UK funds controversial climate-cooling research

This issue divides climate academics more than almost any other.

Will de Freitas, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition • conversation
June 5, 2025 • ~9 min

Five geoengineering trials the UK is funding to combat global warming

The UK becomes the first country to put serious public money into solar geoengineering.

Robert Chris, Honorary Associate, Geography, The Open University • conversation
June 3, 2025 • ~9 min

Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy

The speed of light is the fastest anything can travel. What happens to a photon from a galaxy 25 million light years away on its journey toward Earth?

Jarred Roberts, Project Scientist, University of California, San Diego • conversation
May 20, 2025 • ~6 min

Geoengineering is politically off-limits – could a Trump presidency change that?

Trump has long been a climate-sceptic. But he’s close to tech figures who like big technological solutions to global problems.

Shaun Fitzgerald, Director, Centre for Climate Repair, University of Cambridge • conversation
Feb. 17, 2025 • ~6 min

Lightning strikes link weather on Earth and weather in space

Lightning can be used to probe Earth’s dynamic Van Allen radiation belts, directly connecting terrestrial weather and space weather.

Lauren Blum, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder • conversation
Feb. 5, 2025 • ~8 min

Where does black fall on the color spectrum? A color scientist explains

Black doesn’t appear in the visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. So why do we still see it?

Michael J. Murdoch, Associate Professor of Color Science, Rochester Institute of Technology • conversation
Feb. 3, 2025 • ~7 min

Chornobyl dogs aren’t different because of mutation

"Studying companion animals like these dogs offers a window into the kinds of adverse health risks that people may face."

Tracey Peake-NC State • futurity
Jan. 14, 2025 • ~7 min

Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded

The risks of solar geoengineering will be magnified if critics are ignored and researchers are allowed to self-regulate.

Chloe Colomer, PhD Candidate at UCL Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) department, UCL • conversation
Oct. 29, 2024 • ~8 min

Godzilla at 70: The monster’s warning to humanity is still urgent

Like the Japanese atomic survivors who were awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, Godzilla has a message to share.

Jessica McManus Warnell, Teaching Professor of Management and Organization, University of Notre Dame • conversation
Oct. 14, 2024 • ~10 min

Big thunderstorms create a surprising amount of radiation

"As it turns out, essentially all big thunderstorms generate gamma rays all day long in many different forms."

Duke University • futurity
Oct. 4, 2024 • ~9 min

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