There are about 3 trillion trees on Earth, research suggests—a number larger than the amount of stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

In the US, the real tree industry is valued at $2B, the reflection of nearly 30 million trees sold annually at an average profit of about $10 per tree. While each tree takes about 8 years to mature, their artificial counterparts can be made much more quickly, mostly in China, valued at over $1B as of 2020.

Although no demographic data exist for more than 99% of the time humans have existed, this value can be estimated by tracking approximate population sizes over different periods and the birth rates within those periods. In 2022, about 6.8% of humans that have ever been born were alive.

The estimate comes from a study using data from the Kepler space telescope—a project aimed at finding exoplanets—and considers exoplanets similar in size to Earth around sun-like stars. These have a greater potential to possess liquid water.

Ignoring the effects of tree loss resulting from lightning-induced wildfires, researchers at the Technical University of Munich developed a quantitative model to estimate the loss of these organisms due to cloud-to-ground strikes, based on global lightning data and forest structure. They expect the estimate to rise due to increased strikes resulting from climate change.

Nearly 4,000 of the Mall's trees are cherry trees, all maintained by a small National Park Service arborist team that provides year-round, science-based care to address soil compaction, root damage, and heavy visitor traffic.

The world is filled with trees that are hundreds—if not thousands—of years old, and the UK's Woodland Trust believes each one deserves the same protections great cathedrals and castles receive. This active database invites users to peruse...

There are about 10²⁷ such organisms on the planet, many of which are adapted to produce energy through uncommon reactions in unconventional environments, such as within rocks or near volcanoes on the ocean floor. Studies of these organisms have reframed astrobiologists' search for life beyond Earth by broadening the parameters under which life can exist.

In the last century, humans have covered the Earth in 1,300 metric gigatons of built material, known as technomass. That amount is more than the Earth's entire biomass at 1,100 GT, which includes all living organisms. To get a sense of the scale of this comparison, click through this striking, simple visualization showcasing the various organisms comprising biomass as well as the materials making up the technomass.

Using geometric parallax, the European Space Agency mission made position measurements accurate to 2.78 × 10⁻¹⁰ degrees, revealing large-scale galactic structure and dynamics. Remnants of ancient galactic mergers were also identified within the Milky Way.

Roughly 68 million years ago, the Tyrannosaurus rex was king of the North American ecosystem. Researchers used the dinosaur's size, metabolic rate, age of sexual maturity, and other factors to determine 20,000 individuals likely were alive at any given time, more than 120,000 20-year generations. This piece breaks down how they arrived at those numbers.

Discovered in 1988, when it was only covering 400 acres, this massive colony of Armillaria ostoyae, based in Oregon, has taken hold among the tree roots of the Malheur National Forest. It consists of a vast network of unique long black filaments of fungal tissue called rhizomorphs that grow under the soil and infect tree roots, nourishing the fungus but killing the trees. Researchers believe this fungal growth dates back more than 8,000 years and currently weighs approximately 35,000 tons.

The largest on Earth are oceans, which capture 25% of all carbon emissions and 90% of excess atmospheric thermal radiation while generating half of the world's oxygen. Wildfires and deforestation have reduced forests' net sink capacity, though fungi are believed to capture and store over a third of global carbon emissions.

It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth's resources, even as we approach 11 billion?

Although scientists monitor more than 24,000 pieces of large orbital debris, space junk can be as small as a paint fleck. The density of this trash is steadily increasing with the growth of the space industry on Earth.

From its fascinating origin to how yours is grown today, these incredible Christmas tree facts will add a little bit more wonder to your holiday season.

What began in 1970 with 20 million Americans now involves more than 1 billion participants across over 190 countries each year. Earth Day now encompasses rallies, cleanups, and climate actions worldwide.

Around for 10 million years, the Amazon Rainforest might completely disappear before the end of the century. This 10-minute read shares personal accounts from loggers to Indigenous people, with satellite images of the deforestation of a 134,000...

That's according to one estimate published in 2014. This figure far exceeds earlier estimates of a human smelling ceiling around 10,000 odors. The newer figure is derived from experiments in which volunteers agreed to sniff varying scents. Researchers mixed odor components and had volunteers sniff the brews to detect subtle scent differences.

Areas of densely packed native trees and drought-tolerant plants within cities can pull carbon dioxide from the air, cool surrounding neighborhoods, and support local wildlife. The idea behind microforests traces back over 50 years to Japanese ecologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, who promoted planting whole ecosystems to restore degraded land.

In 2022, 22.34 million real Christmas trees were purchased and sold at a median price of $80. Even so, from a price standpoint, a fake tree is usually the less expensive option in the long run, as they're reusable and can save time and maintenance.

High above the canopy of the Amazon rainforest drifts an airborne river fed by the towering trees below. The trees pull water from their roots into their trunks, pushing any excess water out of their leaves and into the atmosphere as vapor. Watch this six-minute video to learn how.

Scientists say the Amazon rainforest is approaching between 20%-25% deforestation, a critical tipping point at which the damage is irreversible. Demand for beef and soy are the main drivers.

Giant sequoias are the largest trees on Earth, living for upward of 3,000 years—and without fire, they couldn't reproduce. Regular fires help create space in the forest, while its heat opens up the sequoia cones, releasing the seeds onto the newly...

Fossilized pollen grains reveal that flowering plants have existed on Earth for 123 million years, and their emergence considerably enriched the planet's biological diversity. They may also have been more widespread than initially thought—prior assumptions were that the eudicots, the first flowering plants, appeared 121 million years ago.

Cities in the US, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands all claim they have the world’s largest Christmas tree—ranging from massive evergreens, TV and communication towers, and hillside light displays.

Having outlived the dinosaurs, the tree has no living relatives as the only surviving species of the genus Ginkgo. Its growth in undisturbed environments, pollution resistance, and foul-smelling seeds may have contributed to its survivability.

In 2023, about 1,500 pieces of space junk fell to Earth, with most consisting of payload fragmentation debris. The vast majority that falls back to Earth burns up before reaching the surface, making it three times less likely to be struck by space trash than by a meteorite.

This article explores the efforts of nonprofit organizations like Rioterra in reforesting the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change. Their goal is enormous: reforest an area twice the size of Germany, costing over 20 billion dollars. In order...

Climate change and deforestation may have transformed the Amazon rainforest into a net source of planet-warming gases instead of a carbon sink, according to Smithsonian magazine.

Decades of planting trees along the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China (the world's largest shifting-sand desert) have increased vegetation enough to create a measurable carbon sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide than the area emits. The effort demonstrates a key large-scale climate mitigation strategy, though it has raised concerns over water use and long-term sustainability.

Projections of more than 100,000 satellites in space by the 2030s—eight times the number in 2025—highlight a growing threat to aviation. Experts suggest the odds could reach seven in 10,000 annually by 2035, alongside higher risks to people on the ground.

Human activity has fundamentally changed our planet. We live on every continent and have directly affected at least 83% of the planet’s viable land surface.

Researchers have found that low genetic diversity among humans—even those on opposite sides of the planet—may result from a breeding population of as few as 1,280 adults, estimated to have existed 930,000 years ago. This genetic bottleneck may have resulted from a near-extinction or from a small population of human ancestors, from which we all descend, that broke off from a larger population.