EarthDate

Imagine there was not one species of human…but many. One stronger. One smaller. All different, but closely related. Around 40,000 years ago, that’s exactly how it was. Homo sapiens – us – shared Earth with several other...

Gold is rare. Except in one place on Earth that it’s incredibly plentiful. But we’ll probably never get to it. Over the course of human civilization, people have searched for gold. Still, we haven’t found much – 220,000...

Is there life on Mars? That’s the question NASA wanted its first Mars mission to answer – in 1976. They designed their remarkable Viking rover -- well before modern computers -- to collect and test soil samples, 140...

A large manatee can top 1000 pounds and eat 15% of its weight in seagrass each day. That may sound hardy, but manatees are actually very sensitive. There are three species, all adapted only to the constant warm waters...

In the mid-1800s, London’s SoHo neighborhood was a terrible smelling place to live, as raw sewage ran through the gutters into open cesspools. When a cholera epidemic broke out, 600 people died and many remaining...

Plastic has remarkable value to humans. But it’s also a major source of ocean plastic pollution. Most of it is nets and rope from fishing boats, or municipal garbage that’s carried down rivers into the ocean. There it...

Sand is incredibly common. There are oceans of it – in oceans, and deserts too. But, for our purposes, that’s not the right kind of sand. We use sand in concrete, to make bridges and roads, buildings, houses and power...

In 1985, a passenger jet landing at DFW airport was forced to the ground by an unusual downward blast of wind called a downburst. The plane struck cars on the highway and a water tank, then crashed on the airfield...

Before modern energy gave us modern air conditioning, we had sweat to keep us cool. And shade. And maybe a jump in a lake. Animals still rely on those today to beat the heat. Horses, like humans, sweat. When the sweat...

If you’ve been on a boat, pretty much anywhere in the tropics, you’ve seen mangrove forests. There are at least 75 species of these small trees, evolved to live in harsh tidal conditions, their roots in sand, their...

On another episode, we told you about urban heat islands. Buildings and asphalt absorb summer heat -- from sun and air, cars and trucks, power plants and air conditioning -- and hold it, driving city temperatures far...

Summer in the city. It’s sweltering. The sun beats down all day. Its heat is absorbed by concrete buildings and blacktop, which hold that heat at night -- and into the next day. The heat builds over weeks and months...

On another episode, we talk about how mines have a large environmental footprint. Think of a giant pit, with huge machines digging out ore. By contrast, think of your old smart phone. In one ton of discarded phones...

In another EarthDate, we talk about how mining provides the materials to build the modern world. But new technology is changing that world. We’re building huge new data centers for AI; batteries to power EVs, and...

Today we make stuff in three ways. Plants and animals make our food, wood and fiber. Oil and gas make plastic, fuels, chemicals and clothing. And rocks, dug out of a mine, become metal, concrete and stone – which make...