Earth & Environment
Dead battery waste becomes seawater desalting filter that removes 99.6 percent salt
A forgotten component from dead batteries could help solve one of the world's most pressing water crises.
Sep 17, 2026
A Science Blog column
Lab Report
News desk
Lab Report covers new research as it publishes. Fresh studies, first findings, and the occasional retraction, drawn from the journals and the institutions doing the work.
Technology
Retired car batteries are becoming the grid's most valuable energy storage
The second life of a car battery may be more valuable than its first, powering the grid when the sun sets and solving one of clean energy's thorniest problems.
Sep 17, 2026
Earth & Environment
Wind farm cameras caught 6 bird collisions—all happened in daylight, none at night
Two years of wind farm surveillance caught six bird collisions—all in broad daylight, none after dusk—suggesting seabirds may navigate turbines differently than feared.
Sep 17, 2026
Earth & Environment
Rural Virginia rejected a massive data center project that threatened its farming economy
When rural Virginia said no to one of America's biggest data center projects, it revealed how climate politics are reshaping the countryside.
Sep 17, 2026
Wildlife Conservation
Rare marsupial population more than doubles in latest Australian survey
A rare marsupial thought lost to the Australian bush is making an improbable comeback—one elusive capture at a time.
Sep 16, 2026
Wildlife Conservation
Spanish red kites thrive as retrofitted power lines prove critical to recovery
Retrofitting power lines didn't just protect released red kites—it proved that infrastructure itself, not reintroduction alone, determines whether species recovery succeeds or fails.
Sep 16, 2026
Technology
Low-temperature process turns waste PVC into engine lubricant
A low-temperature chemical process transforms waste PVC into lubricating oil, sidestepping the sorting and melting steps that have made recycling this ubiquitous plastic virtually impossible.
Sep 16, 2026
Industry
Buckled columns halt Manhattan office-to-apartment conversions across city
A structural failure at one Manhattan conversion sparked alarm, but the real story is more complicated than a simple cautionary tale about turning offices into homes.
Sep 16, 2026
Life Science and Evolution
Ancient teeth reveal oldest evidence of psychoactive drug use
Unusual dental wear and arecoline residues in two preagricultural Sulawesi foragers point to habitual whole-seed sucking, while a tiny sample and indirect dating limit the claim.
Sep 16, 2026
Technology
Solar panels shield French nectarine crops from deadly spring frosts
As climate change brings unpredictable frosts, French farmers are discovering an unexpected ally: solar panels that double as frost shields, protecting delicate fruit blossoms while generating power.
Sep 16, 2026
Earth & Environment
Japanese knotweed defies eradication even after three years of intensive treatment
A Victorian ornamental imported as a botanical prize has become so intractable that even intensive modern science cannot eradicate it from the ground where it takes root.
Sep 15, 2026
Industry
Failed hose triggered 45-story crane fire that forced NYC safety overhaul
A single faulty hose connection turned a construction crane into a 45-story inferno, exposing how the industry ignored years of warning signs.
Sep 15, 2026
Technology
Eighth grader's wristwatch inhaler prototype reaches near-perfect success rate
Every second counts when someone's having an asthma attack—this eighth grader's invention could eliminate the desperate search through a backpack for a rescue inhaler.
Sep 15, 2026
Conservation
Female glowworms return to Yorkshire grassland after a century
A century-long darkness lifts as conservationists restore one of Britain's most enchanting insects to a Yorkshire grassland, with thousands more larvae poised to follow.
Sep 15, 2026