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Photograph of a cluster of grapes hanging from a vine, surrounded by leaves.

Climate change is altering the chemistry of wine

Warming, wildfires and unpredictable weather threaten to disrupt the delicate processes that underlie treasured wines. Researchers and producers are innovating to keep ahead.

Conceptual illustration of two images of a person holding a giant fork with strands of spaghetti and a saltshaker. On left, the person reacts with displeasure to large amounts of salt; on right, the person reacts with pleasure to moderate amounts of salt.

Food & Environment

Salt taste is surprisingly mysterious

Too much sodium is bad, but so is too little — no wonder the body has two sensing mechanisms

Photograph of two people on a pristine rocky shore in Costa Rica.

Society

A healthy environment as a human right

UN recognition would strengthen legal arguments for preserving nature

Photo of the Rising Tide sculpture by artist Jason deCaires Taylor installed within the tidal range on the Thames River in 2015; the sculpture was composed of four large, cement-gray horses with riders, the river’s high tide submerges the horses’ flanks.

Physical World

The tides they are a-changin’ — and it’s not just from climate change

Dredging rivers, filling in wetlands and other human acts of engineering have shifted coastal ebbs and flows worldwide. Add rising sea levels, and the threat of storm surges and floods will worsen in some places.

Collage shows people's hands using devices such as a phone or laptop in a virtual meeting, with an illustration of the planet superimposed on top.

Food & Environment

Let’s keep meetings virtual after Covid

OPINION: We don’t want to go back to living on planes and out of suitcases. Virtual meetings are cheaper, more accessible and better for the planet.

Photograph of a person standing in the waters at the beach, staring out at the ocean.

Living World

Our oceans’ future: Hot and troubled

OPINION: Ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation due to climate change — as well as pollution and development — threaten our global waters, but disaster is far from inevitable

Photo shows a line of flames along the hills at night.

Physical World

Firenadoes and drifting embers: The secrets of extreme wildfires

Researchers probe the weather-like physics of deadly infernos

Underwater photograph of a colorful coral reef with a lionfish in the foreground.

Living World

Can probiotics protect corals from problems like bleaching?

Lab experiments suggest that a dose of carefully selected microbes may boost the health of these reef-building creatures and their symbiotic algae

Photograph of many planted trees near a river, with mountains in the background

Society

Abandon the idea of ‘great green walls’

OPINION: The notion of planting miles of trees to hold back encroaching deserts is misguided and damaging; we should promote programs that secure livelihoods and respect dryland ecologies instead

Hunter-gatherer women and children walk through a grassy African savanna.

Food & Environment

Our ancestors ate a Paleo diet. It had carbs.

There is no one prehistoric meal plan. A modern hunter-gatherer group known as the Hadza has taught researchers surprising things about the highly variable menu consumed by humans past.

Photo of a young boy standing in front of a supermarket shelf filled with colorful bags of chips, boxes of cereals and other processed snack products.

The Mind

Foods of abuse? Nutritionists consider food addiction

Cookies, chips, hot dogs and other ultraprocessed fare raise risk of runaway eating

Photograph of a bumblebee on small orange flowers.

Food & Environment

The underappreciated benefits of wild bees

Native pollinators are key to both ecology and agriculture, but have yet to get their due

A conceptual image shows close-ups of chocolate, cattle, soybeans, cups of coffee and fallen logs. In the background, various forests are visible.

Food & Environment

Why one deforestation solution has yet to stop massive tree loss

OPINION: Zero-deforestation supply-chain commitments aren’t protecting tropical forests as much as hoped. But they might, if the same standards were applied to domestic and export markets.

Satellite image of delta of the Mississippi River. You can see the river snaking to the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf’s waters are colored shades of dark and light blue. Land around the delta is in many hues of yellow, mustard, brown, blue and pink.

Physical World

Is this ‘age of the delta’ coming to an end?

The wet landmasses, though inherently impermanent, have been essential to both people and wildlife for thousands of years. But recent shifts have brought on some rapid losses that worry scientists.

Fanciful illustration shows a mouth with a pink tongue licking its lips, surrounded by stars, zig zags and other small icons that suggest sparkle.

Health & Disease

How saliva changes the flavor of food

The liquid that our mouths produce isn’t just a lubricant. It plays an active role in how we perceive taste and can influence what we choose to eat, researchers are discovering.

Illustration shows a skyline filled with red-hued structures and smokestacks, spewing pollution into the sky, toward a depiction of the Earth among the clouds.

Food & Environment

Scientists warned about climate change in 1965. Nothing was done.

PODCAST: A report to the US president sounded an alarm — humankind was ‘conducting a vast geophysical experiment’ by burning fossil fuels and filling the atmosphere with an ‘invisible pollutant.’ But a slick campaign by Big Oil led to confusion, politicization and dire consequences for the planet. (Season 3, Episode 1)

A vast cliff of ice towers over open water, with icebergs and glaciers in the background near the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Food & Environment

The race to understand polar ice sheets

As glacial cliffs break off and destabilize frozen landscapes, glaciologist Richard Alley focuses on the fractures. The work could improve predictions about future sea-level rise.

Empty shelves in a UK grocery store during the early weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Food & Environment

Growing a more resilient global food system

Covid-19 has been a stress test for the world’s food supply chains — and a preview of looming threats. That’s making efforts to improve the journey from farm to fork more urgent than ever.

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