Acid Rain News

November 15, 2025

Top Headlines

Space Dust Reveals How Fast the Arctic Is Changing

Nov. 13, 2025 Arctic sea ice is disappearing fast, and scientists have turned to an unexpected cosmic clue—space dust—to uncover how ice has changed over tens of thousands of years. By tracking helium-3–bearing dust trapped (or blocked) by ancient ice, ...

Microbes That Breathe Rust Could Help Save Earth’s Oceans

Nov. 9, 2025 Researchers from the University of Vienna discovered MISO bacteria that use iron minerals to oxidize toxic sulfide, creating energy and producing sulfate. This biological process reshapes how scientists understand global sulfur and iron cycles. By ...

Turning CO2 Into Clean Fuel Faster and Cheaper

Nov. 5, 2025 A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of carbon-neutral synthetic ...

Bamboo Tissue Paper May Not Be as Eco-friendly as You Think

Nov. 3, 2025 Bamboo tissue paper, often marketed as an eco-friendly alternative, may not be as green as consumers think. Researchers at NC State University found that while bamboo fibers themselves are not more polluting than wood, China’s coal-dependent ...

Scientists Say Dimming the Sun Could Spark Global Chaos

Oct. 21, 2025 Scientists are taking the once-radical concept of dimming the sun through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) seriously, but a Columbia University team warns that reality is far messier than models suggest. Their study reveals how physical, ...

Scientists Just Found Hidden Life Thriving Beneath the Arctic Ice

Oct. 21, 2025 Melting Arctic ice is revealing a hidden world of nitrogen-fixing bacteria beneath the surface. These microbes, not the usual cyanobacteria, enrich the ocean with nitrogen, fueling algae growth that supports the entire marine food chain. As ice ...

Record Amazon Fires Release More Carbon Than an Entire Country

Oct. 8, 2025 The Amazon has suffered its most destructive fire season in more than two decades, releasing a staggering 791 million tons of carbon dioxide—on par with Germany’s annual emissions. Scientists found that for the first time, fire-driven ...

Japan’s Hot Springs Hold Clues to the Origins of Life on Earth

Oct. 3, 2025 Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot springs, which mimic the ancient oceans, to uncover how ...

Toxic Waste Could Become the Next Clean Energy Breakthrough

Sep. 26, 2025 Bio-tar, once seen as a toxic waste, can be transformed into bio-carbon with applications in clean energy and environmental protection. This innovation could reduce emissions, create profits, and solve a major bioenergy industry ...

A Tiny Mineral May Hold the Secret to Feeding Billions Sustainably

Sep. 24, 2025 Rice, a staple for billions, is one of the most resource-hungry crops on the planet—but scientists may have found a way to change that. By applying nanoscale selenium directly to rice plants, researchers dramatically improved nitrogen efficiency, ...

Why Alaska’s Salmon Streams Are Suddenly Bleeding Orange

Sep. 18, 2025 Warming Arctic permafrost is unlocking toxic metals, turning Alaska’s once-clear rivers into orange, acid-laced streams. The shift, eerily similar to mine pollution but entirely natural, threatens fish, ecosystems, and communities that depend on ...

Soil Warming Experiments Challenge Assumptions About Climate Change

Sep. 17, 2025 Heating alone won’t drive soil microbes to release more carbon dioxide — they need added carbon and nutrients to thrive. This finding challenges assumptions about how climate warming influences soil ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:59pm EST

Rapid Rocket Growth Raises Alarm Over Earth’s Fragile Ozone Layer

Sep. 15, 2025 The booming space industry has filled the skies with rockets and satellites, but this rapid expansion comes with a hidden danger: slowing the recovery of the ozone layer. Rocket launches and burning ...

Seagrass Found to Be a Powerful Carbon Sponge With a Surprising Weakness

Sep. 5, 2025 Seagrass, a vital coastal ecosystem, may be one of the planet’s best natural carbon sponges—but its fate depends on how we manage nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. While moderate nutrient ...

A Monster Seaweed Bloom Is Taking Over the Atlantic

Sep. 1, 2025 Sargassum has escaped the Sargasso Sea and exploded across the Atlantic, forming the massive Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Fueled by nutrient runoff, Amazon outflows, and climate events, these ...

Scientists Recreate Life’s First Step: Linking Amino Acids to RNA

Aug. 28, 2025 Researchers demonstrated how amino acids could spontaneously attach to RNA under early Earth-like conditions using thioesters, providing a long-sought clue to the origins of protein synthesis. This ...

The Surprising Reason Timber Plantations Explode Into Megafires

Aug. 21, 2025 Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations ...

This Is Where Tree Planting Has the Biggest Climate Impact

Aug. 21, 2025 Planting more trees can help cool the planet and reduce fire risk—but where they are planted matters. According to UC Riverside researchers, tropical regions provide the most powerful climate ...

The Surprising Way Rising CO2 Could Supercharge Space Storms

Aug. 17, 2025 Rising CO₂ levels will make the upper atmosphere colder and thinner, altering how geomagnetic storms impact satellites. Future storms could cause sharper density spikes despite lower overall ...

Scientists Just Uncovered Three Ancient Worlds Frozen Beneath Illinois for 300 Million Years

Aug. 9, 2025 Over 300 million years ago, Illinois teemed with life in tropical swamps and seas, now preserved at the famous Mazon Creek fossil site. Researchers ...

Is the Air You Breathe Silently Fueling Dementia? A 29-Million-Person Study Says Yes

July 27, 2025 Air pollution isn't just bad for your lungs—it may be eroding your brain. In a sweeping review covering nearly 30 million people, researchers found ...

Scientists Modeled Nuclear Winter—the Global Food Collapse Was Worse Than Expected

July 26, 2025 What would happen if a nuclear war triggered a climate-altering catastrophe? Researchers have modeled how such a scenario could devastate global corn ...

Frozen for 12,000 Years, This Alpine Ice Core Captures the Rise of Civilization

July 16, 2025 An ancient glacier high in the French Alps has revealed the oldest known ice in Western Europe—dating back over 12,000 years to the last Ice Age. This frozen archive, meticulously analyzed by ...

From Air to Stone: The Fig Trees Fighting Climate Change

July 6, 2025 Kenyan fig trees can literally turn parts of themselves to stone, using microbes to convert internal crystals into limestone-like deposits that lock away carbon, sweeten surrounding soils, and still ...

Climate Is Changing Fast—and Forests Are 200 Years Behind

July 4, 2025 Forests aren’t keeping up with today’s climate chaos. While temperatures soar within decades, tree populations take 100 to 200 years to shift in response. A sweeping new analysis of ancient ...

Rainforest Deaths Are Surging and Scientists Just Found the Shocking Cause

July 3, 2025 Tropical trees are dying faster than ever, and it's not just heat or drought to blame. Scientists have uncovered a surprising culprit: ordinary thunderstorms. These quick, fierce storms, powered ...

Even Low Levels of Air Pollution May Quietly Scar Your Heart, MRI Study Finds

July 3, 2025 Breathing polluted air—even at levels considered “safe”—may quietly damage your heart. A new study using advanced MRI scans found that people exposed to more air pollution showed early signs ...

This Breakthrough Turns Old Tech Into Pure Gold — No Mercury, No Cyanide, Just Light and Salt

June 27, 2025 At Flinders University, scientists have cracked a cleaner and greener way to extract gold—not just from ore, but also from our mounting piles of e-waste. By using a compound normally found in pool ...

Only 3 Years Left: The Carbon Budget for 1.5°C Is Almost Gone

June 27, 2025 At current emission rates, we're just over three years away from blowing through the remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C. This new international study paints a stark picture: the ...

Plants’ Secret Second Roots Rewrite the Climate Playbook

June 20, 2025 Beneath the forest floor lies an overlooked secret: many plants grow a second set of roots far deeper than expected sometimes over three feet down tapping into hidden nutrient stores and potentially ...

Space-Laser AI Maps Forest Carbon in Minutes—a Game-Changer for Climate Science

June 14, 2025 A pioneering study reveals how archaeologists' satellite tools can be repurposed to tackle climate change. By using AI and satellite LiDAR imagery from NASA and ESA, researchers have found a ...

Scientists Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Massive Floods

June 14, 2025 Atmospheric rivers, while vital for replenishing water on the U.S. West Coast, are also the leading cause of floods though storm size alone doesn t dictate their danger. A groundbreaking study ...

DNA Floating in the Air Tracks Wildlife, Viruses -- Even Drugs

June 3, 2025 In the heart of Dublin, scientists have discovered that the air holds more than melodies and Guinness-infused cheer it carries invisible traces of life, from wildlife to drugs and even human ...

Atmospheric Chemistry Keeps Pollutants in the Air

June 3, 2025 A new study details processes that keep pollutants aloft despite a drop in ...

Nitrogen Loss on Sandy Shores: The Big Impact of Tiny Anoxic Pockets

June 2, 2025 Some microbes living on sand grains use up all the oxygen around them. Their neighbors, left without oxygen, make the best of it: They use nitrate in the surrounding water for denitrification -- a ...

Human-Caused Dust Events Are Linked to Fallow Farmland

June 2, 2025 California Central Valley, which is known for the agriculture that produces much of the nation's fruits, vegetables and nuts, is a major contributor to a growing dust problem that has profound ...

Rising Soil Nitrous Acid Emissions, Driven by Climate Change and Fertilization, Accelerate Global Ozone Pollution

May 30, 2025 Ozone pollution is a global environmental concern that not only threatens human health and crop production, but also worsens global warming. While the formation of ozone is often attributed to ...

Rock Record Illuminates Oxygen History

May 29, 2025 A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope ...

An Iron Oxide 'Oxygen Sponge' for Efficient Thermochemical Hydrogen Production

May 29, 2025 As the world shifts toward sustainable energy sources, 'green hydrogen' - hydrogen produced without emitting carbon - has emerged as a leading candidate for clean power. Scientists have now ...

Does Planting Trees Really Help Cool the Planet?

May 29, 2025 Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19th century is replanted, the total ...

Waste to Foundation: Transforming Construction Waste Into High-Performance Material

May 29, 2025 In a major advancement for sustainable construction, scientists have created a cement-free soil solidifier from industrial waste. By combining Siding Cut Powder and activated by Earth Silica, an ...

Does Outdoor Air Pollution Affect Indoor Air Quality? It Could Depend on Buildings' HVAC

May 29, 2025 Researchers determined how much outdoor particulate pollution affects indoor air quality. Their study concluded pollution from inversion and dust events is kept out of buildings, but wildfire smoke ...