Pollution

Find out everything there is to know about pollution and stay updated on the latest pollution news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and pollution pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about pollution.

Related Topics: Earth's Atmosphere, Energy, Environment, Extinction

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Ice melts on the tundra and thawing permafrost in Newtok, Alaska.

Melting permafrost in the Arctic could release radioactive waste and awaken sleeping viruses

By Mindy Weisberger published

Thawing permafrost driven by climate change could free decades-old radioactive material, antibiotic-resistant microbes and unknown viruses that have been frozen for millennia.

A person stands near oil washed up on Huntington State Beach in California on Oct. 3.

126,000 gallons of oil spilled along California coast in 'potential ecological disaster'

By Harry Baker published

An oil spill off the California coast has released around 126,000 gallons of oil that is washing up on beaches and protected wetlands.

A close-up of a brown trout in the hands of a researcher by a river

Fish get addicted to meth in polluted rivers, go through withdrawal

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A lab study suggests that brown trout can experience withdrawal from meth after exposure to the drug.

close up of a cow eating grass in a field

Microbes in cow stomachs can help recycle plastic

By Nicoletta Lanese published

These bacteria usually eat natural polyesters, like those found in the outer coating of plant cells.

Long exposure star trail image taken at Hehuan Mountain, Taiwan.

Space junk is blocking our view of the stars, scientists say

By Ben Turner published

The increasing number of satellites and space debris orbiting Earth could prevent astronomers from making crucial discoveries.

Barrel of DDT found off the coast of Santa Catalina Island in California.

Massive DDT dumping ground found off the Los Angeles coast is bigger than anyone thought

By Mindy Weisberger published

A survey recently mapped a vast industrial dumping ground in the ocean basin between the Los Angeles coast and Catalina Island.

Photo of port manatee from above

Florida officials race to drain huge wastewater reservoir before potential collapse

By Nicoletta Lanese published

To avoid a collapse, regulators are dumping the reservoir water into Tampa Bay.

The Antarctic ozone hole reached its peak extent on Sept. 20, 2020, at 9.6 million square miles (24.8 million square kilometers). It was the 12th-largest ozone hole on record.

Ozone-destroying CFCs could make late-21st-century comeback

By Rafi Letzter published

The chemicals that tore a hole in the ozone layer are set to make a comeback in the late 21st century, in a process accelerated by climate change.

An Israeli soldier displays a tar ball during cleanup operation at the Sharon Beach National Park, north of Tel Aviv city, on Feb. 22

Mysterious oil spill covers Israel's coastline in toxic tar balls

By Harry Baker published

Israel's Mediterranean coastline has been littered with tar as the result of an oil spill off the coast, putting marine life and those cleaning it up at risk.

Density of microplastics in the deep sea is much higher than once thought.

15 million tons of microplastics pollute the seafloor

By Mindy Weisberger published

A new report finds that microplastic debris is twice as abundant in the deep ocean as it is on the sea surface.

An ozone hole has opened over the North Pole

Ozone hole three times the size of Greenland opens over the North Pole

By Brandon Specktor published

A record-size hole in the ozone layer has been detected over the North Pole, but it should disappear in a few weeks.

A submersible dubbed Jiaolong in the Mariana Trench on June 27, 2012, in the western Pacific Ocean. Plastics have been found even in the trench, which is home to the deepest point on Earth.

'Submarine avalanches' are burying microplastics deep under the ocean

By Rafi Letzter published

Very little is known about how plastic moves under the ocean's surface. But that's where 99% of it ends up, and scientists are trying to model how it flows.

An assortment of weathered Lego bricks pulled from the ocean.

Lego bricks could survive 1,300 years in the ocean

By Brandon Specktor published

Scientists compared Lego bricks that washed up from the ocean with mint-condition bricks and found that the blocks can survive underwater for 100 to 1,300 years.

Children play on Marina beach in Chennai, India, which is blanketed in sea foam, Dec.1, 2019.

Frothy and Toxic Bubbles Cover One of India’s Most Famous Beaches

By Stephanie Pappas published

A beach in India is coated in knee-deep foam that experts warn is toxic.

A dead sperm whale lies on a beach.

220-lb. 'Litter Ball' Found Inside a Dead Sperm Whale's Belly

By Mindy Weisberger published

Whale experts who visited the scene described the amount of plastic in the animal's body as 'horrific.'

We Finally Know Why Florida's Coral Reefs Are Dying, and It's Not Just Climate Change

By Rafi Letzter published

Hot water is killing Florida's coral reefs. But it's not the only factor bleaching them white.

shark with plastic pollution wrapped around its neck

Thousands of Sharks and Rays May Be Getting Strangled by Plastic Waste

By Isobel Whitcomb published

No one is talking about this killer of sharks and rays.

This Remote Atlantic Island Is Being Covered in a 'Crust' of Plastic Trash

By Brandon Specktor published

Researchers have discovered yet another new form of plastic pollution infesting Earth's oceans and beaches — and it's real crusty.

A man stands next to one of 65 containers full of imported plastic trash being inspected by the local environment office at the Batu Ampar port in Batam, Indonesia, on June 15, 2019.

The Plastic We 'Recycle' Is Actually Horrible for the Environment

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

When you drop your plastic waste into the recycling bin, where does it go?

Garbage patch

Sorry Napoleon, A Big Garbage Patch Is Floating Near Your Mediterranean Islands

By Laura Geggel published