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March 12, 2026 at 1:18 PM

View of Earth’s cloud-covered atmosphere from space, illustrating research on how the planet could one day lose its oxygen-rich air

The Earth could enter a phase with a weakly oxygenated or anoxic atmosphere, which would be a major red flag for our search for life on exoplanets

By Adrian Villellas

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March 12, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Polar bear standing on Arctic sea ice in Norway as scientists report some Svalbard bears are getting fatter despite ice loss.

Although Arctic ice is disappearing faster than ever, scientists are discovering that polar bears in Norway are getting fatter and healthier

By Adrian Villellas

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March 12, 2026 at 5:36 AM

Historic handwritten document with a preserved crayfish specimen, illustrating new research on the debated origin of the Iberian crayfish.

What for centuries was considered a native species could in fact be a “royal whim” from 1588, and now science is reopening the debate on the Iberian crab

By ECONEWS

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March 11, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Oil tanker at sea near the Strait of Hormuz, illustrating the growing spill risk from stranded crude carriers in the region

More than 68 stranded oil tankers increase the risk of oil spills in the Strait of Hormuz

By Adrian Villellas

—

March 11, 2026 at 6:26 AM

Gramma the Galapagos giant tortoise resting in her enclosure at the San Diego Zoo

Farewell to a century-old legend: Gramma, the Galapagos tortoise at San Diego Zoo, has died at the age of 141

By ECONEWS

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March 8, 2026 at 6:30 PM

Detailed scientific map showing mountains, valleys, and buried rivers beneath Antarctica’s thick ice sheet

Beneath an ice sheet averaging 1.2 miles thick and peaking at 3.1 miles, Antarctica concealed mountains, valleys, and giant rivers, and in 2026 we finally had the most detailed map to predict how much sea levels would rise

By ECONEWS

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March 8, 2026 at 12:30 PM

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Environment

It is no longer floating trash: “rocks” made of plastic have been discovered that could remain on Earth as fossils of the future

A spider with a “pearl necklace” has been discovered, and the most disturbing thing is that each pearl is a living parasite attached to its body

The exact place where Buddha was born more than 2,500 years ago and which today faces a race against time

Between 2000 and 2022, humanity dumped 335,500 tons of an “eternal chemical” while trying to save the ozone layer, and now it appears in water, the Arctic, and even in our blood

Water security: 6 billion people live in countries losing freshwater since 2002, a satellite study finds

What seemed like bad news could take an unexpected turn: fresh water from West Antarctica could help the AMOC better withstand the impact of Greenland’s melting ice and, in some scenarios, even prevent its collapse

A great white shark has been caught in waters near the Spanish coast: this is the third verified sighting in less than 11 years and reopens the debate about their presence in the Mediterranean

A climate model simulates an AMOC collapse and finds temperatures in northwestern Europe could fall 10-15 °C

A dinosaur the size of a cat and weighing less than 2.2 pounds changes history; the 90-million-year-old Alnashetri fossil rewrites its lineage

A study warns that “Day Zero” water scarcity could hit the Mediterranean, southern Africa and North America this century

China planted trees like crazy to slow the advance of the Gobi Desert and ended up causing another big problem: water began to disappear from the soil and aquifers as rainfall patterns changed

Earthquakes beneath the waters of Antarctica could be “fueling” explosions of life on the surface, and the mechanism surprises even experts

Nature responds to climate change in surprising ways, and German forests are proof of this

More than 2,500 invasive species are poised to conquer the Arctic as the ice disappears

The Earth could enter a phase with a weakly oxygenated or anoxic atmosphere, which would be a major red flag for our search for life on exoplanets

Although Arctic ice is disappearing faster than ever, scientists are discovering that polar bears in Norway are getting fatter and healthier

What for centuries was considered a native species could in fact be a “royal whim” from 1588, and now science is reopening the debate on the Iberian crab

More than 68 stranded oil tankers increase the risk of oil spills in the Strait of Hormuz

Farewell to a century-old legend: Gramma, the Galapagos tortoise at San Diego Zoo, has died at the age of 141

Beneath an ice sheet averaging 1.2 miles thick and peaking at 3.1 miles, Antarctica concealed mountains, valleys, and giant rivers, and in 2026 we finally had the most detailed map to predict how much sea levels would rise

Roman soldiers guarded a German forest fort for 150 years, and archaeologists digging just inches below the forest floor have found a temple of Mars and a pin hinting at who came after

A volunteer diver picking up trash at the bottom of a Wisconsin lake found a 1,000-year-old dugout canoe, and the Wisconsin Historical Society has decided the safest place for it is exactly where it lies

Czech cave explorers and a robot have measured the Hranice Abyss to 1,476 feet underwater, and a decade after it became the world’s deepest flooded cave, nobody knows where the bottom is

A Hawaiian tree snail vanished from the wild after Hawaii brought in a predator to fight a garden pest, and 33 years later it is back behind walls that keep its hunters out

A Swiss glacier has pulled back far enough to reveal a larch that stopped growing about 10,300 years ago, and its still-attached roots show the tree grew on ground the ice later buried

Chinstrap penguin droppings across Antarctica release an estimated 540,000 tons of methane a year, and the bare ground between the guano patches gives off almost nothing

Twenty family dogs listened to nonstop invented words while wearing electrodes, and scientists found that dog brains lock onto the same hidden detail of speech that human brains rely on from infancy

Norway’s largest Viking coin hoard has grown to 5,550 coins since two metal detectorists found it in a field, and an archaeologist cataloging them spotted one struck for a king who became a saint

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