Rivers

A relative elevation map of the Susitna River in Alaska, one of the 30 rivers that were mapped as part of the study. Credit: Tian Dong Long after a river has dried up, its channel belt lives on. …

For more than 20 years scientists have known that the drugs we take, for maladies ranging from headaches to diabetes, eventually make their way into our waterways—where they can harm the ecosystem and potentially promote antibiotic resistance. But most research on pharmaceutical contaminants has been done in North America, Europe and China and has examined just a small subset of compounds. The studies also use a variety of sampling and analysis methods, making it hard to compare results. Such limitations mean scientists…

From the window of a passenger plane flying over the Amazon, the view is breathtaking. “It’s just miles across of river and river islands,” said Lukas Musher, a postdoctoral researcher at Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences.The massive rivers below branch into a dense, treelike network that has continuously rearranged itself over hundreds of thousands of years, drawing new paths and erasing old ones. The rivers divide and subdivide the forest into spaces that are each an entire world for the innumerable…

We grew up reading the history of the losses of the Partition of the Punjab. Anirudh Kala’s novel Two and a Half Rivers tells the story of the Punjab’s immense losses since Partition. Making good use of his own training as a psychiatrist, he spins a yarn that weaves together the various political and cultural schisms that have affected the north-western province and its people with a variety of ailments. Civilizational loss and guilt seems to weigh heavy in the air. This is personified in the title itself, where the…

The Mosul Dam along the Tigris river, where the ancient city was discovered. Photo: ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP (Getty Images)An ongoing drought in Iraq revealed a sunken Bronze Age city.In an effort to stop crops in the area from wilting through months of drought and regional water shortages, locals have drained the Mosul Dam since December, and the receding water has uncovered the ancient structures along the river. According to a University of Tübingen release—which contains several fascinating photos of the site—the city…

Cat Zhang / Pitchfork: How musicians like Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo use Discord: artists share ideas, host parties, and engage with fans, who help with moderation and other tasks — Originally launched as a messaging app for gamers, the platform has become an intimate place for artists and fans to connect and build community. Cat Zhang / Pitchfork: How musicians like Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo use Discord: artists share ideas, host parties, and engage with fans, who help with moderation and…

Throughout history, important cities around the world have flourished along river banks. But rivers can also be destructive forces. They routinely flood, and on rare occasions, they can abruptly shift pathways.  These "channel-jumping" events, which are called avulsions, have caused some of the deadliest floods in human history.Avulsions on China's Yellow River killed over 6 million people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Similar events have been linked to the decline of Mesopotamian civilization along the…

By U.S. Department of Energy May 7, 2022Snapshot of the simulated landfall of an atmospheric river along the west coast of North America on February 11, 2020. Grey tones depict water vapor. Colors indicate precipitation intensity from blue (light rain) to green (very strong precipitation). Credit: Department of Energy Office of Science, Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project.Atmospheric rivers are large, narrow sections of the Earth’s atmosphere that transport moisture from the Earth’s tropics near the equator…