The Villarrica volcano erupts near Pucon, Chile, early Tuesday, March 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Aton Chile) Of the estimated 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth, at least two dozen of them erupted in 2015. Over the course of the year, more than 30,000 people have had to be evacuated from cities and towns surrounding volcanoes. Thousands of flights had to be canceled, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers. Some of the most notable eruptions were: - Sicily’s Mount Etna, which erupted twice...

'Liquid Mountain Top' (Dave Sanford) Photographer Dave Sandford has an eye for motion. In his series "Liquid Mountains," Sandford immortalizes the brief moments of suspension as waves rise to their peak, just before crashing back into the water. Sandford took to the waters of Lake Erie to withstand the wind and storms in order to capture these amazing photos. He's given each of the images its own title, creating characters out of the waves and igniting our imaginations. "Since I...

Fish are seen for sale in a harborside restaurant in Essaouira, Morroco. A recently study found fish populations around the world might be in danger. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) A new global analysis of fish stocks has found that populations are decreasing — with climate change to blame. , published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, specifically notes that the global distribution of certain species has changed. In the future, their ability to reproduce efficiently...

A new study claims that eating lettuce could be . The study, conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, compares the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of 1,000 calories of different foods. On a per-calorie status, many of the “healthier” foods that the USDA promotes in their guidelines, like fruits, vegetables, dairy, and seafood, are resource-intensive per calorie. Eating lettuce is three times more harmful to the environment than eating bacon. (Thinkstock) The example used earlier, lettuce, produces three...

Undeniably beautiful, coral has various functions, such as providing a habitat for fish. Yet, despite its many uses, coral does not make a good gift. Popular for souvenirs, home decor and jewelry, many consumers don’t realize that coral is under stress from bleaching and dying off at alarming rates worldwide. Coral bleaching happens when such as light, temperature or nutrients. This causes them to push out the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, turning them completely white. With the temperatures...

Not even a month after the city of Beijing invoked its first-ever Red Alert, a second warning was issued due to the same toxic smog. According to CCTV News, . This warning, the most serious on a four-tier system adopted in 2013, means authorities have forecast three consecutive days of severe smog. than the smog the city experienced from Dec. 6 to Dec. 9, Bloomberg reports. A grey haze has consumed Beijing's unique landmarks, prompting convenience stores to do brisker-than-usual...

A FogNet station in Big Creek Reserve in California's Big Sur collects fog. A cloud of fog accumulating off of California’s coast may be spelling trouble for the food chain. At the December 2014 American Geophysical Union meeting, researchers discussed evidence that coastal fog is not only expanding in some areas of the Golden State, but that it also called monomethylmercury, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF). “‘Fog drip’ could deliver unsafe levels of monomethylmercury to upland and near-shore...

It was once believed to be a life-saver for the environment, but now, everyone just wants it to go away. The artificial reef made of 700,000 old tires that was "built" off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s , the Sun Sentinel reported. "There are just tires for as far as you can see," Pat Quinn, a Broward County biologist, told the Sun Sentinel."People who see it for the first time come to the surface and say, 'Oh,...

It's known as "the Blob," and it created the perfect storm for toxic algae in the Pacific. While algal blooms are relatively common, this one is different. The algae thriving off the West Coast, Pseudo nizchia, can produce a deadly neurotoxin called domoic acid. What's more, the bloom was unusually large and lasted an unusually long duration, partially due to warm water conditions brought in by El Niño.Now, scientists are warning of the widespread effects the toxic algae is having...

Over the past 40 years, a third of the world’s farmable land has been wiped out by erosion and pollution, researchers say. This has the potential to become disastrous, as the demand for food soars worldwide. According to experts from the University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, almost . “Soil is lost rapidly but replaced over millennia and this represents one of the greatest global threats for agriculture. This is catastrophic when you think that it takes about...

Beachcombers have been finding much more than shells on beaches this year. In fact, the beach has seemed more like a grocery store or museum, with everything from cans of coffee to rocket parts washing ashore. We've compiled a list of the strangest things found on beaches so far in 2015. 1. Coffee Cans, Ramen Noodles and More In December, residents of Florida's coast walked outside to find dotted throughout the sand. The beach was turned into a veritable grocery...

Ohia lehua trees have been hit by the rapid ohia death fungus in Pahoa, Hawaii. (Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources via AP) Hundreds of thousands of trees in Hawaii have been destroyed by a fungus that continues to threaten not just the forest butthe state's water supply, native bird species and even cultural traditions. The ceratocystis fimbriatafungus, known as rapid ohia death, has brought devastation to ohia lehua trees on the Big Island. As of last year,...

(Tarik Tinazay / Getty Images) The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster had wider geographic implications than previously thought, according to a published in the journal Biology Letters,undertaken by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Despite conventional wisdom that the spill was largely confined to the northern waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the new analysis found that over 300,000 juvenile sea turtles (including endangered species...