Water and Life on Earth
Water makes life as we know it possible.
Every drop cycles continuously through air, land, and sea, to be used by someone (or something) else "downstream." Water covers 70% of Earth's surface, but only 3% is fresh, and only a fraction of one percent supports all life on land. Climate change and growing populations are increasing the pressure on that reserve. By using water more wisely, we can make sure there's enough to share with all living things.
Video
How Corals Hold Centuries of Ocean Climate Data
Corals are living records of climate change.
Audio
Podcast: SciCafe–The Future of Our Oceans with Jeremy Jackson
How can our oceans recover from the decades of damage inflicted by human activity?
June 20, 2019
Bahamas Biocomplexity Project: Improving Marine Protected Areas for Conservation and Sustainability
From 2000-2013, the CBC led the Bahamas Biocomplexity Project (BBP), a multidisciplinary study of how marine protected areas (MPAs)...
Story
What is Water?
Did you know that all living things need water to survive? Find out more about this precious resource.
Article
Cleaning the Water
With an appreciation for the scarcity of fresh drinkable water, this young naturalist set out to test methods for filtering the contaminated...
Research
8. Sustainable Development
Authors: Jennifer Beckmann, Charles S. Spencer
Article
Recycling Water
As populations grow, demand for water increases. The expected increase in droughts would reduce supply.
Article
Hydropower and Ocean Energy
From rushing rivers to waterfalls to waves breaking on the beach, water energy is all around us. Projects that harness the ocean's...
Video
GRACE: Tracking Water from Space
An innovative twin-satellite mission is watching water move across our blue planet.
Research
Congo Project
The spectacular but poorly known Lower Congo River and the biological richness it harbors, combined with the growing threats to the...
Article
Working for Water
Around the world, ecosystems are being disrupted by invasive plants
Video
Pondlife
Museum biologist Sally Warring explores organisms that are invisible to the naked eye.
Support for the development of Science Topics was generously provided by Sidney and Helaine Lerner, GRACE Communications Foundation.