Algae in the ocean can pose a significant risk to humans, marine life, and the seafood industry. Under favorable conditions for algae growth, certain algae species can multiply rapidly, a phenomenon known as algal blooms. Although algae always release small amounts of toxins, a massive increase in algae numbers leads to a high concentration of toxins in the water. These toxins can accumulate in marine organisms, such as mussels.

In Europe, people are increasingly exposed to extreme heat events—with serious consequences for human health, ecosystems, and agriculture. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology have developed and tested a method that can be used to improve the prediction of European hot summers up to a few years in advance.

Ocean waters are getting greener at the poles and bluer toward the equator, according to an analysis of satellite data published in Science on June 19.

Colorado State University researchers have published a paper in Science that describes a new and more efficient light-based process for transforming fossil fuels into useful modern chemicals. In it, they report that their organic photoredox catalysis system is effective, even at room temperature. That advantage could lower energy demands around chemical manufacturing in a variety of instances and could also reduce associated pollution, among other benefits.

Among the biggest culprits of plastic pollution in the ocean and along shorelines are thin plastic shopping bags, which have low recycling rates and often become litter when they blow away in the wind. Once there, they can entangle animals and break down into harmful microplastics. As awareness of this problem has grown, more than 100 countries have instituted bans or fees on plastic bags. But what effect those policies are having on the amount of plastic litter in the marine environment has not been systematically evaluated until now.

Researchers are warning that millions of people around the world aren't being counted in census and survey data, leaving policymakers in the dark about the populations they govern.

Two species of worms have retained remarkably similar patterns in the way they switch their genes on and off despite having split from a common ancestor 20 million years ago, a new study finds.

Several hundred thousand chemicals are considered as potentially environmentally relevant. Scientists from the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany show that monitoring data for surface waters are only available for a very small fraction of these chemicals.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is hoping to persuade his Republican colleagues to support cuts and changes to Medicaid included in the GOP domestic policy bill, The Hill reported.

President Donald Trump is pressing House Republicans to move "LIGHTNING FAST" on passing a landmark stablecoin bill. "The Senate just passed an incredible Bill that is going to make America the UNDISPUTED Leader...