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Top Worst Forms of Pollution For everything we take from the Earth, there is a byproduct or consequence. Perhaps pollution is a symptom of nature's imbalance. Some people reap from the Earth, but countless others become sick, displaced or harmed due to the resulting pollution — affecting wildlife and more. On the off chance that a guilty conscience is an unknown symptom of overexploitation, here's a list of the 10 worst forms of pollution and their effects on humans. Oil spills In the wake of the Gulf oil spill, the harmful effects of marine oil spills are obvious. Birds, fish and other marine life can be devastated from a spill, and the ecosystems often take decades to recover. The oil is ingested by some animals, allowing pollutants to enter the food chain, harming fisheries and other industries in the region. Many people don't realize that most oil pollution actually comes from land-based activity. One way or another, oil has seeped into nearly all of Earth's ecosyst

NASA's SWOT Mission Will Provide First Detailed Map of Earth's Surface Water The advanced radar satellite will provide unprecedented insights into our planet’s water cycle and impacts from climate change. NASA's $1.2 billion Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite (SWOT) successfully launched from California on December 16, marking the start of an unprecedented mission to map Earth's water bodies. “It’s a game changer,” Rosemary Morrow, oceanographer at the Laboratory of Space, Geophysical and Oceanographic Studies and one of the science leads for the mission, told Nature. “It will be like putting on a pair of glasses when you are short-sighted: things are sort of vague, and then suddenly everything comes into clarity.” Developed over nearly two decades as part of a joint project with the French National Centre for Space Studies, SWOT will use advanced radar to measure the elevation, extent, and movement of water across the planet. Such insights will help researche

100 Trillion Bits of Old Satellites Circling the Planet, Scientists Call for Action on Space Junk A group of scientists want a legally-binding treaty to ensure Earth’s orbit isn’t irreparably harmed. Houston, we have a problem. The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with landfills groaning under the stress. We've delivered more than 170 trillion plastic particles to the oceans and continue to do so at an alarmingly rapid rate. With land and sea literally littered with trash, where else do we have to turn? Well, the final frontier, of course. Space. NASA calls what's known as low Earth orbit (LEO) an orbital space junkyard, explaining that "most orbital debris comprises human-generated objects, such as pieces of spacecraft, tiny flecks of paint from a spacecraft, parts of rockets, satellites that are no longer working, or explosions of objects in orbit flying around in space at high speeds." There are no international space laws to c