A visual exploration of the environmental impacts and uncertain demand for deep-sea mining

Explaining deep-sea mining, including its economic benefits and potential biomedical risks

Extraction via machines sweeping the ocean floor would reduce child labor and human rights violations currently occurring in land-based operations that collect the minerals needed for modern-day electronics. However, these sweeps may kill undiscovered organisms that possess biologies from which antibiotics could be derived and destabilize deep-sea ecosystems.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

An overview of the metals obtainable through deep-sea mining of nodules and crusts

Polymetallic nodules are a source of manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and platinum, which are used in batteries, fuel cells, and metal alloys of electric vehicles. Seamount crusts contain rare-earth elements deemed essential to US national and economic security, including neodymium and dysprosium used to make permanent magnets.

Why deep-sea mining companies may begin extraction without global guidelines

International Seabed Authority negotiators have spent over a decade drafting regulations that all countries would have to follow before collecting minerals from the seabed. Because deadlines to finalize these agreements have been missed, some entities have discussed unsanctioned mining, despite about three dozen ISA countries calling for a pause on activity and automakers and tech firms pledging they will not use seabed minerals.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Explore a series of articles on the costs of critical mineral extraction

The acquisition of critical minerals—essential materials for clean energy technologies—has often been accompanied by harm to water supplies, natural ecosystems, and Indigenous lands, raising questions about the overall benefit of these technologies.

What revisiting a 1979 experiment reveals about ecosystem recovery after deep-sea mining

A 2023 study co-led by the National Oceanography Centre and the Natural History Museum, London, found that tracks made by the mining vehicle remained largely unchanged since 1979. Small animals, such as amoeba-like xenophyophore, were seen in the cleared areas, but sightings of larger animals known to live in the region were much rarer. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Explore the human and environmental resources needed to make an electric vehicle

The minerals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles are expensive and often take a human toll paid by the communities where they are mined. This interactive article details what minerals make up an electric vehicle battery, where they come from, and dangers posed by the mining process.

Cryptocurrency is reshaping finance, but its environmental impact often sparks debate

Behind the scenes, mining operations consume vast amounts of energy, comparable to the emissions of small nations. What drives this surprising environmental footprint, and can the industry evolve?

Rare earth elements may be extracted from mine waste and coal ash

Rather than focusing solely on new mining operations, which can take decades to establish, some startups are developing methods to extract these metals from the toxic waste of existing operations and thereby minimize environmental impacts. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Lithium-ion batteries are the standard for rechargeable devices

The costly setup of new mining operations and challenges with recycling amid growing demand have led researchers to search for alternatives, including sodium-ion, solid-state, and lithium-sulphur batteries, despite challenges with scalability.

How lithium has become one of the world's most important elements

Lithium is the driving force behind electric vehicles as the key element in the lithium-ion batteries that power the cars. But as demand for EVs rises, will global lithium supply keep pace with demand? This report projects demand will reach up to four million metric tons of the mineral compound containing lithium by 2030, with batteries accounting for 95% of end-use applications.

Pollution from lead battery recycling has led to widespread contamination

Many small-scale operations worldwide remain unregulated, bypassing environmental regulations and causing increasing health threats, primarily to children. A 2020 report by UNICEF found that one-third of the world's children are being poisoned by lead from recycled batteries, among other sources.

View a collection of glass sculptures of corals threatened by fishing and deep-sea mining

In "Depicting Dark Waters," British sculptural model maker Alice Baker depicts European cold-water corals, which make up 65% of all known coral species, to raise awareness of deep-sea ecosystems threatened by commercial and industrial activities. The project involved a collaboration with marine biologists from the Netherlands and Sweden.

Watch the destructive force of bottom trawling on marine ecosystems

Bottom trawling is a fishing method where a net is dragged along the seafloor to catch a species of interest. The process produces as much carbon dioxide yearly as global aviation and leaves trails of destruction large enough to be seen in space.

A primer on the environmental impact of fishing and overfishing

Learn why overfishing is a problem and what are some solutions to reduce fishing’s environmental impact while maintaining vital sources of food and livelihoods.

Why stories about helium 'running out' indicate market volatility rather than scarcity

Only a few locations on Earth contain natural gas reserves with sufficiently high helium concentrations to make their extraction commercially viable, and geopolitical conflicts in these areas significantly affect helium production. This makes cost a major impediment to helium availability, particularly for scientific research, amid growing demand and ongoing depletion of reserves that took billions of years to form.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

As of 2025, wave power projects remain in early research and testing phases

Waves can become a steady source of renewable energy because they do not pause like wind and solar power do. However, funding gaps and the effects of storms, salt exposure, and biofouling—mussels and other sea creatures attaching to wave machines—have presented challenges in scaling the technology beyond testing sites.

Explore an interactive map of global water gaps, caused by demand surpassing replenishment

Humans extract 4,000 cubic kilometers of water from natural systems annually—eight times more than a century ago—creating regions where freshwater demand surpasses available reserves. The depletion of shallow aquifers has driven tapping into deeper, nonrenewable ones, threatening ecosystem sustainability.

Bioluminescence may provide a sustainable alternative to electric lighting

French start-up Glowee is experimenting with lights made from bioluminescent microorganisms in public spaces to reduce energy use. While the technology shows promise, challenges remain with brightness, maintenance, and scaling it for widespread use.

From soil to beer, microplastic pollution is all around us

Marine plastic pollution has been studied for decades, but the extent and effects of plastic pollution elsewhere is only just beginning to be explored.

How sea ice decline threatens polar bears

This two-minute video discusses a recent study warning that arctic polar bears are at risk of near-extinction by the end of the century due to the rapid melting of the sea ice they rely on for survival. The study used models based on satellite data...

Limited battery life and increasing discomfort prevent extensive use of mixed reality headsets

Spending 24 hours wearing Apple's Vision Pro highlights some of the challenges facing MR technology, which are compounded by an increasing number of bugs when software is run in nonideal conditions. However, practical and entertainment benefits include placing multiple midair timers when cooking and experiencing immersive multimedia, such as astronomical flythroughs.

The inhabitability of the Martian environment presents significant colonization risks

Terraforming the thin atmosphere, toxic dust, extreme cold, and lack of magnetic field is infeasible, given limitations to the size of what can be sent to Mars. NASA and SpaceX are instead exploring creating underground shelters.

Simulate the effects of changing supply and demand on the electric grid

In this application, users can modify the demand of fictional cities and the supply of various generators, including a nuclear power plant and a wind farm, which can be disconnected from the grid. Notice that current may flow into or out of external systems to compensate for available generation. See what it takes to cause a blackout in different cities or shut down the entire grid.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

BNPL may be adding a layer of debt that doesn't show up in economic data

Given somewhat limited regulation in the BNPL space, data about its usage is limited—many BNPL firms have resisted sharing information about user purchases, finances, and more thus far. As more people begin using buy now, pay later services, experts are concerned about whether BNPL is adding a new layer of "hidden leverage" to the economy.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.