Tree rings can track and reveal centuries of environmental change and natural events, including yearly precipitation and fire frequency.

Scientists at Biosphere 2 found that trees grew faster in the facility than those in the wild but collapsed more quickly when replanted outdoors. Researchers uncovered that trees build resistance when pushed and pulled due to wind stress, strengthening their foundational root systems.

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...

This two-minute video describes the work of scientists who are analyzing the impact of repeated forest fires in the Amazon by recording the unique sounds in degraded forests. The team is using acoustic sensors to record sounds of wildlife in the...

Every 13 to 16 years, Saturn's rings become far less visible because its plane becomes exactly even with Earth's. This visual-rich essay explores the history of humanity's perception of Saturn, from Galileo's first sighting (and dubbing the rings "ears") to the idea that the rings won't last more than a few hundred millions years more. Explore this fascinating planet here.

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

It may seem obvious to us when we see a tree, but very specific characteristics cause scientists to distinguish trees from other types of plants. This video provides a visual and verbal explanation of distinctions that separate trees from other plants like shrubs or herbs. See a scientific breakdown of these traits.

A comprehensive deep dive tracking components of the climate system over time, such as temperature, sea level, sea ice amounts, ocean heat, greenhouse gases, and more (w/charts and graphs).

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.

Trees don’t have nerves or brains. But when they’re wounded, they send underground and airborne warnings to other trees.

Glaciers form from the accumulation of layers of snowfall over hundreds to thousands of years, trapping air bubbles that serve as time capsules of atmospheric conditions at the time. When glaciers melt, these bubbles produce a distinctive sound that can be detected by underwater microphones, allowing assessment of melting from a safe distance.

To track how the evidence on this fast-moving topic is stacking up, Carbon Brief has mapped every extreme-weather attribution study published to date. Read more about the findings from the comprehensive analysis.

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.

A fun interactive on how old ships’ logs are giving scientists new insights into the past and future of the Earth’s changing climate (w/maps and pictures).

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...

The shape—called an analemma—can be obtained by photographing the sun from the same location and time daily for a year. The Earth's eccentricity created the analemma's width, and its tilt shifts the sun's height in the sky over the seasons.

These cycles include changes in Earth's orbit shape, tilt, and wobble, all of which alter how much solar energy different parts of Earth receive over time. Due to orbital eccentricity, summers in the Northern Hemisphere last about 4.5 days longer than winters.

Trees appeared to become weak and more prone to breaking because a lack of wind caused them to no longer need to develop stress wood. The extinction of pollinators—potentially due to an explosion in the population of longhorn crazy ants—was also unexpected.

Previously disturbed by massive herbivores, denser and darker forests shifted plant evolution, reaching the greatest diversity of seed sizes, fruit sizes, and fruit types about 50 million years ago.

Concepts such as the understanding that older rock layers will form beneath newer ones allow scientists to compare the ages of samples from various layers. Although no geological site preserves evidence across all time, samples can be combined with fossils of known age, such as those dated by analyzing the decay of their radioactive isotopes, to reconstruct Earth's timeline.

Because fires spread so quickly, communities around the world have deployed many tactics to raise the alarm to get help. This history from the Museum of Natural History dives into the use of rattles, bells, and brigades to gather help to fight fires, showing just how far we've come since 911 was introduced in 1968.

Trees move water to their extremities via a deft system starting from the roots to the leaves. See how it works in this short video breaking down the process in a Douglas fir.

Starting from stone tools millions of years ago and culminating in today's cutting-edge tech, this thorough genealogy lays out how humanity has progressed in its use of tools over thousands of years. See descriptions, links to further info, and how each tech fits in the larger tree.

Climate change and human development into fire-prone regions have extended the wildfire season, with some areas experiencing fire conditions year-round. Extreme conditions, poor compensation, and exposure to carcinogens have complicated firefighter recruitment, further exacerbating wildfire risks.

This one-minute video summarizes a new study that used satellite data to look at plant life across the entire Arctic area for the first time. It found that from 1985 to 2016, 38% of the areas studied—including parts of Alaska, Canada, and...

The Antarctica sample will be melted and analyzed in Cambridge to learn about prehistoric environmental conditions. Researchers hope the ice core reveals how Earth's glacial cycles shifted dramatically around 800,000 years ago.

Researchers are demystifying the science of earthquakes—from their origins deep within the Earth to the scales that measure their strength. This article, which was part of a series of weekly reports from Cornell University, serves as a guide to...

The number of unusually warm winter days in parts of Maine has increased significantly over the past few decades, stressing maple trees into shifted sap flows and leaving producers with less consistent outputs.

Using data from 200,000 tree sales in 2018, the authors found that some weekends are more expensive than others. Learn when it's optimal to buy a tree here.