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Should potentially harmful chemicals be appraised by class, not one at a time?

Liz Kimbrough 19 Mar 2026
A dairy cow in a farm in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Nitrogen Crisis

Mongabay.com 16 Mar 2026

Glyphosate found in South African baby cereal; watchdog group calls for ban

Elodie Toto 16 Mar 2026
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station.

Rush to put AI data centers in space poses poorly understood dangers

Sean Mowbray 11 Mar 2026
Synthetic polymers like plastics take centuries to fully decompose in the environment. In contrast, natural polymers like cellulose and DNA break down completely after use. Now, researchers have taken inspiration from nature to create strong, durable plastics that break down easily at the end of a product’s life.

Promising breakthrough creates plastics that self-deconstruct on cue: Study

Claire Asher 10 Mar 2026
Man spraying pesticides in woods. Image by Gilmer Diaz Estela via Pexels.

Nations not on track to meet UN 2030 pesticide risk reduction targets: Study

Mike Gaworecki 6 Mar 2026

Malaysia renews Lynas Rare Earths’ license for 10 years, orders end to radioactive waste by 2031

Associated Press 3 Mar 2026
Paicines Ranch

From chemistry to regeneration: Agriculture’s next transformation has begun (commentary)

Sallie Calhoun 17 Feb 2026

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are falling in North Atlantic whales after phaseout

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Feb 2026
Soil-dwelling springtails - tiny, insect-like arthropods of the class Collembola - are vulnerable to pesticides. Image by Alandmanson via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Pesticides found in 70% of European soils, harming beneficial life: Study

Liz Kimbrough 6 Feb 2026
Coastline of Big Sur in California. In 2013, a group of researchers found eggs of California condors in the coastal redwoods of Big Sur contaminated with DDT, even though the pesticide has been banned in the U.S. since 1972. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Writer Megan Mayhew Bergman on science, emotion, and the lasting power of ‘Silent Spring’

Mike DiGirolamo 3 Feb 2026
A sewage outlet in Bangkok.

Marine heat waves and raw sewage combine to put human health at risk

Sean Mowbray 18 Dec 2025
Women and children return from their farmlands after the day's work in northcentral Nigeria.

Banned for years, dangerous pesticides persist in Nigerian farming

Samuel Ogunsona 12 Dec 2025
A woman gathers plants along the banks of the Mekong River while a child plays in the background. Water levels of the mighty Mekong River have dropped drastically due to drought-like conditions and damming upstream. The drop disrupts the region’s water supply, transport routes, and the livelihood of communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that more than one billion people will face water shortages due to climate change. Credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Konlaphat Siri 10 Dec 2025
Spraying pesticides on a field. Chemical pesticides have become ubiquitous in industrial agriculture, and have contributed to a rapid rise in chronic diseases, researchers say.

‘Silent epidemic of chemical pollution’ demands radical regulatory redo, say scientists

Mike Gaworecki 3 Dec 2025
Satellite imagery from February 2025 shows the transformation of the landscape at Global Green's gold mine, which is believed to be contaminating the O'Ta Bouk River. Image provided by Google Earth, Maxar Technologies.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 24 Nov 2025
A sea otter

‘Forever chemical’ contamination could undermine sea otters’ fragile recovery in Canada

Edward Carver 21 Nov 2025
A turtle consumes a plastic bag.

Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 19 Nov 2025
Community people in Jhumlabang gathered in a community meeting in July. Image courtesy of Jhumlabang Village Foundation (JVF).

In Nepal’s hills, a fight brews over the country’s biggest iron deposit

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 17 Oct 2025
A free-ranging chicken amid metal scrap in Thailand. The mismanagement of ash from incineration and metal production is another serious public health issue.

‘Alarming’ levels of toxins found in free-range eggs near dumpsites globally

Sean Mowbray 15 Oct 2025
Johan Rockström presenting a planet boundaries talk at the 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize event in June.

Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström

Julian Reingold 24 Sep 2025
Pollen-based sunscreen applied to skin pictured alongside raw camellia pollen. Image courtesy of NTU Singapore.

Scientists develop sunscreen made from pollen that doesn’t harm corals

Shanna Hanbury 22 Sep 2025
Scientist Anneliese Hodge collecting seaweed.

Sunscreens protect us but also pose real planetary health concerns

Sean Mowbray 26 Aug 2025
Beekeepers monitoring hive boxes at Kazirhat, Shariatpur.

Honey bees in Bangladesh suffer from indiscriminate pesticide use

Mongabay.com 18 Jul 2025

Scientists turn plastic waste into pain medicine

Bobby Bascomb 14 Jul 2025
Riding through a locust swarm in Lekiji, Samburu County, Kenya.

Agencies race to prevent new food crisis as locusts return to northern Africa

Stephanie Achieng’ 3 Jul 2025
A ray swims over seagrass in Australia.

As ocean acidification ramps up, experts call for speedy ocean protection

Sean Mowbray 26 Jun 2025
Keleino and his colleagues leave a community after training for the city of Lae.

‘It’s our garden’: PNG villages fight to prevent mine waste dumping in the sea

John Cannon 13 Jun 2025
Located in the Amapá state, the second-largest red angelim ever found is 85.4 meters (280 feet) tall and has a circumference of 9.8 meters (32 feet). Image courtesy of João de Matos Filho / Prodemac.

Gold rush moves closer to Amazon’s second-tallest tree

Mongabay.com 1 May 2025
Banner image of a used tire by Marek Šašek via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How tires leave a long trail of destruction

Mongabay.com 8 Apr 2025

Court orders Trump administration to address pesticide risks to endangered species

Bobby Bascomb 20 Mar 2025
Mothers and children wait in Changanine community (Chibuto District), Mozambique to collect their seeds from the Red Cross. The community has been hit very hard by the current drought, many have lost their crops and locals have to walk up to five kilometres to dig for water. Image by Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville / IFRC via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Breast milk contamination exposes Africa’s ‘forever chemicals’ problem

Malavika Vyawahare 10 Mar 2025

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