As EV sales boom and grids seek more energy storage, researchers are racing to develop batteries that are cheaper, more powerful, and less reliant on hard-to-source materials. Lithium-ion still dominates, but sodium-ion and solid-state technologies are moving from lab to market.
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INTERVIEW
What Do We Actually Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
Pervasive plastic contamination and unreliable methods have clouded the science on microplastics in the human body. In an interview, Australian scientist Cassandra Rauert, who built a plastics-free lab to study human exposure, explores the challenges for researchers.
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Energy
A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid
As residential batteries have become more energy dense, cheaper, and smaller, more households are storing their excess solar power. Now, utilities and energy companies in dozens of countries are buying up those electrons, bundling them together, and using them to balance the grid.
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Energy
In East Africa, a Controversial Oil Project Is Poised for Production
Despite years of opposition, a 900-mile crude oil pipeline through East Africa is about to be completed, and its environmental and social risks are coming into focus. Campaigners in Uganda and abroad are making a final push to halt the project before the oil starts to flow.
Climate
A Missing Piece in Climate Models: Nature’s Own Emissions
Rising temperatures are set to drive up emissions from wildfires, fermenting wetlands, and melting permafrost, but these feedback loops are poorly captured in climate models. Scientists are racing to make sense of these emissions to gauge how much warming may lie ahead.
E360 Digest
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Collapse of Atlantic Currents May Already Be ‘Locked In’
A vast system of Atlantic currents that delivers warmth to northern Europe is at risk of collapse, according to a growing body of research. The latest study to warn of its demise finds there is at least a 10 percent chance that a collapse may already be “locked in.” More about Collapse of Atlantic Currents May Already Be ‘Locked In’ →
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In Overfished Adriatic Sea, Dolphins Look to Trawlers for Food
Off the eastern coast of Italy, large numbers of bottlenose dolphins are looking to fishing trawlers as a source of food, a sign that dolphins may be struggling to feed themselves in waters depleted by overfishing. More about In Overfished Adriatic Sea, Dolphins Look to Trawlers for Food →
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After a Civil Rights Complaint, Chicago Built Largest Air Monitoring Network in the U.S.
As extreme heat worsens pollution, a network of 277 monitors will identify pollution hot spots. More about After a Civil Rights Complaint, Chicago Built Largest Air Monitoring Network in the U.S. →
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INTERVIEW
An EPA Researcher Details the Agency’s Assault on Science
In January 2025, the Trump administration began shutting down projects within the EPA’s independent science division that touched on climate change and environmental justice. Air quality researcher Thomas Luben, who had worked at the agency for 18 years, was fired for objecting.
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Oceans
Efforts to Save Kelp Forests from Ocean Warming Are Ramping Up
At one time, kelp forests — which shelter fish, slow erosion, and sequester carbon — grew along a third of the world’s coastlines. Now, scientists are working to bolster heat-stressed kelp by attacking the urchins that prey on them and transplanting hardier kelp varieties.
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Biodiversity
Pollution Is Changing the Smells of Nature, With Risks for Wildlife
A growing body of research shows how air pollution, fertilizers, and fungicides are altering the chemical signals that plants and animals use to communicate. Scientists warn that insect reproduction, foraging, navigation, and even the pollination of crops could be affected.
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Oceans
Supertrawlers Are Taking Antarctic Krill That Whales Depend On
In the icy waters of the Southern Ocean, whales and other marine mammals rely on krill to survive. But as the market for human dietary supplements and animal feeds booms, and climate change reduces krill populations, scientists worry there may not be enough to go around.
