Greenhouses can be good for growing plants. But when applied to the whole planet, the greenhouse effect is bad news. We call the compounds in the atmosphere that trap Earth’s heat, such as carbon ...

Our atmosphere is made up of a mix of gases that sustain life by absorbing some solar radiation to heat the planet, allow livings things to breathe, and by transporting water. Nitrogen (78%) and ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1896, the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius realized that carbon dioxide (CO 2) traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere—the phenomenon now ...

Researchers watched as a runaway greenhouse effect destroyed the habitability of a simulated planet, providing a stark climate change warning for Earth. When you purchase through links on our site, we ...

Carbon dioxide’s powerful heat-trapping effect has been traced to a quirk of its quantum structure. The finding may explain climate change better than any computer model. Still, the physical reason ...