Mars: how scientists prevent Earth’s microbes from contaminating other planets: Nasa's Perseverance. NASA/JPL-Caltech, CC BY-SA There are two planned Mars landings in 2021. First, Nasa’s Perseverance rover is due to land on the planet later this month. Then China’s Tianwen rover will follow in May. Both missions intend to search the planet for signs of …
Metals from urban pollution are contaminating the last few old forests in Cape Town: Shutterstock Forests are good for the planet: they purify the air and moderate the climate. They are abundant in resources, providing habitat, food, shelter and a rich biodiversity of plant and animal life. So it’s a worry that forests located near …
A 20,000-tonne oil spill is contaminating the Arctic – it could take decades to clean up: Permafrost near Norilsk, Russia. Romzes333 / shutterstock After a storage tank in Norilsk, northern Russia, collapsed in late May, 20,000 tonnes of diesel fuel was released into the environment. Strong winds caused the oil to spread more than 12 …