Best solar generator		Jackery Solar Generator 1000		SEE IT	Harness the power of the sun to keep your devices and appliances juiced with this portable generator.
Best for hydration		Hydro Flask Water Bottle with Straw Lid		SEE IT	Keep water ice-cold all day long while reducing plastic waste.
Best for students		Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook		SEE IT	This smart notebook lets users save their scribblings to the cloud, then erase and start all over again.

It’s a great feeling when you give a gift that delights a loved one—and it probably means that you scoured through plenty of ideas before landing on a true winner. But while gift-giving can be fun, knowing the impact these new products can have on the environment can take some of the holiday spirit out of shopping. Though any new product will contribute to emissions due to its manufacturing and shipping processes, these environmentally friendly options can help cut down on waste and carbon footprint. From replacing single-use plastics like water bottles and coffee cups to going green by riding a bike to work, these are our picks for sustainable gifts that are a must-have for anyone who wants to help the planet. 

• Best for coffee lovers: Bruvi Coffee Maker
• Best for office workers: YETI Rambler Stainless Insulated Mug
• Best for students: Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook
• Best composter: Lomi Smart Waste Kitchen Composter
• Best compost bin: Joseph Joseph Compo 4 Easy-Fill Compost Bin Food Waste Caddy
• Best for commuters: 6KU Track Fixed Gear Bicycle
• Best solar generator: Jackery Solar Generator 1000
• Best for new homeowners: Coyuchi Towels
• Best for new cooks: The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z
• Best for home cooks: The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook: 500 Inspired, Flexible Recipes for Eating Well Without Meat
• Best for healthy eaters: Pacific Merchants Acaciaware Set
• Best for gardeners: Sporgard Galvanized Steel Watering Can
• Best for families: Nordic by Nature Reusable Sandwich Bags
• Best for kids: Tiny Land Wooden Train Set for Toddlers
• Best for hydration: Hydro Flask Water Bottle with Straw Lid
• Best reusable straws: StrawExpert Set of 16 Reusable Stainless Steel Straws
• Best sneakers: KOIO Men’s Sneakers
• Best slippers: Glerups Wool Slip-On Leather Slippers
• Best for puzzle lovers: Party Fowls Trick Puzzle
• Best for music lovers: House of Marley Champion True Wireless Earbuds
• Best bag: Troubadour Sling Bag
• Best for neat freaks: Me Mother Earth Quick Dry Diatomaceous Stone Bath Mat
• Best toothbrush: SURI Electric Toothbrush
  

Best for coffee lovers: Bruvi Coffee Maker

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Pod coffee makers aren’t typically known for being sustainable (or providing delicious brews), but the Bruvi Coffee Maker is aiming to change that. Its pods—which pack in 40 percent more grinds than typical competitors—are a curated selection from around the globe. You can select from coffee, tea, espresso, Americanos, espresso, and cold brew in 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, or 12-ounce sizes. And when it comes to sustainability, the pods can also biodegrade 84 percent in an anaerobic environment in less than two years, according to the company’s testing, unlike plastic pods. Plus, you can use the Bruvi app to remotely ensure the WiFi-ready IoT brewer has the coffee ready in the morning and automatically reorder favorite blends. For more options, check out best coffee makers.

Best for office workers: YETI Rambler Stainless Insulated Mug

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We’re not immune to the appeal of a specialty latte or coffee while on the go, but those quick trips to your local cafe quickly add up. Globally, 16 billion paper cups hit the waste bins each year, which equates to roughly 6.5 million trees cut down and four billion gallons of water wasted. It’s also a common misconception that your coffee cup can be tossed in the recycling—paper cups are lined with a plastic moisture barrier called polyethylene, which actually contaminates the other recyclables in your bin.

The simple solution to limiting your own personal waste? A reusable travel mug. The YETI Rambler comes in 30 different colorways, is BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and has an insulated design to keep your beverage at the desired temperature for longer (take that, paper cups). Not to mention that many coffee shops give you a small discount for bringing your own mug as an incentive to help our planet.

Best for students: Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook

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Your favorite student can take notes or draw but save paper with the Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook. This 6-inch by 8.8-inch, 36-page digital notebook works with an app to save your notes and drawings to the cloud, should you wish. The set comes with a pen for your scribbling and a cloth to wipe the page clean when you’re finished. Plus, it’s got the traditional spiral rings of a notebook for the classic experience, comes in executive and letter versions, and is available in 16 fun colors and patterns.

Best composter: Lomi Smart Waste Kitchen Composter

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Composting is good for the Earth, but it can take months for food scraps to decompose into soil in the backyard. But with the Lomi Smart Waste Kitchen Composter on the counter, users can turn the remnants of dinner into nourishing feed for plants in a matter of hours with the touch of a button. This unobtrusive appliance also serves as an odor-free compost bin and lets users cut down on what they send to the landfill and pay for fertilizer.

Best compost bin: Joseph Joseph Compo 4 Easy-Fill Compost Bin Food Waste Caddy

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We’ve all had that bag of spinach rotting in the back of our fridge, or berries that sprout mold after just a few short days. While your instinct might be to toss them in the garbage, composting provides a more sustainable way to dispose of food. As food scraps and garden waste account for almost 30 percent of our garbage, starting your own compost bin reduces your overall waste stream and cuts down on methane emissions produced by organic decomposition in landfills. 

Our pick for the best compost bin to get you started? This pick reduces the peskiest part of composting—the smell. The ventilated design allows air to circulate through, which results in less moisture and odors. It also features a replaceable odor filter to trap any potential smells, a polypropylene body for easy cleaning, and a flip-top lid with a wide opening,

Best for commuters: 6KU Track Fixed Gear Bicycle

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Cars represent the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, contributing almost 30 percent of the country’s total emissions. Riding a bicycle is one of the only modes of transportation that requires no fossil fuels or pollution.

This fixed-gear bicycle from 6KU is perfect for cruising through most towns and cities, as it maintains speed to make riding simpler. While this sustainable gift is more of an investment than some other options, a high-quality bicycle is a functional pick that can be used for years to come—and as far as commuter road bikes go, this one is on the affordable end.

Best solar generator: Jackery Solar Generator 1000

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Whether you’re on a long camping trip or setting up lights in your backyard, a portable generator is an eco-friendly way to power up devices without resorting to a gas-guzzling generator. Not only is the Jackery Solar Generator 1000 significantly more portable than its gas counterparts, but it also saves money in the long run, as you won’t need to continue buying gas for refueling. 

With 1,000 watts, a topped-off power station can run even large appliances like refrigerators, TVs, and electric grills. While many people might turn to solar generators for journeys off the grid (i.e., camping, road trips), you can also use the Jackery Solar Generator to power your outdoor appliances, like Christmas lights, electric heaters, and electric lawnmowers. Simply set up the solar panels (some included here, more sold separately) facing the direction with the most sun and plug in your tech. And if you like this idea but want more options, we’ve got the best solar generators coverage, well, covered.

Best for new homeowners: Coyuchi Temescal Organic Towels

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Moving into a new home is exciting but also a big expense. Treat some new homeowners to a gift that will last: Coyuchi’s Temescal Organic Towels. Hand-woven from organic cotton in Turkey, these towels are both plush and lightweight, with ribbing for extra drying power. The six-piece set includes two bath towels, two washcloths, and two hand towels. It’s available in four rich colors (Alpine White, Deep Ocean, Terra, and Shadow), plus an undyed version that will go well in any bathroom. This set is also certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for extra peace of mind. 

Best for new cooks: The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z

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Cooking from home is an excellent way to save money and know exactly what’s in the food you’re eating. But for new cooks, the prospect of whipping the disparate ingredients in the fridge and cabinets into a tasty meal can be daunting. Fortunately, The Everlasting Cookbook: Leftovers from A to Z provides a comprehensive guide to combining everything from a leftover burrito to aging scallions to even potato chip crumbs into something delicious. Written by award-winning cookbook author Tamar Adler, The Everlasting Cookbook features more than 1,500 recipes with beautiful illustrations that show how even those last few black olives in the jar can transform into a work of art.

Best for home cooks: The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook: 500 Inspired, Flexible Recipes for Eating Well Without Meat

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Speaking of vegetables, if someone you know could use some inspiration to get three to five servings a day, consider The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook. With 500 recipes developed by America’s Test Kitchen, this book also provides a primer on plant-based eating and includes a section of gluten-free recipes. Everyone from vegans to people just exploring meat alternatives and looking to get more veggies on their plate will find plenty to like in these easy, budget-friendly recipes that draw on culinary traditions from around the globe.

Best for healthy eaters: Pacific Merchants Acaciaware Set

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The USDA recommends three to five servings of vegetables each day, and that should include some leafy greens. This wonderful 12-inch round bowl comes with two servers, all made from natural acacia wood. Fill it up with some nice field greens, or just live the dream of making an all-crouton salad. Just don’t put it in the microwave or dishwasher because that will ruin the wood. Round out your table with more of the best serving bowls.

Best for gardeners: Sporgard Galvanized Steel Watering Can

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Whether your giftee is a new plant parent or has a green thumb, they will certainly appreciate the utility of a good watering can. This one-gallon steel container is both practical and decorative and can be used on indoor and outdoor plants alike. And not only is this can designed to endure, but the steel can also be recycled. The double handle makes it easy to manage, even when it’s totally full of liquid. We recommend using water and not energy drinks.

Best for families: Nordic by Nature Reusable Sandwich Bags

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Living sustainably can be challenging when you’ve got a family to feed 365 days a year. Nordic by Nature’s Reusable Sandwich Bags make it a little easier. The set comes with four bags: two large, one medium, and one small in a pretty floral pattern that zips closed. They’re free of toxic chemicals such as BPAs and lead and they come at an affordable price. Plus, cleanup is super easy: just toss them in the dishwasher.

Best for kids: Tiny Land Wooden Train Set for Toddlers

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There’s nothing quite like the excitement of a kid opening a brand-new toy. But as kids grow and change interests, over 80 percent of these new toys will ultimately end up in the trash. And as 90 percent of toys are made of plastic, these playthings will stay in our environment for over 450 years after they’re discarded. 

So—how can you give your kiddo a new gift that won’t further contribute to our climate crisis? The best option is toys made of biodegradable materials like wood, silicone, or recycled fabric. While these toys still produce emissions, once discarded they will have less dire impacts on the environment. This 39-piece polished beach wood train set allows your kid to create a variety of paths using the curved and flat tracks, and the bridge, people, engine, car, and hauler will keep them playing for hours. Ultimately, your little one will thank you for looking after their future planet. 

Best for hydration: Hydro Flask Water Bottle with Straw Lid

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Globally, 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, 1.3 billion bottles every day, and 481 billion plastic bottles every year. With only 20 percent of plastic successfully recycled and reused, the best alternative to cutting down on your consumption and carbon footprint is investing in a reliable, reusable water bottle.

And if you’re searching for a nearly indestructible, BPA-free, phthalate-free, stainless steel bottle that will keep H20 chilled all day long, the Hydro Flask is a reliable favorite. You can toss it in the dishwasher for easy cleaning without worrying about the powder coating getting damaged.

Best reusable straws: StrawExpert Set of 16 Reusable Stainless Steel Straws

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From restaurant booths to drive-through coffee shops, single-use plastic straws are a ubiquitous part of daily life for many Americans—with an approximated 500 million straws used in the United States each year. And with a lifetime of 200 years, this relatively small piece of our daily waste adds up. While straws account for less than one percent of the plastic waste in our oceans, taking small measures to reduce your impact can add up. Though compostable straws are a step in the right direction, reusable straws are the best way to cut down on production and landfill waste. They are a staple in most sustainable gift guides.

This set of stainless steel straws from StrawExpert can last a lifetime—with enough sizes and shapes to suit any kind of tumbler or cup. The 10.5-inch straight and bent straws fit up to 34-ounce tumblers, while the regular 8.5-inch straws are great for 16- to 20-ounce water bottles or mugs. And if you hate the feeling of metal on your teeth, these straws also come with a small silicone mouthpiece for added comfort. 

Best sneakers: KOIO Men’s Sneakers

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For a person that just any footwear won’t do, consider KOIO Men’s Sneakers. Handmade in Tuscany, these kicks combine buttery Italian leather with recycled rubber soles that use up to 40 percent recycled materials. The hand-painted trim also provides a sleek look. Available in more than 30 colorways, these laced low tops are also water-resistant and come with a removable insole for extra comfort. The recycled foam and rubber insoles also make them perfect for all-day wear. We highly recommend checking out the boot, sneaker, and slip-on options for both men and women.

Best slippers: Glerups Wool Slip-On Leather Slippers

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The Danish are well-known for their appreciation of coziness. So it’s no surprise that these comfy, rustic slippers are made by Glerups, a company based in Denmark. It all began in 1993 when the co-founder started making felt boots as a hobby from the wool of her Gotland sheep for friends and family. Now, Glerups makes a line of slip-ons, shoes, and boots using natural textiles and dyes and designed for comfort. Plus, the company practices regenerative agriculture and recycles its wool and leather. So, if your giftee isn’t into bunny slippers, these Glerups slip-ons are unisex and available in seven muted colors (gray, charcoal, cranberry, petrol, red, blue, forest).

Best for puzzle lovers: Party Fowls Trick Puzzle

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This head-scratcher of a jigsaw puzzle features some tricky chickens. At 1,000 pieces and 20 by 27 inches, the Party Fowl Trick Puzzle is a project. But your puzzle lover will also be in for a surprise, as the final product doesn’t exactly match the box. It’s all in good fun, and you can also feel good about this purchase, as the puzzle is made of 100 percent recycled chipboard and paper.

Best for music lovers: House of Marley Champion True Wireless Earbuds

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Made by a company inspired by the late singer, these wireless earbuds provide up to 28 hours of high-quality audio on a single charge and feature a microphone for hands-free calls. Designed for a snug fit, these earbuds are also made from sustainable materials, including bamboo, environmentally-friendly silicone, and natural wood fiber. And they’re sweat- and water-resistant, which also makes them great for fitness lovers.

Best bag: Troubadour Sling Bag

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We’ve all got a handful of essentials we need to take with us, but hauling a pocketbook or tote everywhere can be a hassle, while traditional fanny packs can scream tourist. Troubadour’s Sling Bag elegantly bridges the divide, with a sleek bag that can fit your phone, wallet, charger, water bottle, keys, sunglasses case, and more. Made from recycled plastic, it’s waterproof and comes with a cleanable anti-microbial lining. Plus, the shoulder strap comes with a magnetic buckle that you can easily adjust for maximum utility.  

Best for neat freaks: Me Mother Earth Quick Dry Diatomaceous Stone Bath Mat

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Say goodbye to soggy bath mats! The lucky recipient of the Me Mother Earth Quick Dry Stone Bath Mat won’t have to step over puddles on the bathroom floor anymore. It’s made from diatomaceous clay, which is derived from fossilized algae and is the same material used in swimming pool filters. This 6.4-pound, non-slip stone mat is capable of absorbing 150 percent of its weight within seconds (and it’s fun to watch wet footprints disappear). Plus, it’s easy to clean with soap, water, and vinegar.

Best toothbrush: SURI Electric Toothbrush

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Oral health can provide a window into someone’s overall well-being; for example, periodontitis has been linked to the development of diabetes, according to the World Health Organization. Fortunately, good oral hygiene goes a long way. So why not help a loved one ditch the plastic toothbrush for some cutting-edge teeth technology? The SURI Electric Toothbrush uses 33,000 sonic vibrations a minute to deep clean teeth between dental checkups. The body of the device is made from aluminum and slim enough to fit into a travel pack. And it comes with plant-based replaceable heads, so there’s no need to get a new brush every time they visit the dentist.

Final thoughts on sustainable gifts

Our sustainable gift guide allows you to keep the holiday spirit of giving while staying environmentally conscious. Whether you’re trying to send a hint to the aunt who gets a to-go coffee every day or you’re in search of a plastic-free present for the kid in your life, these picks are a gift to your loved one and our planet.

The post Sustainable gift guide: 20+ gifts that keep on giving appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

For a botanical intervention		Plant Life Support		SEE IT	Save your plants that are past their prime.
For creating a veritable jungle		Levoit Smart Cool Mist Humidifier		SEE IT	Keep the air just the right amount of moist.
For the sun-starved		Soltech Large White Aspect LED Grow Light		SEE IT	Grow lights can fit in with your space.

House plants can quickly become an obsession. What starts out as a pot here or there can rapidly become an at-home garden center. If you or a loved one knows—or is—a plant lover, you may find yourself stressed around the holidays, unsure of what more they could possibly use. Luckily for you, the world of plants and plant-adjacent products offers a seemingly endless array of options. Here are our picks for the best gifts to help, well, grow the enthusiasm and tool shed of would-be plant parents, seasoned growers, and everyone in between.

• For precision pruning: Gonicc Professional Bonsai Scissors
• For watering in style: HB Design Company Indoor Watering Can
• For the data-obsessed grower: Wanfei Plant Monitor
• For creating a veritable jungle: Levoit Smart Cool Mist Humidifier
• For creating a miniature jungle: YINGJEE Mini Cactus Humidifier
• For the forgetful: Costa Farms ZZ Plant
• For the sun-starved: Soltech Large White Aspect LED Grow Light
• For dark apartments or houses: Solatmos Metal Plant Stand with Grow Lights
• For the art lover: Modern Sprout Grow Frame
• For someone with plant baby fever: Virtune Small Succulent Pots
• For performing plant miracles: Flying Pig Hanging Plant Holder
• For a ‘70s aesthetic: SCADINORDICA Disco Ball Planter
• For those with no yard: N/C Square Meter Plant Repotting Mat
• For a botanical intervention: Plant Life Support Automatic Watering System
• For lazy waterers: Jucoan Plant Self-Watering Globes
• For the serial propagator: Mkono Plant Propagation Tubes
• For expanding the jungle: Besgrow Spagmoss Premium New Zealand Sphagnum Moss
• For those bugged by insects: Grow Margo Yellow Sticky Trap for Indoor Gnats
• For those who love fresh veggies: Gardyn 2.0 Hydroponics Growing System
• For when you’ve got less green to grow greens: SereneLife Smart Starter Kit 
• For someone with green thumbs and blue toes: Plants Get Me Blue Q Women’s Ankle Socks

For precision pruning: Gonicc Professional Bonsai Scissors

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Plants need occasional tough love, and that includes chopping your plant babies back every once in a while. These thin-bladed shears give you the precision to snip your plants right where you want to without mangling the stems. Since they’re made for the precise art of shaping bonsais, you can rest assured that they will fit the needs of even your most particular plants. Carbon steel construction makes them strong and durable, but make sure to wipe them and store them inside to maximize longevity.

For watering in style: HB Design Company Indoor Watering Can

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This isn’t your grandma’s rusty watering can (though that’s pretty cool, too). This quart-sized can nestles right next to your plants, waiting for its next use without taking up too much extra space. You can buy this stainless steel container in white, black, or copper to match your friend’s design preferences. And its long spout makes it ideal for precisely targeting dry soil, keeping water focused on the roots, not the floor or leaves.

For the data-obsessed grower: Wanfei Plant Monitor

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Plants can’t outwardly tell us what they need, at least not through words, so caring for them requires a lot of guesswork. With this plant sensor, you can give the gift of a little more certainty. Stick the sensor in the soil, connect it to an app, add a plant’s information, and it’s ready to track. This Bluetooth plant monitor will check the nutrient levels and moisture of the soil, as well as the surrounding temperature and amount of light. Then, the sensor will alert the user if anything drops below optimal levels, allowing the plant to be tended to meticulously.

For creating a veritable jungle: Levoit Smart Cool Mist Humidifier

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We may not realize how dry our homes get, but plants sure do. This Levoit humidifier will help provide a taste of the jungle-like humidity many plants need. Every day, this humidifier releases 3 liters of water into the air and automatically shuts off when it runs out. It can be filled directly from the top, which means no awkward trips to the bathtub to top it off, and it can be remotely turned off via a smartphone app. If you want to get really precise, this system can aim for a target humidity to make finicky houseplants feel right at home.

For creating a miniature jungle: YINGJEE Mini Cactus Humidifier

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If you care more about looks or just have a smaller space, this cactus humidifier can get the job done, too. This quiet cactus charges via USB and also functions as a night light. Since it’s so small, it can blend right into any plant setup.

For the forgetful: Costa Farms ZZ Plant

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Maybe the only thing that could kill a ZZ plant is too much care, making this beauty the perfect fit for any aspirational plant lover who worries they’re more of a gardening grim reaper. This plant thrives in indirect light, so no worries if there are no south-facing windows around, and it can tolerate long periods of drought. In other words, you can set it and forget it, at least for a couple of weeks. This particular ZZ comes pre-planted in a large pot for even less effort and can make a beautiful green statement in any home.

For the sun-starved: Soltech Large White Aspect LED Grow Light

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Plant parenthood 101: plants need light to grow. Even “low-light” plants require sufficient illumination to keep photosynthesis flowing. But the truth is, unless you happen to live in a greenhouse, some areas of your home probably get a lot less light than plants are used to in the wild. That’s where grow lights come in. Ideally, a grow light will mimic natural sunlight as closely as possible, and this one gets fairly close. Natural light has a color rendering index rating of 100, so the closer a light can get to that, the better for plants, and this light is at 97. Plus, this light offers a more stylish design than many of the most popular grow lights on the market. The light itself is sleek and modern, while the light it produces is a pleasant white, unlike the purples and pinks of a lot of grow lights out there. This Soltech aspect light can be raised or lowered to ensure plants of all light needs get the pseudo-sun they crave.

For dark apartments or houses: Solatmos Metal Plant Stand with Grow Lights

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And for your friend whose plants are craving some individual attention, try this stand with built-in grow lights. It’s also just a nice aesthetic display for your burgeoning family.

For the art lover: Modern Sprout Grow Frame

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You don’t have to be Vincent van Gogh to paint your walls with color, you just have to take care of some plants and mount this steel frame to a wall. Help someone treat their plants like the works of art they are by gifting them these grow frames by Modern Sprout. Equipped with LED grow lights and a timer, plants will thrive in these frames, even if they’re on a dimly lit wall. 

For someone with plant baby fever: Virtune Small Succulent Pots

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Indoor plants deserve a solid pot that will keep in the dirt and protect shelves and floors from moisture. Whether covering up nursery pots, preventing water from running all over your house, or just looking cute, a solid pot can elevate a plant and make them even cuter to place around a home. This two-tiered pot is the perfect way to free up some counter space or proudly display a successful propagation next to its mother plant.

For performing plant miracles: Flying Pig Hanging Plant Holder

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Hanging pots are especially great for freeing up space. And if your friend always said they’d be able to keep a plant alive when pigs fly, well, here’s a way to call them on that.

For a ‘70s aesthetic: SCADINORDICA Disco Ball Planter

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When plant fever and disco fever combine, the result is totally groovy. This hanging planter is a great statement piece for anyone who has a, well, ball, nurturing their plants. It comes in both six- and eight-inch sizes depending on the size of the plant going inside.

For those with no yard: N/C Square Meter Plant Repotting Mat

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Potting or repotting is, well, dirty work. This waterproof transplanting mat keeps soil and water from going everywhere while making clean-up quick. Plus, the mat fits great in the trunk of a car, which can make trips from the local plant nursery a lot less stress-inducing when your new plant friend inevitably tips over.

For a botanical intervention: Plant Life Support Automatic Watering System

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Okay, things happen. Sometimes we might forget to water a plant for a couple of days, weeks, or months, and it might need a little TLC and consistency to come back to life. This plant life support kit comes with a 350ml bag and stake set to give neglected plants the lifeline they may need. Just hang the IV bag, connect the dripper to the soil, and set the flow regulator to give a withering plant consistent fluids. And if water isn’t enough to save a neglected plant, you might need to get a second opinion or run some more tests.

For lazy waterers: Jucoan Plant Self-Watering Globes

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If overtly suggesting that your friend is a ruthless plant murderer isn’t what you’re going for, these water globes can also do the trick. These glass garden friends can keep soil moist for up to three weeks, giving even your most forgetful plant-loving friend some much-needed grace.

For the serial propagator: Mkono Plant Propagation Tubes

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Successfully creating new houseplant life is something to be proud of—so display it! This propagation station has no shortage of spots for cuttings to root in water. The setup comes in three different wood stains with 15 spots for plant babies to be shown off until they get big enough to plant in a bigger pot or the ground.

For expanding the jungle: Besgrow Spagmoss Premium New Zealand Sphagnum Moss

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The best gift for a plant lover: more plants. Cut your own plants right below the node, package them up in a moisture-retaining material like some sphagnum moss or a wet paper towel, wrap them up in cling wrap, add a little bow, and voila—a bouquet of cuttings ready to propagate into more leafy little ones. 

For those bugged by insects: Grow Margo Yellow Sticky Trap for Indoor Gnats

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It’s all fun and games in plant parenthood until you spot the dreaded fungus gnat. But these sticky traps can rid you of some of your insect woes. Just pop the trap right in the soil like a stake, and wait for gnats to be attracted to the bright yellow sticky trap. Although the yellow might be a bit bright, these traps are shaped like monstera leaves, making them a little less of an eye-sore than the usual sticky traps. Plus, they come in a pack of 30, so they can be used until all the gnats are gone. 

For those who love fresh veggies: Gardyn 2.0 Hydroponics Growing System

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For someone who’s into eating their plant babies, not just looking at them, an indoor gardening setup might be just what they’re looking for. Although the entire structure takes up only two square feet, the Gardyn 2.0 hydroponics growing system can grow 30 plants at once and looks beautiful in the process. And the results will taste even sweeter. With the accompanying app, the system will tell you when it needs maintenance and when your plants are at their peak, and can even slow down the growth of your plants while you’re away on vacation. It’s kind of like having an AI gardener tend to your crops 24/7. 

For when you’ve got less green to grow greens: SereneLife Smart Starter Kit 

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But not all of us have five vertical feet of space, not hundreds of dollars, to dedicate to gardening indoors. If that’s the case, try a smaller countertop version to grow a few small plants at a time.

For someone with green thumbs and blue toes: Plants Get Me Blue Q Women’s Ankle Socks

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Just because you’re focused on giving your plants just the right amount of sunshine doesn’t mean you should neglect your own chilly feet. These cotton and nylon socks let any plant-lover express their passion outside of their house. When the world gets busy, and you desperately wish you were lounging in your houseplant jungle, these socks can remind you of your foliaged friends back home and keep you warm in the process. Socks make great gifts.

The post 20+ gifts to help your new plant parent friends grow their love of plants appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Dinosaur Mysteries digs into the secretive side of the “terrible lizards” and all the questions that keep paleontologists up at night.

YOU NEVER KNOW how small you are until you’re next to a big ol’ dinosaur. Find the right lighting in the museum hall and you can literally stand in the shadow of the skeletons of Apatosaurus, Patagotitan, Brachiosaurus, and other reptiles that grew far larger than any other terrestrial creature in the past 66 million years. But even after nearly two centuries of research, we have only the haziest notions of why some dinosaurs were larger than any terrestrial mammal to date.

While a number of dinosaurs fell in the supersized category—Tyrannosaurus rex weighed more than a mature male African elephant—the sauropods were the all-time titleholders. They had small heads with simple teeth, impressively long necks, hefty bodies, and tapering tails. So many sauropod species reached more than 100 feet in length, paleontologists still aren’t sure which one stretched the farthest. While the largest land mammals, like the hornless rhino Paraceratherium and the biggest fossil elephants, got to be about 18 tons, sauropods evolved to have more mass at least 36 times during their evolutionary history—an ongoing reprisal of gargantuan herbivores through the Jurassic and Cretaceous.

The stunning heft of these creatures has often led us to wonder why they got to be so much bigger than any terrestrial creature before or since. But in the realm of paleontology, “why” questions are extremely difficult to answer. Queries starting with “why” are matters of history, and in this case, the history plays out dozens of times on multiple continents over the course of more than 130 million years. Though we see the end effect, we can’t quite make out the causes.

Dinosaurs have a habit of digging their claws into our imaginations, however, so researchers have kept on, turning up a few clues in the past two decades about the surfeit of superlative sauropods. While higher oxygen levels have been linked to bigger body sizes in a few ancient insects, the atmosphere in the heyday of the dinosaurs was about the same as today’s. What’s more, the Earth’s gravitational force was just as strong in the Mesozoic era as in the modern era. So we know that the impressive size of Argentinosaurus and other top sauropods was not a matter of an abiotic factor like increased oxygen in the atmosphere or lower gravity. Our explanation lies elsewhere.

Paleontologists are getting closer to the truth by looking at the dinosaurs themselves. For example, experts have identified a suite of characteristics that set sauropods apart from the mastodons and giant rhinos of the Cenozoic. Eggs have a great deal to do with it.

The largest mammals of all time were placentals, gestating their offspring on the inside so they could come out more developed. This reproductive strategy comes with some constraints. To reach even larger adult sizes, females of each species would need to carry their babies in the womb for longer. African elephants, for example, already gestate for about two years—during which much can go wrong. But sauropods, like all nonavian dinosaurs, laid multiple eggs at a time, bypassing the reproductive constraints of live birth and flooding their ecosystems with tons of babies that had the potential to grow huge (even if most ended up as snacks for the carnivores of the time). The different reproductive strategies gave dinosaurs some advantages over mammals.

Camarasaurus and other sauropods also got some assistance from their anatomical peculiarities. Sauropods had complex air-sac systems in their respiratory tracts that created air pockets within and around their bones. These nifty features kept their skeletons light without sacrificing strength, and also made extracting oxygen from the air and shedding excess body heat more efficient. The distinctive dinosaurs could grow long necks too, because they didn’t have heavy heads full of massive, grinding teeth like large herbivorous mammals over the past 66 million years. Instead, sauropods had small, light noggins full of spoon- or pencil-shaped teeth that were mostly just capable of cropping vegetation to be broken down and fermented through their gastrointestinal tracts. In other words, their guts did the work, not their teeth. Studies of ginkgoes, horsetails, and other common Mesozoic plants indicate that the ancient vegetation was more calorie-rich than previously supposed, so the abundance of green food likely fueled the reptilian giants’ unprecedented growth.

But these facts only show us what allowed sauropods to become big. The dinosaurs didn’t have to drift in that direction. In fact, some were relatively small: The island-dwelling species Magyarosaurus was about the size of a large cow. Sauropods could have thrived at smaller sizes, but they instead kept spinning off lineages of giants. We know something about what made living large possible, but what we still don’t know is what evolutionary pressures drove sauropods to evolve enormous bodies.

Predators certainly played their part. All sauropods were born small—even the largest species hatched from eggs about the size of a soccer ball. They were vulnerable to various Jurassic and Cretaceous carnivores, but growing up quickly was one way to stave off those hungry jaws. Hunting megafauna can be dangerous and even deadly, as we see with lions, wolves, and even humans today, and so sauropods may have plumped up to be less appealing to the likes of Allosaurus and T. rex.

But if carnivorous appetites were the main driver of sauropod size, we’d see a more uniform and extended “arms race” between the dinosaurs over time, resulting in gradually larger predators and prey. The fossil record instead shows that sauropods scaled up in different times and places, likely for an array of reasons ranging from local grub to what mating sauropods found sexy in each other. The repeated evolution of gigantic dinosaurs hints that there were many pathways to the sauropods’ impressive stature, not just one. Biology was as complicated back then as it is now, and we’ll never get the full story without experiencing 100-foot-long reptiles ourselves.

Read more PopSci+ stories.

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While the majority of fish are cold-blooded and rely on the temperature outside of their bodies to regulate their internal temperatures, less than one percent of sharks are actually warm-blooded. The extinct but mighty megalodon and the living great white shark generate heat with their muscles the way many mammals do. However, they are not the only sharks with this warm quirk. A study published November 7 in the journal Biology Letters found that there are more warm blooded sharks than scientists initially believed. 

[Related: Megalodons were likely warm-blooded, despite being stone-cold killers.]

Warmer muscles might help these giant carnivores be more powerful and athletic, by using that heat to generate more energy. Regional endothermy in fish has been seen in apex predators like the great white or giant tuna, but there has been debate on when this warm bloodedness evolved in sharks and if the megalodon was warm blooded. A previous study from June 2023 found that the megalodon was warm blooded and that the amount of energy it used to stay warm may have contributed to its extinction about 3.6 million years ago.

The new study looked at the results of autopsies from some unexpected shark strandings in Ireland and southern England earlier in 2023. The sharks belonged to a rarely seen species called the smalltooth sand tiger shark. These sharks are found around the world in temperate and tropical seas and in deep waters (32 to 1,700 feet deep). They have a short and pointed snout, small eyes, protruding teeth, and small dorsal and anal fins and can reach about 15 feet long. Smalltooth sand tiger sharks are considered a “vulnerable” species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. While they are not targeted by commercial fisheries, the sharks may be mistakenly caught in nets and may face threats from pollution. 

Smalltooth sand tiger sharks are believed to have diverged from the megalodon at least 20 million years ago. The autopsies from this year’s stranded sharks unexpectedly served as a timeline that took marine biologists from institutions in Ireland, South Africa, and the United States back millions of years. 

The team found that these rare sharks have physical features that suggest they also have regional endothermy like the megalodon, great white, and some filter-feeding basking sharks. This new addition means that there are likely more warm-blooded sharks than scientists thought and that warm bloodedness evolved quite a long time ago.

“We think this is an important finding, because if sand tiger sharks have regional endothermy then it’s likely there are several other sharks out there that are also warm-bodied,” study co-author and marine biologist Nicholas Payne said in a statement. “We used to think regional endothermy was confined to apex predators like the great white and extinct megalodon, but now we have evidence that deep water ‘bottom dwelling’ sand tigers, and plankton-eating basking sharks also are warm bodied. This raises plenty of new questions as to why regional endothermy evolved, but it might also have important conservation implications.” Payne is affiliated with Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. 

[Related: Were dinosaurs warm-blooded or cold-blooded? Maybe both.]

Scientists believe that the megalodon’s warmer body allowed it to move faster, tolerate colder water, and spread all over the world’ oceans. However, this evolutionary advantage could have contributed to its downfall. The megalodon lived during the Pliocene Epoch (5.33 million years to 2.58 million years ago) when the world cooled and sea levels changed. These ecosystem changes and competition with newcomers in the marine environment like great whites may have led to its extinction. 

Understanding how extinct sharks met their end could help scientists gauge how today’s warm-blooded sharks could fare due to warmer ocean temperatures from human-caused climate change. It has potential conservation implications and could explain some shifting patterns of where sharks are foraging. 

“We believe changing environments in the deep past was a major contributor to the megalodon’s extinction, as we think it could no longer meet the energetic demands of being a large regional endotherm,” study co-author and Trinity College marine biologist Haley Dolton said in a statement. “We know the seas are warming at alarming rates again now and the smalltooth tiger that washed up in Ireland was the first one seen in these waters. That implies its range has shifted, potentially due to warming waters, so a few alarm bells are ringing.”   

The post Megalodon’s warm-blooded relatives are still circling the oceans today appeared first on Popular Science.

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Reviled the world over for making our scalps itch and rapidly spreading in schools, lice have hitched their destiny to our hair follicles. They are the oldest known parasites that feed on the blood of humans, so learning more about lice can tell us quite a bit about our own species and migratory patterns. 

[Related: Ancient ivory comb shows that self-care is as old as time.]

A study published November 8 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE found that lice likely came into North America in two waves of migration. First when some humans potentially crossed a land bridge that connected Asia with present day Alaska roughly 16,000 years ago during the end of the last ice age and then again during European colonization. 

“In some ways, lice are like living fossils we carry around on our own heads,” study co-author Marina Ascunce, an evolutionary biologist with the United States Department of Agriculture, tells PopSci.  

Lice are wingless parasites that live their entire lives on their host and there are three known species that infest humans. Humans and lice have coevolved for thousands of years. The oldest louse specimen known to scientists is 10,000 years old and was found in Brazil in 2000. Since lice and humans have a very intertwined relationship, studying lice can offer clues into human migratory patterns.

“They went on this ride across the world with us. Yet, they are their own organism with some ability to move around on their own (e.g., from one head to another). It provides insight into what happened during our time together,” study co-author and mammal geneticist from the University of Florida David L. Reed tells PopSci. 

In this new study, a team of scientists from the United States, Mexico, and Argentina analyzed the genetic variation in 274 human lice uncovered from 25 geographic sites around the world. The analysis showed distinct clusters of lice that rarely interbreed and were found in different locations. Cluster I was found all over the world, while Cluster II was found in Europe and the Americas. The only lice that had ancestry from both clusters are found in the Americas. This distinct group of lice appears to be the result of a mixture between lice that were descended from populations that arrived with the people who crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America and those descended from European lice. 

Researchers found genetic evidence that head lice mirrored both the movement of people into the Americas from Asia and European colonization after Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the late 1400’s.

“Central American head lice harbored the Asian background associated with the foundation of the Americas, while South American lice had marks of the European arrival,” Ariel Toloza, a study co-author and insect toxicologist at Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica (CONICET) in Argentina, tells PopSci. “We also detected a recent human migration from Europe to the Americas after WWII.” 

[Related: Rare parasites found in 200 million-year-old reptile poop.]

The evidence in this study supports the theory that the first people living in the Americas came from Asia between 14,000 and 16,000 years ago and moved south into Central and South America. However, other archaeological evidence like the 23,000 to 21,000 year-old White Sands footprints and Native American tradition suggests that humans were already living in the Americas before and during the last ice age. Some potentially 30,000-year-old stone tools were discovered in a cave in Central Mexico in 2020, which also questions the land bridge theory. 

The study also fills in some of lice’s evolutionary gaps and the team sequenced the louse full genome for future research. 

“The same louse DNA used for this first study was used to analyze their whole genomes and also more lice were collected, so in the next year or so, there will be new studies trying to answer our ongoing questions,” says Ascunce. 

Technological improvements can also now help scientists study include ancient DNA from lice that has been found in mummies or even from louse DNA recovered from ancient combs. The study also offers some lessons in studying animals that we may generally experience as a nuisance.

“The world is full of a lot of plants and animals that are reviled or despised,” says Reed. “You never fully [know] what role they play in the environment or what their true value might be. So, be curious and see what stories the lowliest of animals might have to tell.”

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Bees are extremely adept at communicating, even though their brains weigh just two milligrams. They’re so efficient at reaching a consensus, in fact, that researchers created a mini-robot team inspired by their ‘conversations.’

In the search for a new nesting spot, scout bees are known to conduct tiny “waggle dances” to indicate their preferred hive location—slowly winning over swarmmates to join in the process. The moves are tiny but complex, involving moving in figure-eight patterns while shaking their bodies at rapid speed. The bees with the most popular dance part earn final say on where to build. While the three centimeter-wide “kilobots” under the watch of a team at Spain’s University of Barcelona can’t shimmy and shake just yet, they do signal to one another much like bees.

[Related: Bee brains could teach robots to make split-second decisions.]

As detailed in their preprint paper submitted in late October, the team first attached a colored LED light alongside an infrared-light receiver and emitter atop each of a total of 35 kilobots. They then programmed the bots using a modified version of a previously designed mathematical model based on scout bee behavior. From there, the team placed varying numbers of kilobots within an enclosure and let them jitter through their new environment on their trio of toothpick-like legs. During over 70 tests, researchers ordered certain bot clusters to advertise their preferred nesting location “opinion” via signaling between their LED lights’ red, blue, and green hues.

Every kilobot team achieved a group consensus within roughly 30 minutes, no matter the team size or environmental density. Such reliable decision making—even in machines capable of transmitting just 9 bytes of information at a time—could one day prove invaluable across a number of industries.

[Related: Bat-like echolocation could help these robots find lost people.]

“We believe that in the near future there are going to be simple robots that will do jobs that we don’t want to do, and it will be very important that they make decisions in a decentralized, autonomous manner,” Carmen Miguel, one of the study’s co-authors, explained to New Scientist on November 7.

During invasive medical procedures, for instance, tiny robots could maneuver within a patient’s body, communicating with one another without the need for complex electronics. Similarly, cheap bots could coordinate with one another while deployed during search-and-rescue missions. In such scenarios, the environmental dangers often prevent the use of expensive robots due to risk of damage or destruction.

Above it all, however, the University of Barcelona team believes their work draws attention to often underappreciated aspects of everyday existence. The team’s paper abstract concludes: “By shedding light on this crucial layer of complexity… we emphasize the significance of factors typically overlooked but essential to living systems and life itself.”

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This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com.

Arah Narida leans over a microscope to gaze into a plastic petri dish containing a hood coral. The animal—a pebbled blue-white disk roughly half the size of a pencil eraser—is a marvel. Just three weeks ago, the coral was smaller than a grain of rice. It was also frozen solid. That is, until Narida, a graduate student at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, thawed it with the zap of a laser. Now, just beneath the coral’s tentacles, she spies a slight divot in the skeleton where a second coral is beginning to bud. That small cavity is evidence that her hood coral is reaching adulthood, a feat no other scientist has ever managed with a previously frozen larva. Narida smiles and snaps a picture.

“It’s like if you see Captain America buried in snow and, after so many years, he’s alive,” she says. “It’s so cool!”

For nearly 20 years, scientists have been cryopreserving corals—freezing them at temperatures as low as -196 °C for long-term storage. The goal has been to one day plant corals grown from cryopreserved samples on reefs plagued by bleaching and acidification. Yet, progress has been agonizingly slow. When Narida and her colleagues published a study earlier this year detailing how they successfully grew adult corals from cryopreserved larvae, it was a milestone for the field.

Coral cryopreservation is difficult in part because freezing and thawing wreak havoc on cells. As scientists lower the temperature, the water in the coral’s cells turns to ice, leaving them dehydrated and deflated. Reheating is just as delicate: if the coral is warmed too slowly, melting ice can refreeze and tear through the cells’ outer membranes. The result is a soggy mess, as the cells’ innards ooze out through jagged holes—picture a frozen strawberry becoming limp and shriveled as it thaws.

Through trial and error, though, cryobiologists have developed the techniques that helped Narida grow her hood coral to adulthood. To prevent ice damage, Narida says, she washes the animals in antifreeze first. Antifreeze can be toxic, but it also seeps into the larvae’s cells and pushes out the water, helping the coral survive the next step: being dunked in liquid nitrogen.

In 2018, researchers reported that they had managed to get a coral larva to survive freezing and thawing for the first time. The scientists had added gold nanoparticles to their antifreeze to help the corals warm evenly during reheating. However, the thawed larvae were unable to settle and develop into adults. Instead, they kept swimming until they died.

When Narida began her experiments with hood corals in 2021, she included gold in her antifreeze recipe and combined several different antifreeze chemicals to reduce the solution’s toxicity. To thaw the animals quickly and minimize damage, Narida used a high-powered laser designed for welding jewelry. Then, she carefully washed the antifreeze away with seawater, rehydrating the corals. In the end, a whopping 11 percent of larvae in the experiment survived thawing, then settled, and developed into adults.

Leandro Godoy, a coral cryobiologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, is impressed by how many larvae survived after settling. “It’s a huge step,” he says, considering that, in the wild, only about five percent of corals make it that far.

Narida’s oldest thawed coral has survived for nearly nine months and is still growing. But she has more work to do. The larvae that survive cryopreservation are exceptionally fragile and can experience side effects that slow their development. They need careful tending in the lab, like ICU patients after surgery, says Chiahsin Lin, a coral cryobiologist at Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University and Narida’s coauthor on the study.

The challenge now is to boost the coral’s survival even more to make large-scale reef restoration from cryopreserved larvae practical, Godoy explains.

“We still need to improve,” says Narida. “But this is already a success story.”

This article first appeared in Hakai Magazine and is republished here with permission.

The post How frozen baby corals and high-powered lasers could help dying reefs appeared first on Popular Science.

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Best for large cats		FEANDREA Cat Tree for Large Cats		SEE IT	This cushy condo for big cats  is designed with anti-tipping technology for extra safety.
Best wooden		Vesper Modern Cat Tree		SEE IT	This eco-friendly modern design comes with a sisal scratching mat and memory-foam bed.
Best budget		AmazonBasics Cat Condo Tree Tower with Hammock Bed		SEE IT	Help your kitty get away from it all in this affordable hammock bed made with plush carpeting.

A cat tree is a wonderful way to keep your cat occupied, especially if they have a fondness for high places. The majority also come equipped with scratching posts, which keep claws away from your beloved sofa. If your cat hides in closets and under beds, a cat tree house with covered shelters will provide them a sense of security and personal space. And all these options come stacked in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. Do you need a towering kitty castle, or a cozy perch for a cat that just wants to loaf? Does your interior aesthetic call for a modern cat tower? From kitten to couch potato, we’ll go over the best cat tree for you and your feline’s specific needs.

• Best overall: Armarkat 77-inch Faux Fleece Cat Tree & Condo
• Best small: Frisco 32-inch Real Carpet Wooden Cat Tree
• Best for large cats: FEANDREA Cat Tree for Large Cats
• Best wooden: Vesper Modern Cat Tree
• Best budget: AmazonBasics Cat Condo Tree Tower with Hammock Bed

How we chose the best cat trees

When we’re not vacuuming up all the pet hair our cats leave behind (or letting a robot do it), we enjoy wrangling them from all the places they should not be. Cat hiding habits can be separated into two categories: tree dweller or bush dweller. A cat who is a tree dweller enjoys heights like shelves and windowsills, while bush dweller cats prefer low, hidden spaces, like under the bed. Our final picks ultimately have something for the most adventurous tree dweller to the coziest, most elusive bush dweller. Additionally, we looked at critical reviews and peer recommendations and conducted heavy research.

The best cat trees: Reviews & Recommendations

Does your cat enjoy scaling your cabinets and bookshelves? Do they spend every morning surveying their domain from the top of the refrigerator? Do they like hiding amongst the sweaters on your closet shelves? One of our picks should fit your feline’s hiding, climbing, and scratching preferences.

Best overall: Armarkat 77-inch Faux Fleece Cat Tree & Condo

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Specs

• Dimensions: 36 x 31 x 77 inches
• Weight: 58 lbs.
• Max holding weight: 80 lbs.

Pros

• Tall
• Lots of things to keep kitty entertained
• Sturdy and durable

Cons

• Not suited for small rooms

The Armarkat stands over six feet high and boasts 10 scratching posts, six platforms, and two comfy condos. This feline fortress is built to handle the more exuberant kitty personalities, with a weight capacity of 80 pounds and a sturdy plywood structure. Your cat can govern from the highest perch of this large cat tree or spend all day snoozing in the privacy of a faux fleece cube.

Best small: Frisco 32-inch Real Carpet Wooden Cat Tree

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Specs

• Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 32 inches
• Weight: 29 lbs.
• Max holding weight: 50 lbs.

Pros

• Compact
• Multi-level
• Comes fully assembled
• Household-grade carpet

Cons

• Have to remove loose fuzzies upon opening
• Reviews note loose staples

The Frisco Cat Tree is a double-decker tower for your cat to stretch out on. This wooden cat tower is built to last all nine lives, with a handcrafted solid wood structure and two heavy-duty sisal rope posts. It’s wrapped in plush, household-grade carpet with a familiar texture that every cat can enjoy. This small cat tree comes fully assembled with two luxurious platforms and a hanging toy. The base of this tree measures 20 inches on both sides.

Best for large cats: FEANDREA Cat Tree for Large Cats

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Specs

• Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 33 inches
• Weight: 22.4 lbs.
• Max holding weight: 44 lbs.

Pros

• Large perch
• Included anti-toppling wall attachment
• Easy to assemble
• Removeable and washable cushions and coverings

Cons

• Pillow at the top of perch not attached

The FEANDREA Cat Tree is a welcoming abode that won’t budge under pressure. The roomy cat condos and oversized plush perch provide ample space for big cat naps. Each post is wrapped in natural sisal rope and reinforced with battens at the tree’s base. It also includes an anti-toppling wall attachment if you are super wary of tipping.

Best wooden: Vesper Modern Cat Tree

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Specs

• Dimensions: 22.1 x 22.1 x 47.9 inches
• Weight: 40.5 lbs.
• Max holding weight: 45 lbs.

Pros

• Replacement parts offered
• Lots of enticing nooks, crannies, and perches
• Machine washable components

Cons

• A little difficult to assemble

This cat tower is made with laminated MDF board and comes in three attractive shades: warm walnut, natural oak, and classic black. With a tall observation platform, cozy cat cube, and seagrass scratching posts, this modern cat tree will keep your cat occupied while complimenting your meticulously curated apartment. The sisal scratching mat and memory foam beds are easily removable for easy washing. Vesper Trees are built for lifelong use, and replacement parts for scratching poles, cushions, carpets, and toys are available.

Best budget: AmazonBasics Cat Condo Tree Tower with Hammock Bed

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Specs

• Dimensions: 15.8 x 15.8 x 19.7 Inches
• Weight: 9 lbs.
• Max holding weight: 30 lbs.

Pros

• Secure base
• Dangling ball toy is replaceable
• Assembly takes minutes

Cons

• Hammock too snug for a chonky cat

This tower includes plush carpeting, an elevated hammock cat bed, two pillars wrapped in natural jute rope, and a hanging toy. The Amazon Basics cat tower is super easy to assemble and has a 15.7-inch base, but remember that this condo is best for small and medium-sized cats and might be too snug for a larger breed.

What to consider when buying the best cat trees

There are a few features to keep in mind when shopping for your new cat tree. It is a good idea to designate a space in your home for your cat and keep the limitations of that space in mind. Sprawling homes can accommodate a large cat tree, but a tight apartment might require a more compact design. Then, you will want to consider your cat’s activity level. Rambunctious kittens love to clamber up multilevel towers, but they are not as accessible for older cats; a cat with mobility issues will need a shorter model with wide platforms rather than a high-rise cat condo.

If your cat loves to scratch, it is important to choose a tower with a scratching post that they can’t wait to sink their needle-sharp nails into. The best cat tree will include a scratching material that you know your kitty loves, whether it’s sisal rope, jute, cardboard, or wood. And if your tabby loves to spread out, their dream tower will include ample space for afternoon catnaps. There’s a lot to choose from when it comes to pet products, so let’s break it down some more.

What’s the best for active cats?

The majority of house cats spend all day inside, and they need a place to exert their bundles of energy. If you’re looking to entertain a cat that seems hellbent on toppling your bookshelves, a tall cat tree is an easy way to redirect their attention. If you have multiple cats, a large cat tower can accommodate three to four felines and prevent territorial scuffles. Tall cat towers are also a good way to stimulate and challenge curious kittens.

The most important features to keep in mind when shopping for tall cat trees are durability and weight capacity. Yours will have to handle high-speed cat leaps, and you don’t want the tower to wobble or tip. If you have enough room for a larger cat tower, you will also want to ensure that it offers an assortment of interactive elements. The best cat tower will have scratching pads, a variety of perches, toy attachments, and condos to hide in.

What if I’m looking for a smaller cat tree?

If you live in an apartment or smaller home, you might not have room for a kitty skyscraper. Small cat towers are a great way to designate a spot for your furry friend without sacrificing precious living room space. Does your cat spend all day lounging by the window? The majority of small cat perches are window-level, which makes them perfectly suited for hours of cat contemplation. Although small cat towers are lower to the ground, you will still want one that won’t sway when jumped on. The best small cat tree will have a sturdy base, resilient scratching posts, and soft platforms for maximum relaxation.

What’s the best for larger breeds?

Your Maine coon might not fit on a regular cat perch, but that doesn’t mean he has to miss out on the fun. There are a variety of cat tower designs available that are built to lodge bigger cats. If your cat weighs over 15 pounds, their tower should be uniquely constructed to handle that extra fluff. When selecting cat towers for large breeds, you should ensure that the platforms are wide enough for them to fully recline and that they contain spare padding for optimal comfort. The best way to avoid tipping is with a two-pillar design, which prevents trees from leaning to one side.

What if I prefer a more modern design?

We know that your décor vision might not include a carpeted cat tower. Wooden designs are a sleek solution for those who prefer a more minimal aesthetic. Traditional designs might cause unwanted visual clutter, while a modern cat tower can blend seamlessly into a contemporary layout. Wooden designs may not be covered in plush fabric, but they are easier to clean and attract less hair. The best wooden cat tree will fit your modern style without compromising on kitty comfort.

What can I get for under $30?

We know that cat furniture can run you into the triple digits, especially if you’re shopping for a complex tower or a contemporary design. Luckily, there are options available for inexpensive single-platform trees. Cheap cat towers are sometimes made with flimsier materials, so you will want to ensure that what you pick is sturdy and claw-proof. The best cat tree on a budget will have durable construction, a soft bed, and tough scratching posts.

FAQs

Final thoughts on finding the best cat trees

• Best overall: Armarkat 77-inch Faux Fleece Cat Tree & Condo
• Best small: Frisco 32-inch Real Carpet Wooden Cat Tree
• Best for large cats: FEANDREA Cat Tree for Large Cats
• Best wooden: Vesper Modern Cat Tree
• Best budget: AmazonBasics Cat Condo Tree Tower with Hammock Bed

Cat towers are a smart solution for pet parents looking to keep their cats occupied and relaxed. The right cat products can resolve a scratching habit and entertain your pet while you’re away. From jungle-gym climbing trees to glossy wooden condos, the best cat tower will help your kitty feel truly at home.

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

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Best overall		SmartCat Pioneer Pet Ultimate Scratching Post		SEE IT	Sisal fibers and a wide base means this scratching post can handle it all.
Best cat tree		Vesper Cat Tree		SEE IT	Your cat can perch, hide, or scratch.
Best budget		Catit Cat Scratcher Boards with Catnip		SEE IT	Cardboard easily entices a cat, and also makes for a cheap scratching material.

Cats need to scratch, so the secret to keeping your stuff safe is giving them a scratching post they’ll want to sink their claws into even more. Felines are notoriously finicky animals, though, so it can be a little tough figuring out what they’ll want to scratch at. Your sectional may actually be a no-loveseat because your whiskered friend(s) keep tearing it up, but the right piece of cat furniture can be as attractive as white fur on a black sweater. Combined with some catnip, crunchies, and coaxing, and your pet will be purring in no time. The best cat scratching posts are designed for almost every cat and décor, and some are so cool that you might end up liking them as much as your cat.

• Best overall: SmartCat Pioneer Pet Ultimate Scratching Post
• Best cactus-shaped: PetnPurr Cactus Cat Scratching Post With Teaser Ball
• Best cat tree: Vesper Cat Tree 
• Best combination: ScratchMe Cat Scratcher Post & Board
• Best budget: Catit Cat Scratcher Boards with Catnip

How we chose the best cat scratching posts

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, over 31 million households in the U.S. own a cat. That’s a lot of places for a cat tree. To find the best cat scratching posts, we looked at critical reviews and peer recommendations, performed a hefty amount of research, and conducted user testing with our own fur-ends. We made sure they were durable, sturdy, and enticing to cats. You want to get them away from your furniture, after all.

The best cat scratching posts: Reviews & Recommendations

A cat scratching post is a great gift for the cat owner in your life. They’re also perfect if your precious pet is a little too good at their job at the biscuit factory. Don’t stop your cat’s need to scratch; per the Humane Society, it helps them express emotions, allows them to mark objects with their scent, removes the dead part of their nails, and lets them get a good stretch in. One of our picks is a suitable choice for making your feline smile, just like the Cheshire Cat.

Best overall: SmartCat Pioneer Pet Ultimate Scratching Post

SEE IT

Specs

• Dimensions: 32 x 16 x 15.75 inches
• Materials: Sisal; wood
• Weight: 16 lbs.

Pros

• Durable
• Sisal is longlasting
• Post doubles as a perch
• Wide bottom prevents wobbling

Cons

• Use depends on if cat likes it

If you’re looking for a great sisal scratching post that you won’t have to replace anytime soon, the SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post is the one for you. Its handsome design is backed up by strong, durable material, and, as an added bonus, your cat will look very elegant perched on top of it.

Best cactus-shaped: PetnPurr Cactus Cat Scratching Post With Teaser Ball

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Specs

• Dimensions: 15.7 x 15.7 x 26.5 inches
• Materials: Sisal
• Weight: 6.5 lbs

Pros

• Stylish
• Easy to assemble
• Built-in toy

Cons

• Reviews note that sisal rope frays easily

This cactus cat scratching post will blend in purrrfectly (sorry) with your houseplants while giving your cat a place to play, scratch, and relax. The built-in teaser ball is a nice little addition, and the base of the platform is sturdy enough to let your cat climb the cactus and channel that inner jungle cat. 

Best cat tree: Vesper Cat Tree

SEE IT

Specs

• Dimensions: 22.1 x 22.1 x 47.8 inches
• Materials: Sisal, engineered wood
• Weight: 40.5 lbs.

Pros

• Included dangling sisal toy
• Places to perch and hide
• Memory foam cushions

Cons

• Expensive

Available in a variety of sizes and colors, this well-constructed cat tree sets itself apart with its modern design. Memory foam cushions offer the ultimate in cat comfort, and multiple perches make it ideal if you have more than one cat. As a bonus, almost every model comes with a fun dangling sisal toy. Not sold on this one? Check out more of our favorite cat tree picks.

Best combination: ScratchMe Cat Scratcher Post & Board

SEE IT

Specs

• Dimensions: 17.32 x 17.32 x 6.11 inches
• Materials: Cardboard
• Weight: 4.5 lbs.

Pros

• Made with recycled cardboard
• Doubles as a bed
• Can accommodate multiple cats

Cons

• Cardboard doesn’t last as long as sisal

Made with 100 percent recycled cardboard, this is a great pet product for the eco-conscious cat owner who is also looking for a cat bed. Although cardboard doesn’t last as long as sisal, this cat product is well-made and won’t get torn to pieces overnight. Its circular design is perfect for cats that love to curl up while they nap, and it’s big enough to accommodate one large cat or two smaller ones. 

Best budget: Catit Cat Scratcher Boards with Catnip

SEE IT

Specs

• Dimensions: 17.5 x 7.5 x 2.87 inches
• Materials: Cardboard, paper
• Weight: 1 lb.

Pros

• Cheap and easy to replace
• Enough room for even the biggest of stretches
• Also doubles as a lounge

Cons

• Cardboard doesn’t last as long as sisal

Cardboard attracts cats just like light entices moths. This no-frills cat scratcher board is a great option if you’re trying to save money. It’s big enough for even a large cat to lounge on and inexpensive enough that you won’t break the bank when you inevitably have to replace it. Another plus: it’s recyclable, too.

Things to consider when shopping for the best cat scratching posts

You know all those cute little things your cat does that make them so special and unique? Well, not only is destroying your furniture and clogging the vacuum with pet hair probably not one of them, but neither is how picky they can be when you’re trying to find them the best cat scratching post. Just as it can take trying a few different brands of food to find something they’ll eat, finding a scratching post can require a little trial and error. The best cat scratching post is the one your cat loves using.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), you may already have the most important piece of information you’ll need to help guide your search for these cat supplies. After all, If you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance your cat already went to town on something they weren’t supposed to. Luckily, the material and the texture of your (formally) beautiful sofa can tell you a lot about what your cat likes to scratch at. So, if you can find something that’s similar, you and your cat will be very happy. 

Finding a cat scratching post with as many lives as your cat

The marks of a great scratching post (besides the ones your cat makes!) are durability and design. Most cats love to scratch at sisal, and a high-quality cat scratching post will be made of sisal fabric as opposed to sisal rope. Sisal fabric lasts longer than rope and will become softer the more your cat uses it. Conversely, when sisal rope breaks down, the fibers become sharp and dislodged, creating a texture your cat will turn its nose up at. Sisal scratching posts need to withstand aggressive pawing, so look for ones with sturdy bases. For obvious reasons, you don’t want your cat to be able to knock it down, so look for one that’s a little on the heavier side, especially if you have a big cat that loves to scratch.

Tame your cat’s claws with a funky cactus cat scratching post

Looking for a cat scratching post that also doubles as a conversation piece? Who can say why, but there’s something particularly adorable about a cat going to war with a cactus. In addition to providing your cat with all the benefits of a regular scratching post (exercise, relaxation, territory-marking), cactus scratching posts add a touch of green to any living space that can be relaxing for humans, too. Cactus scratching posts are all the rage right now, so watch out for inferior pet products that have been rushed to market to keep up with demand. Look for models with a durable base that are made with high-quality sisal fabric. Cactus scratching posts may be a bit of a novelty, but the best ones will work and hold up just as well as any standard model. 

A tree your cat will love (no fire department necessary)

Cat trees (also known as cat condos) are designed to satisfy a variety of your cat’s needs in one place. Amenities include scratching posts, perching areas, built-in toys, and boxes for your cat to hide in when you have to use the vacuum cleaner. Like that of their human counterparts, cat real estate runs the gamut from modest one-bedrooms to enormous mansions. Factors to consider when shopping for a cat tree include size (seriously, some cat trees are huge), durability, and style. After all, cat trees are usually much bigger than standard scratching posts, so you’re going to want your cat’s new home-within-a-home to match your own décor. 

Scratch, nap, repeat

Scratching and napping are among a cat’s greatest pleasures, but if you live in a small apartment, you might not have room for a towering cat condo. Not to worry, though! Almost every home has space for a combination cat scratching post and bed. These are an excellent choice if you’ve noticed that your cat tends to scratch where they sleep, or you’re just trying to reclaim your bed as your own. The cat scratching material will attract your cat like a magnet, and once they realize they can curl up and nap there, it will likely become their new favorite hangout. 

Save your furniture and some cash at the same time

Budget cat scratching posts are usually made out of low-grade cardboard or sisal rope as opposed to compressed cardboard or sisal fabric. Inexpensive designs are a great option when you’re low on cash (perhaps because you just paid to have the couch reupholstered), but they probably won’t last as long as a more expensive version. They will almost certainly lack the bells and whistles of a cat condo, but they may suit your cat just fine if they aren’t picky about where they scratch. Keep an eye out for cheap material that looks like it might dislodge and pose a hazard to your cat. And if you’re buying a cheap vertical cat scratching post, make sure the base is heavy enough that your cat can’t knock it down. 

If you’ve implemented a scratching post and need a new couch, some say that velvet is a pet-friendly material, as it hides scratches easily and has no threads to snag. It lacks the woven, tactile feel cats love, so it can also deter them from scratching. This is only backed up by testimonials, so do keep that in mind. If you can’t buy an entirely new couch, see if you can at least buy a new couch cover.

FAQs

Final thoughts on the best cat scratching posts

• Best overall: SmartCat Pioneer Pet Ultimate Scratching Post
• Best cactus-shaped: PetnPurr Cactus Cat Scratching Post With Teaser Ball
• Best cat tree: Vesper Cat Tree 
• Best combination: ScratchMe Cat Scratcher Post & Board
• Best budget: Catit Cat Scratcher Boards with Catnip

The best cat scratching post is the one your cat loves to scratch at, whether it’s the $50 SmartCat Ultimate scratching post or a $6.99 piece of cardboard. Different cats like to scratch at different surfaces and in different directions, so keep an eye out for how your cat is already scratching to get an idea of what to buy for them. More expensive sisal scratching posts will last longer than cheaper ones, but none of them will last forever. Extra features like built-in toys and cubes for them to climb in are fun, but not essential. Scratching is a basic need for cats, and a basic but well-made post will often do the trick for them.

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

The post The best cat scratching posts in 2023 appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Best overall		Embark Dog DNA test		SEE IT	This popular pick developed with Cornell University can test for more than 350 dog breeds and over 200 genetic diseases.
Best for health		Wisdom Panel Premium		SEE IT	Get a complete breakdown of your dog’s health, with testing for vision, hearing, weight, and drug sensitivities.
Best budget		Wisdom Panel Essential		SEE IT	Find out the essentials of what makes your pet unique with 35 genetic tests at a budget-friendly price.

If you’ve recently rescued or purchased a pup, you may not know much about your new furry friend, which is why it’s a good idea to invest in a dog DNA test kit. As a good pet parent, it’s smart to find out as much as you can about their breed so you can understand their behaviors and if your dog might be predisposed to certain health issues. Characteristics such as herding, retrieving, aggressive behaviors, and physical attributes have a lot to do with a dog’s breed and ancestry. And if you’ve rescued a dog, you may not even know what breed(s) your dog is! The best dog DNA test will not only answer the important questions about your pet’s genetic history, but also will help to ensure you have the tools to keep your pup happy and healthy. 

• Best overall: Embark Dog DNA Test | Breed & Health Kit
• Best for breed identification: Embark | Dog DNA Test | Breed Identification Kit
• Best for health: Wisdom Panel Premium
• Best with life plan: ORIVET Dog DNA Test
• Best budget: Wisdom Panel Essential

How we chose the best dog DNA tests

There are plenty of home DNA tests for dogs on the market. The truly effective ones may cost more, but they may save you in the long run. Brands such as Wisdom and Embark dog DNA tests can cost between just under $100 and to more than $160, but keep in mind they are the most highly rated and effective home DNA tests. The difference in price is due to what is tested for in the kit. The less expensive tests are specifically for breed identification, while the pricier options will offer information on health and doggy relatives, so the test you choose is up to you and what you are interested in learning more about. Fortunately, most canine DNA tests are very easy to use. You just need to swab your pup’s cheek, send your kit into the lab, and wait for about two to four weeks. We kept all of this in mind when testing the best dog DNA tests.

The best dog DNA tests: Reviews & Recommendations

The best dog DNA test will offer the most accurate breed breakdown for your pup at its most basic function. There are various types of dog DNA tests that will help determine your dog’s breed, genetic testing for diseases, or even help to connect you with your dog’s relatives. One of our choices should help you learn more about your best furry friend.

Best overall: Embark Breed & Health Kit

SEE IT

Why it made the cut: This market leader provides comprehensive genetic testing for health risks, breed, ancestry, and relatives, with a relatively quick turnaround time. 

Specs

• Tests: More than 230,000 genetic markers, including 350 dog breeds and 215 health risks 
• Time to results: 2-4 weeks
• Price: $139.00

Pros

• Comprehensive testing
• Relative finder
• Fast turnaround time 

Cons

• Expensive

The Embark dog DNA test is one of the most popular dog DNA test kit brands—and for good reason. The research-grade genotyping platform developed with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine screens for over 350 dog breeds, making it one of the most accurate tests on the market. The test includes a health screening for over 200 genetic diseases, so you can share your dog’s potential health risks with your vet. You can also find and connect with other pups that share your dog’s DNA to schedule a fun meet-up. Results take about two to four weeks. 

In our hands-on test, results fell on the early end of the typical turnaround time—just over two weeks. The results come with a robust dataset in a 32-page PDF and on the web. My dog is particularly difficult to map because of its extremely varied breed variety, but it rightly identified the major breeds involved.

We mentioned the test to our vet and they agreed the health suggestions are worth keeping in mind, though we shouldn’t worry too much about them. If you’re the type to obsess over dog health issues, that aspect of the testing may be stressful for you. Overall, however, Embark provides a very simple testing method, quick turnaround time, and lots of data in easy-to-read formats.

Best for breed identification: Embark Breed Identification Kit

SEE IT

Why it made the cut: If you’re interested in tracking down your dog’s relatives, the Embark Breed Identification Kit is for you. Easy to use, this kit provides access to Embark’s database, in which 90% of dogs tested have a close relative.

Specs

• Tests: More than 230,000 genetic markers, including 350 dog breeds and 215 health risks 
• Time to results: 2-4 weeks
• Price: $109.00

Pros

• Detailed breed information
• Comes with Relative Finder
• Less expensive

Cons

• May not be as effective with mutts

To understand your dog’s physical traits and personality, it’s important to start with the breed ID. Once you’ve accurately detected your dog’s breed(s), you can correctly address the training that would best fit their temperament. In three simple steps of activating your dog’s test, swabbing your dog’s cheeks, and mailing the swab into the lab, Embark can detect breed contributions of your mutt down to five percent of all of the breeds involved. The Embark DNA test will provide a family tree up to the great-grandparents and will show any relatives that have used the test.

Best for health: Wisdom Panel Premium

SEE IT

Why it made the cut: This comprehensive kit tests for more than 200 genetic health risks, plus provides access to a database of more than three million dogs so you can compare DNA. 

Specs

• Tests: More than 200 health tests and screening for over 350 breeds 
• Time to results: 2-3 weeks
• Price: $159.99

Pros

• Screens for sensitivity to medications and potential for kidney stones
• Comes with free vet consultations as part of package
• Can match dogs with family members in their database of 3 million canines

Cons

•  Some users have questioned the accuracy of breed identification

If you want to know about your dog and the health risks common with specific breeds, then a canine DNA test is the perfect starting point. Better insight into ancestry, historical conditions, as well as current red flags, means better care.  With over 200 health tests—including vision, hearing, weight, and drug sensitivities—you will learn about any health risks and what procedures and medicines could be of danger to your furry pal.

Of course, this easy-to-use Wisdom panel test also includes top-notch breed breakdowns by uncovering your dog’s breed mix down to one percent and by using over 35 trait tests to reveal your pup’s unique physical characteristics.

Best with life plan: ORIVET GenoPet 5.0 Dog DNA Test

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Why it made the cut: This kit tests for health risks and breed information and also provides a personalized wellness plan and ongoing outreach through an online portal. 

Specs

• Tests: For more than 350 breeds and health risks
• Time to results: Three weeks 
• Price: $99.95

Pros

• Provides personalized nutrition and health plan for your pooch
• Ongoing support through online portal
• Developed for purebreds

Cons

• Not designed for mixed-breed dogs

One of the best reasons to invest in the best dog DNA test is to better understand your pet’s care options throughout their lifetime. With a pet profile, you can easily share information with a veterinarian, health care provider, family, and friends. This dog DNA test kit from Orivet includes all the bells and whistles—and then some. The results reveal breed makeup, weight prediction, behavioral insights, and health risks (and, more importantly, how to act on them). The proprietary test also comes with a personalized wellness plan based on the dog’s breed, age, gender, location, and lifestyle. If you find that your test isn’t accurate, there is a 100% satisfaction guarantee. 

Best budget: Wisdom Panel Essential

SEE IT

Why it made the cut: If you’re just looking for a breakdown of your dog’s breed and major genetic health risks, this kit is a good option. 

Specs

• Tests: More than 350 breeds, 25 genetic health risks, 35 genetic traits
• Time to results: 2 to 4 weeks
• Price: $99.99

Pros

• Analyzes your dog’s makeup by breed
• Provides detailed description of pet’s characteristics
• Identifies major genetic health risks 

Cons

• Doesn’t provide ongoing plan or advice

You don’t have to be a big spender to get down to the smallest detail; this test lets you discover your pup’s breed mix to one percent by testing for over 350 dog breeds. With over 35 trait tests, you’ll be able to learn more about what makes your dog unique, from their muzzle shape to their fur color. Be in the know when you take your pup to the vet with the help of Wisdom by screening over 25 medical complications including drug sensitivities. 

What to consider when buying the best dog DNA tests

You don’t just walk into the pet shop and pick up the first bag of food you see—you research the best dry dog foods and start your search there. The same goes for a dog DNA test. When shopping around for the best dog DNA test, think about what you want to know about your pooch.

Do you want health information?

If you’re curious about the breed(s) of your pup and then figure you can research the rest from there, then you can get a test that focuses on breed. If you want a more detailed breakdown of your pup’s genetics, then pick a comprehensive genetic kit that can also clue you into your dog’s behavioral proclivities and potential for disease. 

If you’re simply curious about where your dog came from, then a basic test will suffice. More in-depth tests can, however, give you insight into possible health problems that may arise down the road.

Turn around time

We’re not really sure why you’d need to know your dog’s DNA results in a hurry, but most of these offerings promise results in roughly two to four weeks. Some will let you pay extra to get expedited results, but others stick strictly to their window. Generally, we haven’t found any outliers that differentiate themselves purely on turn around time.

Sample size

Another thing to consider when selecting your canine DNA test is the brand. Wisdom, for example, can detect your dog’s breed mix down to one percent, as they have tested two million dogs and have the largest canine DNA database. It may be a bit more expensive, but it will get you the most accurate results. 

FAQs

Final thoughts on the best dog DNA tests

• Best overall: Embark Dog DNA Test | Breed & Health Kit
• Best for breed identification: Embark | Dog DNA Test | Breed Identification Kit
• Best for health: Wisdom Panel Premium
• Best with life plan: ORIVET Dog DNA Test
• Best budget: Wisdom Panel Essential

The best dog DNA tests provide a window into your pet. They’ll tell you your dog’s breed and reveal the genetics behind their behavioral and physical traits, such as personality and the color of fur. Some kits will also help you identify breed-specific health issues that can help you know what to look out for, understand medication options, and know what to bring up with your vet. From learning about your pup’s breed to understanding potential inherited health issues, canine DNA tests will help you learn more about your precious pup to give them the happy and healthy life they deserve. 

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

The post The best dog DNA tests of 2023 appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com.

On November 14, 2016, a huge earthquake rocked Kaikōura, a town on New Zealand’s South Island, killing two people, triggering a tsunami, and thrusting stretches of coastline six meters up out of the sea. Biologists Ceridwen Fraser and Jon Waters were watching the aftermath on television. “We were seeing images of kelp and [abalone] lifted out of the water and dying,” says Waters.

For these two scientists who had spent much of the previous decade looking for evidence of ecological upheaval on the coast, Fraser says, there was only one thing to do. “We got on a plane.”

A decade or so earlier, in the mid-2000s, Fraser was a student in Waters’s lab at the University of Otago in New Zealand. The pair were studying how the genetics of New Zealand bull kelp vary across the southern hemisphere when they noticed something very strange.

The kelp living along the coast of mainland New Zealand, Fraser says, was highly genetically diverse. But the kelp inhabiting the cold, subantarctic islands scattered across the Southern Ocean was all very similar. Because of the vast distance between these smaller islands, Fraser had expected the kelp populations to be quite different from one another. The lack of genetic diversity revealed two things: the islands’ kelp had all been wiped out and later recolonized, and the recolonizing kelp had come from a single source. From there, it didn’t take Fraser and Waters long to realize they were really looking at places where kelp had recovered after a massive ecological disturbance. But what kind of disturbance?

“Bull kelp doesn’t like ice,” says Fraser. As the scientists went on to show, encroaching ice had wiped out the islands’ kelp during the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago. But, Fraser says, New Zealand itself was far enough north to avoid the worst of the Ice Age’s grip, explaining why its kelp populations are so much older and more genetically diverse.

This was a valuable insight for paleoclimatologists. “It’s actually really hard for researchers to work out where the ice was in the last ice age,” says Waters. “They have to take cores from the ocean floor—it’s incredibly expensive. But here we had a completely new approach.” The study showed that sea ice had extended a lot farther north during that period than scientists previously thought.

By 2016, Fraser and Waters had proven that they could uncover signs of historical environmental upsets by looking at kelp genetic diversity. So when the Kaikōura earthquake struck New Zealand, wiping out numerous kelp beds, the pair leaped at the opportunity to watch the process play out in the present.

Seven years on, says Fraser, the recovery is still only just beginning. The uplifted parts of the coast are slowly being recolonized by small algae. In time, bull kelp will once again get a foothold. It could come from the next bay or the other side of the world.

Bull kelp colonization is a high-stakes game of first come, first served. At any one time, there are an estimated 70 million individual chunks of bull kelp riding the currents of the Southern Ocean. The fronds—and the tiny creatures that live on them—can end up almost anywhere.

David Schiel, a marine ecologist from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, says bull kelp is almost purpose-built for long-distance travel. “When it breaks off, it floats. It can stay active for months and still go through its reproductive cycles.”

Despite the constant traffic, genetic exchange between far-flung islands is far from fluid. “We always think if something can get from A to B, then there must be gene flow between the populations,” says Fraser. “But actually, there’s not necessarily any gene flow because the local inhabitants have a real advantage.”

If a floating piece of bull kelp reaches a shore already dense with algae, there is almost no way it can get established, Schiel says. Bull kelp has the best chance of getting a foothold if it washes up on a completely bare stretch of rock. Once there, it needs to mingle its sperm or eggs with those of a reproductively active member of the opposite sex. In other words, “it’s hard to get in there,” says Schiel, “and when they do, there are probably not a lot of competitors getting in.”

But, says Fraser, when an earthquake, marine heatwave, or other deadly catastrophe occurs, “suddenly there are no locals left to compete with the immigrants, so when a few arrive, all of their gametes have a really good chance of getting a foot in the door.”

Once these bull kelp colonists become established, they and their offspring can dominate the population for centuries or even millennia to come.

That kelp tends to colonize quickly and then hang on for the long haul showed Fraser and Waters that studying kelp genetic diversity might be an even better way to identify historical natural disasters than they thought.

Having spent nearly 20 years developing their technique, 2023 brought Fraser and Waters an opportunity to flip their process on its head and really prove its worth. On a coastal rock platform near Rārangi, a town on the northeast end of New Zealand’s South Island, the team stumbled on another pocket of odd kelp genetics. The kelp, they found, shared the genes of a population from 300 kilometers away. Something had clearly happened here.

Subsequent geological studies confirmed what the kelp suggested: around 2,000 years ago, the Rārangi platform had been thrust skyward in an earthquake.

“We wouldn’t have even looked at that region if it wasn’t for the genetics showing us something unusual,” says Waters. “And hey, presto, the geologists had another look, and the evidence was really clear.”

Bull kelp, scientists are coming to understand, holds a record of the southern hemisphere’s turbulent tectonic past. It offers a way to confirm known disasters and find hints of previously undocumented ones.

“We can now look into the past and find signatures of previous disturbances that weren’t known about,” says Waters. “There’s often a hidden history you can reveal using genetic approaches and thereby understand more about a region’s history.”

This article first appeared in Hakai Magazine and is republished here with permission.

The post Kelp holds a timeline of Earth’s history appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Best overall		Eco 5 FoodCycler by Vitamix		SEE IT	This pick from Vitamix allows you to convert your food scraps overnight into usable, nutrient-rich powder for your plants.
Best countertop		OXO Good Grips Compost Bin		SEE IT	This sleek composter is perfect for apartment dwellers who want to save their scraps but not attract bugs.
Best worm bin		VermiHut Plus Worm Compost Bin		SEE IT	Take composting to a new level with this worm compost bin.

Whether you’re looking to nourish your potted plants, foster a prized vegetable garden, or do your part to reduce food waste, an indoor composter is an environmentally friendly and effective way to turn your food scraps into usable dirt. But if you’re new to composting, it can be confusing to find the best compost bins. The good news is that composting at home is easier than you think, and it’s a great way to put your inedible and leftover food to good use. The canisters and bins on this list help initiate the process of breaking down food into nutrient-dense soil in which plants can thrive. 

• Best overall: Eco 5 FoodCycler by Vitamix
• Best tumbling: VIVOSUN Tumbling Compost Bin
• Best countertop: OXO Good Grips Compost Bin 
• Best pallet: Redmon Compost Bin 
• Best worm bin: VermiHut Plus Worm Compost Bin
• Best budget: EPICA Compost Bin

How we chose the best compost bins

As a year-round home composter (yes, even through New England winters), as well as a vegetable gardener, I know how valuable the rich, nutrient-dense soil in a compost pile is as a fertilizer. And as a chef and home cook, I want to do everything I can to reduce the massive amounts of food waste in America. So, my list of best compost bins reflects personal experience, product testing, and research, including customer reviews and product specs. These composters are eco-friendly and easy to use. They’ll minimize smells in your kitchen and help your family turn regular food scraps into nourishing soil for your next produce crop.

The best compost bins: Reviews & Recommendations

According to the National Resources Defense Council, composting “adds nutrients and organic matter back to the soil,” a.k.a. black gold. This “benefits agriculture, reduces our reliance on synthetic fertilizers, diverts methane-producing organic materials from landfills, and improves soil’s water retention capacity so you don’t need to water as much.” Plus, composted soil is said to produce more delicious fruits and vegetables.

Despite how complicated it may sound, all you really need is the right composting bin or compost barrel and the desire to help the environment. Beyond that, according to the EPA, just find a shady, dry spot for your bin and moisten dry materials before you add them to the heap.

Best overall: Eco 5 FoodCycler by Vitamix

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Specs

• Material: Plastic
• Capacity: 5 liters
• Dimensions: 10.9 inches L x 13.5 inches W x 13.8 inches H
• Weight: 29 pounds

Pros

• Turns compost into soil-grade material you can immediately use
• Quiet
• Large capacity

Cons

• Expensive

Vitamix is known for making high-functioning kitchen appliances, and this indoor electric composter is no exception. Though it’s not cheap, this quiet and thorough food cycler does the job well every time and will last for years of regular use, making it one of the best compost bins. To operate the Vitamix machine, dump food scraps (including poultry bones, fruit rinds, and coffee grounds) into the interior bucket. Press the power button and walk away. The machine will first dehydrate, then grind your leftovers into a dry powder that’s compact, light, and easy to transport to the garden. 

The machine stays quiet and keeps smells at bay, thanks to interior carbon filters. This model also features reusable filters that you can fill with new carbon pellets for even more sustainability.  

We’re also a fan of Vitamix’s smaller (and more affordable) FoodCycler FC-50, shown here. Just toss your vegetable peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, and even chicken bones into the 2-liter container and press the on button. About four hours later, your scraps are turned into nutrient-rich soil you can use for your houseplants or in your garden.

Best tumbling: VIVOSUN Tumbling Compost Bin 

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Specs

• Material: Plastic, metal
• Capacity: 43 gallons
• Dimensions: 26.25 inches L x 23.6 inches W x 36.5 inches H
• Weight: 21.7 pounds

Pros

• Large capacity
• Two chambers allow for different stages of composting
• Air vents allow for circulation
• Affordable

Cons

• May be too large for small households
• Expensive

This rotating batch compost bin is easy to use and mess-free. Two chambers let you alternate dual batches of compost, while the convenient tumbler lets you mix without getting your hands dirty. Adjustable air vents provide aeration for oxygen-rich soil, and a pair of garden gloves (included) let you excavate and plant your yard safely.

Best countertop: OXO Good Grips Compost Bin

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Specs

• Material: Plastic
• Capacity: 1.75 gallons
• Dimensions: 8.3 inches L x 10.15 inches W x 12 inches H
• Weight: 1.63 pounds

Pros

• Attractive
• Combats odor
• Easy to clean

Cons

• Small capacity

Though it has a small footprint, this OXO style gets the job done. Oxygen flows through the soft-close lid to combat odor and insects. It can also be switched to stay-open mode for ease when tossing in scraps. The internal bucket is removable and can be popped in the dishwasher, and its handle makes it easy to carry outside. 

Best pallet: Redmon Compost Bin 

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Specs

• Material: Plastic
• Capacity: 6.62 liters
• Dimensions: 13 inches L x 13 inches W x 8 inches H
• Weight: 15 pounds

Pros

• Large capacity
• Weather-resistant
• Composter and turning tool in one
• Aeration built in

Cons

• May be too large for small households

Four access doors plus a top-lid make it easy to get scraps in and compost out. At 15 pounds empty and 26-by-26-by-30.75 inches, set it and forget it. Plus, this Redmon compost bin is made of post-consumer, UV-stabilized material that’ll stand up to all sorts of weather. 

Best worm bin: VermiHut Plus Worm Compost Bin 

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Specs

• Material: Plastic
• Capacity: 40 liters
• Dimensions: 17 inches L x 17 inches W x 33 inches H
• Weight: 15 pounds

Pros

• Large capacity
• Incorporates worms
• Easy to set up

Cons

• Some users say some worms escape

This 17-by-17-by-33-inch multi-tray option has additional components like an ant trap, plus multiple boards made of different materials (e.g., coconut fiber) for moisture control, fruit-fly deterrence, and odor removal.

Best budget: EPICA Compost Bin

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Specs

• Material: Stainless steel
• Capacity: 40 liters 
• Dimensions: 7.16 inches L x 7.16 inches W x 11 inches H
• Weight: 12 pounds

Pros

• Made of stainless steel
• Features charcoal filter to fight odor
• Affordable

Cons

• No active composting function
• Not very large capacity

This rust- and leak-proof Epica composting bin option controls odor with an airtight lid and replaceable charcoal filter. Plus, it won’t leach any toxic chemicals into your compost. 

What to consider when shopping for compost bins

Depending on how green (or not so green!) thumb your thumb is, ease of use should be the first consideration when choosing the best compost bin. The good news is that most models are relatively simple to operate. The right mix of materials—greens like foodstuffs and browns like newspaper and leaves—guarantees a nearly odor-free process. Beyond that, the process comes down to how much space you have and whether you’re comfortable adding insects to the mix.

Do you want an indoor compost bin or an outdoor compost bin?

The biggest variable between indoor and outdoor styles is odor. Composting—which, in essence, is accomplished by decay—can get stinky. Indoor composters tend to be smaller and more airtight, and they sometimes come with built-in filters. You could use your indoor bin as a layover for the backyard, i.e., a place to store scraps that eventually and quickly go into the bigger bin out back, assuming you don’t want what is essentially dirt and decay sitting on your countertop for weeks.

Would you prefer a nice and neat composting bin that fits on your countertop?

The upside to a countertop compost bin is that it’s small and tidy-looking, and you won’t have to schlep to the backyard every time you need to deposit a banana peel. The downside is, well, it’s small. Not just that, but without the tumbler feature of many outdoor models, you’ll either eventually have to transfer the contents of your countertop contraption to an outdoor one or do the tumbling yourself, i.e., using your hands or tools to mix the compost components together. Think of a countertop style as an add-on, not a fully functional composting system in and of itself (especially since it takes weeks for compost to fully develop).  

If you want an outdoor compost bin, how many chambers would you like?

Compost barrels and bins tend to come in two varieties: single- and multiple-chamber. The main difference is that a multiple- or dual-chamber composter allows you to compost multiple batches on a rolling basis. For example, you can keep adding waste to one chamber while the other cooks). Technically, you don’t even need a bin to compost (though it certainly makes it easier). Those with greener thumbs can create a compost pit or trench in the yard, no bins or barrels required. If ease is what you’re after, a dual-chamber tumbler—so you don’t have to manually mix the compost—is the way to go.

Are you cool with worms?

If you said, “Heck yes, I’m cool with worms!” that’s great news. The addition of worms can speed up the composting process in multiple ways. The worms eat all the food scraps you’ve put in the bin, and when they come back out again, voilà, it’s compost now! Also, their penchant for tunneling creates a naturally aerated environment for the decay to happen. If you’re down with worms, invest in a batch of red wigglers, a particularly efficient type of worm, at your local nursery or through Amazon. If you have an open-bottom composting bin in your backyard, no need to buy your own worms. The earthworms already in your yard will naturally gravitate to it. And if you’re more than just a little interested in worms, you could try creating your own wormery, a.k.a. vermicomposting. 

How do I know what’s compostable and what’s not? 

Eventually, you’ll get a natural sense for what you can and cannot compost. Until then, just defer to a trusted source, like the NRDC. As a general rule, avoid anything treated with pesticides, feces, dairy, charcoal, or fats. Do opt for leaves, shredded newspaper, coffee grounds, tea bags, and fruits and veggies. 

FAQs

Final thoughts on the best compost bins for you

• Best overall: Eco 5 FoodCycler by Vitamix
• Best tumbling: VIVOSUN Tumbling Compost Bin
• Best countertop: OXO Good Grips Compost Bin 
• Best pallet: Redmon Compost Bin 
• Best worm bin: VermiHut Plus Worm Compost Bin
• Best budget: EPICA Compost Bin

A composter is a can’t-lose proposition! Just deciding to give composting a go means you’re on your way to living more sustainably and potentially growing more delicious food for your family. Composting reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and lowers your carbon footprint. Which particular bin, barrel, or tumbler you choose comes down to your comfort level, personal taste, and aesthetic. Just pick the one that speaks to you, and you’ll be on your way to eco-hero status in no time. 

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

The post The best compost bins of 2023 appeared first on Popular Science.

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Americans consume billions of pounds of meat each year. And yet, there’s a plethora of research showing that copious amounts of meat can be unhealthy, both for the Earth and our bodies.  

The question of how to steer consumers toward healthier and more sustainable plant-based foods is a tricky one. Warning labels, similar to the ones found on cigarette packs, could be one way to raise awareness about the negative impacts of meat and perhaps sway consumer choices. But they’re still completely experimental.

In a new study published in the journal Appetite, psychologists in the UK created an online food-selection task where about 1,000 participants—all of whom ate meat—had to choose between a meat-based, fish-based, vegetarian, or vegan meal 20 times. A quarter of these participants based their decisions on images of each of the dishes. The remaining participants were randomly assigned to also see a warning label about the impact of meat on health, climate change, or the risk of future pandemics (researchers and organizations like the United Nations have linked high meat consumption with risk of infectious diseases). The team found that each warning label type reduced the subjects’ desire to eat meat: by 9 percent with health labels, 7 percent with climate labels, and 10 percent with pandemic labels. The individuals also viewed the climate label as the most credible of the three and the pandemic label the least, but potentially had a stronger emotional response to the latter.

One reason these warnings might work is because people see a negative outcome attached to meat, so they have a gut reaction and opt for a different food, says Jack Hughes, a psychology researcher at Durham University in England and lead author on the new paper. Another explanation could just be that the extra information gets people to think more consciously about their decisions, he explains. 

[Related: How to enjoy fake meat in a way that actually helps the planet]

The results of the study are “very in line with what we’ve seen with regards to labeling efforts and their effect on consumer behavior,” says Lindsey Smith Taillie. “They have a small to moderate effect on consumer choices.” Taillie, a nutrition epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina who studies how policies affect food choices, notes that the inclusion of pandemic-related labels is a first for this kind of research, at least to her knowledge. She would be especially interested to see how consumers in the US would react to that kind of messaging given the different political and cultural climate.

There are many factors that could influence the effectiveness of a warning label on a product. For example, as basic as it sounds, pictures make a difference. “We do know for tobacco in the UK that when images became mandatory alongside the text, labels got more effective,” Hughes explains. In two prior studies, Taillie and her collaborators found that text-only labels cautioning of health and environmental impacts of meat consumption only mildly reduced people’s carnivorous intentions, if at all. 

But not all images are the same. Take the case of high sugar content: A photo of teaspoons full of sugar is more factual and informative than a visual of a diseased heart, Taillie says. Regardless, “graphic labels are generally considered to be the most effective type,” she adds.

With warning labels, the goal is to grab people’s attention and get them thinking about their food’s footprint. But it ends up being counterproductive if the message makes the consumer feel angry or restricted, Taillie adds. One 2022 study out of Europe found that eliciting disgust by adding graphic images to packaging can both increase and decrease the likelihood of individuals choosing meat products, depending on whether they felt manipulated. Another recent European study found that meat-shaming messages on products can have paradoxical effects on buying habits.

The next step for this sort of research, says Taillie, would be to see how such labels affect choices in real-world settings—when factors like smells, prices, and peer pressure might influence consumer decisions. It’s also probably easier to choose the plant-based option when it’s a hypothetical online task and you don’t actually have to eat the food, she adds.

[Related: When faced with tough choices, your brain secretly tips the scales]

But choosing a meat-free diet can be an incredibly impactful way for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint, and this research can help nudge people in that direction. “In the UK, the Climate Change Committee says that meat consumption in the country needs to be reduced by 20 percent by 2030 [to meet carbon emission goals],” Hughes says. His team’s work shows that one simple and cheap action could change minds in a portion of the population. 

Would that be in the case in the US as well? Taillie sees a parallel with graphic tobacco warnings, which were adopted by European countries but have stalled in the state due to lawsuits. With meat labels, she says, “I think we’re looking at a timespan of decades.”

The post Graphic warning labels might convince people to eat less meat appeared first on Popular Science.

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Best overall		PetFusion Ultimate Dog Bed		SEE IT	This memory foam orthopedic dog bed gives medium to large dogs plenty of comfort, with a removable waterproof cover for easy cleaning.
Best for large dogs		Pfulfl Human Dog Bed		SEE IT	This plush bed is designed with plenty of room for an adorable pooch and her human.
Best washable		Newton Baby Washable & Orthopedic Pet Bed		SEE IT	This orthopedic mattress is designed to support your pup, regulate body temperature, and is designed with a cover and core that are machine washable.

Dogs need a place to rest and relax just as much as people do, and dog beds provide that definable space where dogs can escape or stay confined while they rest. While some beds may be a platform only, others have cradling memory foam and cooling technology to keep your pup comfortable. Add a washable cover, and you have a bed you and your dog can love. Bed designs range from simple to sophisticated, plush to flat. Your dog’s size, age, and preferences (if they have them) all come into play. The best dog beds fit the dog and the room and might look comfy enough that you’ll want to test them before handing one over to your pup. 

• Best overall: PetFusion Ultimate Bed
• Best for small dogs: FuzzBall Fluffy Luxe Bed
• Best for large dogs: Plufl Human Dog Bed
• Best with memory foam: Casper Dog Bed
• Best leather: Le Bed Leather Dog Bed
• Best for calming: BarkBox Memory Foam Bed
• Best for chewers: Kuranda Bed – Chewproof Design
• Best orthopedic: Furhaven Orthopedic CertiPUR-US Certified Foam Bed
• Best washable: Newton Baby Washable & Orthopedic Pet Bed
• Best budget: MidWest Homes for Pets Bolster Bed

How we chose the best dog beds

As a dog lover myself, I combined my own experience, as well as that of other PopSci contributors familiar with dog products, into my search. I also conducted market research online, diving deep into customer impressions and scouring the features of numerous bed brands to find the best of the best. When choosing the best beds, I considered size, fabric, and frame choices, as well as durability and comfort features.

• Size: Dogs come in all shapes and sizes. Some brands make beds that scale to fit the shapes of many different types of dogs, while other brands focus on just the pint-sized or the hippo-competitors. I picked some beds that are meant for all-size dogs but made sure to highlight a few size-specific picks.

• Fabric and frame: I looked for beds that prioritized either machine-washable outer layers or stain-resistant materials. In my experience, an easily cleanable surface is an all-important feature of a dog bed (as is buying a vacuum for pet hair while you’re shopping). I also looked for especially tough frames on framed beds, as anything else could invite chewing and wear.

• Durability: Chewing-prone dogs need a high-durability bed that won’t succumb to teething or canine anxiety in just a few weeks (and it can’t hurt to give them some interactive toys to keep them busy).

• Comfort features: Memory foams, egg-crate textured foam, and bolsters are a few of the comfort features I prioritized in this list. 

The best dog beds: Reviews & Recommendations

Adopting a puppy can be one of the most exciting times in a new dog owner’s life. However, watching a dog grow up and mesh with the rest of the fur family is truly a treat—you remember the first time your dog walked over to the cat bed and decided they were friends. Along with dog crates, mattresses and beds are just some of the best dog items you can purchase to make Fido feel truly at home.

Best overall: PetFusion Ultimate Bed

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Why it made the cut: This memory foam bed gives big dogs support that contours to the dog’s shape, no matter how they lay. 

Specs

• Number of sizes: 6
• Machine-washable cover:  Yes
• Colors: 3

Pros

• Comes in XXL for bigger dogs
• Waterproof liner protects the memory foam
• Removable, washable cover and bolsters

Cons

• Fabric holds onto fur

The PetFusion Ultimate Dog Bed comes in six sizes, but it’s the extra-large and extra-extra-large sizes that make it a great pick for large breeds. The memory foam support can handle the added bulk of a big body while contouring to a dog’s pressure points. A waterproof, durable fabric covers the padding and unzips down the full length of one side. The zipper makes it easier to remove the foam interior come washing time, which is important, as the exterior is machine washable and the interior isn’t. And, if that zipper breaks—or any part that breaks due to manufacturer defect—there’s a 36-month warranty that covers it.

The cover features soft, comfortable fabric. However, that fabric does hang onto fur, which is the one downside of this bed.

Best for small dogs: FuzzBall Fluffy Luxe Pet Bed

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Why it made the cut: The FuzzBall made the cut for its soft plushness that gives small dogs big comfort. 

Specs

• Number of sizes: 4
• Machine-washable cover: Yes
• Colors: 4

Pros

• Machine-washable soft cover
• Design lets small dogs snuggle in and feel secure
• Luxe-looking design

Cons 

• Not enough filling for some dogs

The FuzzBall Fluffy Luxe Pet Bed features an ultra-soft, machine-washable cover that comes in four colors. The bottom fabric has anti-slip silicone grips to keep the bed stationary for wriggly nappers. It is also waterproof to keep floors clean in the case of an accident. This bed includes bolsters around the edges with little cushioning in the center. That’s been surprising for some reviewers. However, the plush cover and bolsters are designed for dogs to snuggle into, using the bed almost like a nest. This model definitely gives off a luxe, cozy feel. However, some dogs (and owners) don’t like that there’s not as much padding in the center of the bed.

Best for large dogs: Plufl Human Dog Bed

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Why it made the cut: The Plufl is a super-sized, comfy dog bed you can share with your pup.

Specs

• Number of sizes: 1
• Machine-washable: Yes
• Colors: 4

Pros

• Soft
• Gel-infused cooling foam
• Increased snuggle time with your dog
• Machine-washable

Cons

• Hard to fit cushions in the cover
• Large for smaller homes

The Plufl is perfect for horse-sized dogs, multiple smaller doggos, or humans that want to lie around with their pups after a long, hard day. Looking at the Plufl, it feels like something that should have always existed. It just makes sense. I often stare over at my dog, Wanda, jealous that her bed looks a lot more comfortable than my couch.

The Plufl’s cooling gel-infused foam cushion helps keep everyone cool while providing a thick enough surface that prevents you from feeling like you’re lying on the floor. The plush pillow around the perimeter keeps your pet’s dog toys from rolling out and also provides a comfy pillow to lay your head on, easing neck pain.

The Plufl looks just like your standard fluffy dog bed, but it’s about three times the size—68 inches long by 33 inches wide. You’ll need a fair bit of space for this large dog bed, but the built-in handles make it fairly easy to lug around. And you can fold it in half for storage when not in use.

When putting the bed together, Plufl recommends you leave the two rolls of cushion unraveled and open for at least 24 hours. This will allow the material time to expand. The bed wasn’t the easiest to put together alone due to the large cushions. We’d recommend having someone else there to speed up the process. But the cover is removable and machine-washable, so don’t worry if your dog or your sweaty self stinks up the joint.

Choose from four colors: Grey, Charcoal, Biscuit, and a Blush pink.

Best with memory foam: Casper Dog Bed

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Why it made the cut: Casper has used its mattress know-how to create a super comfortable bed for dogs made with memory foam.

Specs

• Number of sizes: 3
• Machine-washable cover: Yes
• Colors: 3

Pros

• Supportive
• Durable
• Available in three sizes

Cons

• Some users said the bed had a chemical smell

If you want your pup to be as comfortable as you are when you sink into your mattress at night, consider the Casper Dog Bed. The well-known mattress brand combined its engineering know-how with research on the habits of canines to develop these beds. They’re designed with supportive memory foam that will conform to a pooch’s shape and provide a cushion for their head. The nylon cover is machine washable, and the microfiber material can withstand plenty of scratching,

Best leather: Le Bed Leather Dog Bed

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Why it made the cut: This luxe bed features an orthopedic mattress that will provide your pooch with plenty of support.

Specs

• Number of sizes: 2
• Machine-washable cover: No, wipes clean with leather cleaner
• Colors: 6

Pros

• Sleek design for a dog bed
• Provides orthopedic support
• Durable

Cons

• Expensive 

Love to indulge your pooch? For dogs with a taste for the good life, consider Le Bed’s Leather Dog Bed. This premium model is designed with a supportive orthopedic mattress with cooling memory foam that will cradle your pooch and help regulate body temperature. The supple leather cover is available in six shades: black, chocolate brown, cognac tan, slate gray, python, and bone (pictured). Cleaning the bed is easy as well. Just wipe clean with a damp cloth and use a leather cleaner.

Best for calming: BarkBox Bed

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Why it made the cut: The BarkBox relieves stress with a cooling gel memory foam that helps to calm anxiety as it enhances relaxation.

Specs  

• Number of sizes: 4
• Machine-washable cover: Yes
• Colors: 5

Pros:

• Two-layer foam design supports and cushions
• Water-resistant lining
• Upholstery fabric cover that’s machine washable

Cons: 

• Fabric can be loud

The BarkBox Memory Foam Bed is covered in a tough machine-washable upholstery fabric. The two-layer memory foam inner cushion gets extra protection with a water-resistant liner. Even better, every bed has a free toy, meaning your dog has an automatic emotional support toy to sleep with.

Dual layers of memory foam soothe restless animals. A gel foam top layer contours the body while removing body heat. It’s supported by a second layer of memory foam that adjusts to your dog as it lays on the bed. The only downside with this model is that the fabric’s rough texture can be loud if your dog is a restless sleeper.

Best for chewers: Kuranda Bed – Chewproof Design

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Why it made the cut: The Kuranda’s high-strength PVC frame and choice of fabrics let you design a custom bed that resists chronic chewing. 

Specs 

• Number of sizes: 6
• Machine-washable cover: No
• Colors: 4

Pros

• Custom fabric options
• Tough, but lightweight PVC frame
• Indoor and outdoor designs available

Cons

• No cushioning

Kuranda beds don’t leave durability to chance with dogs that get bored or have anxiety. High-grade PVC creates a durable frame that can withstand the chewing of teething dogs. 

PVC is also lightweight, so you can carry this bed all over the home or yard without breaking a sweat. Owners get to pick from four bed colors and a choice of fabrics, including heavy-duty vinyl, ballistic nylon, outdoor vinyl mesh, or textured nylon. 

There’s no cushion for this bed, which means chewers can’t rip out the stuffing. However, it also means older dogs, or those with arthritis, may not get the extra-plush they want. And, if your dog is a very determined digger, they might be able to claw a hole in the fabric.

Best orthopedic: Furhaven Orthopedic CertiPUR-US Certified Foam Pet Bed

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Why it made the cut: Older dogs and those with joint pain get relief from egg-crate textured orthopedic foam that contours and supports the body with gentle pressure relief.

Specs 

• Number of sizes: 5
• Machine-washable cover: Yes  
• Colors: 8

Pros

• Egg-crate textured foam cushions while enhancing airflow
• Soft faux fur, machine-washable cover
• Bolsters provide a backrest or chin pillow

Cons 

• Bolsters are only held on by the cover

Are you trying to help your beloved pup stay comfortable and sharp in its golden years? This bed will do just that. The Furhaven Orthopedic CertiPUR-US Certified Foam Pet Bed features egg-crate foam with gentle cushioning and excellent airflow. Bolsters on two or three sides (depending on the model) provide a pillow or back support. 

The bolsters on this bed are held on by only the cover only, meaning that they may not offer the greatest support. However, the cover itself is soft and machine washable. This bed may not be memory foam, but it supports achy joints and muscles with targeted texture and provides ample room for older dogs to get comfortable. 

Best washable: Newton Baby Washable & Orthopedic Pet Bed

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Why it made the cut: Both the core and cover are machine washable, making less-than-happy accidents even easier to clean.

Specs 

• Number of sizes: 3
• Machine-washable cover: Yes 
• Colors: One

Pros

• Temperature regulating core
• Easy to wash
• Scratch-proof

Cons 

• Expensive
• Limited size range

Every pet parent has known the struggle of Barkers mistaking the pet bed for a wee wee pad. Most pet beds either require spot-cleaning, or boast a removable cover. Get peace of mind that your pet’s bed is truly clean with the Newton Baby Washable & Orthopedic Pet Bed, which features a machine-washable core and cover. It’s orthopedic to support supple little heads and creaky joints, and the core is temperature-regulating to keep your canine cool all year long. The bed itself is made using Wovenaire technology, which was invented in Japan. The bed is created by extruding high-quality, food-grade polymer into a clear pool of water, which creates a resilient rectangle that’s 90% air by volume. The resulting product provides the comfort of foam and latex without the environmental drawbacks. If it’s good enough for fragile, soft little babies, it’s more than perfect for your fragile, soft little (fur) baby.

Best budget: MidWest Homes for Pets Bolster Pet Bed

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Why it made the cut: Quality isn’t sacrificed for price with this versatile, wallet-friendly pet bed.

Specs 

• Number of sizes: 8
• Machine-washable cover: Yes  
• Colors: 5

Pros

• Fits in most crates
• Lots of colors and sizes
• Easy to wash

Cons 

• Not thick
• Sheds

Throw this bed in a carrier or a cage for transport, or leave it out for daily napping. Or do both, thanks to its price that makes it easy to purchase more than one to put in multiple places. The synthetic fleece keeps your dog comfortable in warm or cold climates and doesn’t wear down over time. Additionally, its stitching and construction allow it to resist wear and tear. However, the bed might not be best for older dogs, as it’s not thick. The bed also comes with a one-year warranty in case this bed slipped through MidWest’s product testing. Judging by the brand’s longevity—it’s been around for 90 years—you may not need to use it.

What to consider when buying the best dog beds

You can’t just get any dog bed for your pooch. They only deserve the softest, most comfortable pet bed on the planet since they are perfect angels who can do no wrong. However, there are some things to keep in mind when purchasing your dog a new bed to ensure their happiness—and your sanity so they don’t take bed-related anger out on your couch cushions.

Washability

We all love our four-legged friends, but they can really make a mess sometimes. A dog bed with a washable, waterproof cover will make your life infinitely easier. Check the cover’s washing instructions, as some may have to be line-dried, especially if they have a non-skid bottom.

Durability

If you’re spending a lot of money on a pet bed, you’ll want it to have longevity. Otherwise, you’re throwing money right into the hungry, voracious pit that is your dog’s mouth. Additionally, eating stuffing and fabric is not good for a dog’s stomach and could warrant a trip to the emergency vet—which means you’ll throw even more money right into the hungry, voracious pit that is your dog’s mouth. Either invest in a bed that includes structural features like triple-stitched seams, dense stuffing, and a puncture-resistant cover, or accept that nothing will satiate your pup like ripping apart a brand-new bed. In that case, make sure it’s made out of non-toxic materials and cheap so it’s easy to repurchase.

Size

Size matters. An extra-large dog needs an extra-large dog bed. But an extra-extra-large dog? Well, there’s a bed for him too. Beds designed for big dogs often feature more padding to account for the extra weight. Smaller dogs often feel more secure in a bed as pint-sized as they are. The wrong-sized bed could lead to a big dog that’s cramped or a small dog that feels exposed or insecure. 

Comfort

You wouldn’t want to sleep in an uncomfortable bed—why should your dog? More importantly, if your dog has joint problems or is older, a comfortable bed is a must-have feature. The best dog bed will support and cushion your dog’s body to prevent or manage any pain they may have. Your dog’s bed is their domain and helps them feel calm and stress-free. A comfortable bed can help prevent them from tearing up the house out of stress.

Extra features

Do beds really have extra features? Yes, they do. Much like there are fancy dog houses, there are dog bunk beds, luxury dog beds, and heated dog beds. The climate you live in, your dog’s breed, and your personal aesthetic might require a bed with extra features. Extra features may include reinforced corners, covered heavy-duty zippers, bolsters, or more.

FAQs

Final thoughts on the best dog beds

• Best overall: PetFusion Ultimate Bed
• Best for small dogs: FuzzBall Fluffy Luxe Bed
• Best for large dogs: Plufl Human and Dog Bed
• Best with memory foam: Casper Dog Bed
• Best for calming your dog: BarkBox Memory Foam Bed
• Best for chewers: Kuranda Bed – Chewproof Design
• Best orthopedic: Furhaven Orthopedic CertiPUR-US Certified Foam Bed
• Best washable: Newton Baby Washable & Orthopedic Pet Bed
• Best budget: MidWest Homes for Pets Bolster Bed

For an all-around high-quality, comfortable bed, the PetFusion Ultimate Bed gets the top prize. Its supportive cushion lets the dog sink into the bed. If your dog likes to chew and dig, the Kuranda Bed – Chewproof Design—with its PVC frame and tough fabrics—will probably last longer. Regardless of the best pet bed you choose for your furever friend, dogs deserve a warm, cozy spot to rest their head as much as we do. A comfortable pet bed can make all the difference in your dog’s quality of life when they come in from a snuffari, and help extend your furniture’s lifespan, too.

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

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North Carolina’s Outer Banks saw a busy sea turtle nesting season this year. The barrier islands stretching from Ocracoke Island north to the Virginia state saw 459 total nests between May and October, according to reporting from The Virginian-Pilot and three conservation groups in the state dedicated to sea turtle nesting.

[Related: This waddling robot could guide baby turtles to the sea.]

There are six species of sea turtles native to the United States—green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley. All six species are protected by the Endangered Species Act and four of them are known to nest in North Carolina. Human activities are the biggest threats to sea turtle species around the world. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that their biggest threats are being caught in fishing gear, nesting and habitat loss, pollution and marine debris, boat strikes, climate change, and the direct harvest of sea turtles and eggs.

During the early to middle of the summer in the Outer Banks, female turtles return to the same beaches where they hatched to dig nests into the sand. They use their back flippers to dig a hole in the ground to deposit the eggs, and then cover it back up with sand. According to the National Park Service, the nesting process takes about one to three hours to complete. 

The tiny turtles hatch a few months later and follow the light of the moon to the ocean. However, their journey from their nests is quite hazardous, as they can be misdirected by artificial lights from homes and streets, crushed by human activity, or eaten by predators on their way to the ocean. 

[Related: Endangered green turtles are bouncing back in the Seychelles.]

At Cape Hatteras National Seashore, this year tied with 2022 as the second-busiest nesting season on record with 379 reported nests. The area covers more than 70 miles and stretches from Ocracoke Island north to Nags Head. The National Park Service says that the first nest was found on May 12 and the most recent was seen on October 29. The nests comprised 324 loggerhead turtles, 51 green turtles, three Kemp’s ridleys, and one leatherback. The leatherback nest was the first one seen on Hatteras National Seashore in 11 years.

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the northern end of Hatteras island reported its third-busiest nesting season since 2009. The refuge covers about 13 miles and saw 43 sea turtle nests this year. By species, 37 nests belonged to loggerhead turtles and six were green turtle nests, according to data from the Sea Turtle Nest Monitoring System.

The nonprofit Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (NEST) also reported its third-busiest nesting season since 2015. Vice President Susan Silbernagel said 30 nests belong to loggerhead turtles and seven were green turtle nests. The all-volunteer organization covers about 50 miles from Nags Head up to Virginia. 

[Related: Safely share the beach with endangered sea turtles this summer.]

To better protect the endangered turtles, volunteers and scientists have been regularly monitoring the region’s beaches since 1997. Staff members and volunteers at Cape Hatteras will establish a buffer zone around the nests for added protection. 

“We could not manage and monitor sea turtle nesting without the help of over 50 dedicated volunteers that assist with monitoring of our nests and reporting and responding to sea turtle strandings,” Michelle Tongue told The Virginian-Pilot. Tongue is the deputy chief of resource management and science for the National Park Service’s Outer Banks Group. 

Sea turtles spend the vast majority of their lives in the ocean and are among the largest reptiles in the world. Kemp’s ridley and green sea turtles weigh about 75 to 100 pounds, while leatherbacks can weigh about 2,000 pounds. Sea turtles are set apart from their pond or land-dwelling relatives by their flippers. Instead of these appendages, land and pond turtles have feet with claws. 

Continued monitoring and vigilance during the 2024 nesting season will hopefully increase survival rates for these endangered reptiles.

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Humans are the only primates currently living in the wild in North America, but that was not always the case. The continent was once home to non-human primates, including big-eyed tarsier-like animals called omomyiforms and long-tailed critters called adapiforms. About 30 million years ago, a lemur-like creature named Ekgmowechashala was the last primate to inhabit the continent before Homo sapiens arrived. In a study published November 6 in the Journal of Human Evolution, fossil teeth and jaws shed some new light on this mysterious creature. 

[Related: 12-million-year-old ape skull bares its fangs in virtual reconstruction.]

From China to Nebraska

Understanding the origins of North America’s primates has been a paleontological puzzle. It’s been unclear whether they evolved on the continent or arrived from somewhere else via land bridges. The first first primates in North America date back about 56 million years at the beginning of the Eocene Epoch. Scientists believe that the primates like Ekgmowechashala generally flourished on the continent for over 20 million years. 

Ekgmowechashala was about five pounds and only one foot tall. They lived in what is now the American Plains just after the Eocene-Oligocene transition. At this time, a huge cooling and dying event made the continent much less hospitable for primates. Ekgmowechashala went extinct about 34 million years ago. 

For the study, paleontologists first had to reconstruct Ekgmowechashala’s family tree with the help of  an older “sister taxon,” or a closely related group of animals. Both groups generally share a branch on their family trees, but diverged at some point and have different lineages. This sister animal originates in and the team named it Palaeohodites, which means “ancient wanderer.” The fossils were collected by paleontologists from the United States in the 1990s from the Nadu Formation in Guangxi, an autonomous region in China. The fossils closely resembled the Ekgmowechashala material that had been found in North America in the 1960s, when the primate was still quite mysterious to North American paleontologists.

The Palaeohodites fossil potentially helps resolve the mystery of Ekgmowechashala’s strange presence in North America. It was likely a migrant to the continent instead of being the product of local evolution.

“Due to its unique morphology and its representation only by dental remains, its place on the mammalian evolutionary tree has been a subject of contention and debate. There’s been a prevailing consensus leaning towards its classification as a primate,” study co-author and University of Kansas PhD candidate Kathleen Rust said in a statement. “But the timing and appearance of this primate in the North American fossil record are quite unusual. It appears suddenly in the fossil record of the Great Plains more than 4 million years after the extinction of all other North American primates, which occurred around 34 million years ago.”

[Related: These primate ancestors were totally chill with a colder climate.]

The Ekgmowechashala fossils found in the US during the 1960s include an upper molar that looks very similar to the Palaeohodites molars found in China, according to study co-author and University of Kansas paleontologist Chris Beard. The team from Kansas closely analyzed the fossils to establish evolutionary relationships between the American Ekgmowechashala and its cousin Palaeohodites. 

The paleontologists believe that Ekgmowechashala did not descend from an older North American primate that survived the climate shift roughly 33 million years ago that caused other North American primates to go extinct. Instead, Ekgmowechashala’s ancestors likely crossed over the icy Beringian region that once connected Asia and North America millions of years later.

Rising from the dead

Ekgmowechashala is an example of the “Lazarus effect” in paleontology. This is where a species suddenly appears in the fossil record long after their relatives have died off. It is a reference to Lazarus who, according to New Testament mythology, was raised from the dead. It is also a pattern of evolution seen in the fossil record of North American primates, who went extinct about 34 million years ago. 

“Several million years later Ekgmowechashala shows up like a drifting gunslinger in a Western movie, only to be a flash in the pan as far as the long trajectory of evolution is concerned,” Beard said in a statement. “After Ekgmowechashala is gone for more than 25 million years, Clovis people come to North America, marking the third chapter of primates on this continent. Like Ekgmowechashala, humans in North America are a prime example of the Lazarus effect.”

The past is prologue?

Studying the way primates were affected by previous changes in climate can provide important insight to today’s human-driven climate change. Organisms generally retreat to more hospitable regions with the available resources or end up going extinct. 

“Around 34 million years ago, all of the primates in North America couldn’t adapt and survive. North America lacked the necessary conditions for survival,” said Rust. “This underscores the significance of accessible resources for our non-human primate relatives during times of drastic climatic change.

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Studying the ocean is a daunting task. It requires machines that don’t corrode in the seawater, and are able to withstand the escalating, crushing pressures as they dive down. While robots have become better at surviving these challenging environments since they became part of the crew embarking on deep-sea explorations, animals like elephant seals and weddell seals do it naturally with ease. As a workaround to keep the tech expenses low but the science quality high, a group of researchers had the idea to attach trackers and basic measurement tools detecting temperature, salinity, and depth to these seals to learn more about their massive marine habitat. 

The tracker looks like a funny little hat, but don’t let its appearance fool you. It has proven to be conducive to serious science. 

Earlier this summer, the team of international scientists working on the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) project published a report in the journal Communications Earth and Environment in which the seal divers wearing these satellite-paired, glued-on trackers revealed that the bottom of the sea in some areas is deeper than what’s stated on current maps. The seals also helped uncover a hidden underwater canyon in Antarctica’s seas that was then confirmed with other tools, Scientific American recently reported. 

This study is just one of the many planned projects for these blubbery, flippered research assistants. According to ABC Australia, the tracker-adorning seals are part of a 20-year project to understand the grooves and depths of the East Antarctic continental shelf and the seafloor below it. Turning the seals into effective free-roaming sensors can fill in gaps in data related to some of the most hard-to-get-to parts of the Antarctic ocean, as the seals are “tweeting” small packets of information they’ve collected to a satellite every time they surface. 

[Related: Tagging along with sharks to the ocean’s twilight zone]

Seals may know secret spots, too, that humans have never ventured to before, and they’re still actively exploring, diving down to the seafloor to forage, even when blankets of ice prevent ships and other human devices from accessing certain regions of Antarctica.  

This science is happening for an important reason. Getting a more accurate picture of the labyrinthic world under Antarctic ice is key to making predictions about how and how fast melting occurs as a result of climate change. The seals are definitely not the only tool scientists are deploying. Submersible robots like Boaty McBoatface and Icefin are also on a similar mission. 

There are many lacunas in the reams of scientific data regarding how the ocean is structured, and how its inhabitants traverse it. Part of the shortcoming is because researchers are approaching the task from a human perspective, and not seeing the environment the way an animal living there would. This could be why there are so many remaining mysteries around phenomena like, for example, where eels reproduce. Using an inside source, or an inside marine animal so to speak, may not be the worst idea to spy on their world. 

The method is already yielding results. Other than the seals, a team of scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have tagged sharks to study the quirks of the ocean’s twilight zone, and another team tagged turtles in the Indian Ocean to gather data that could be used to predict cyclones.

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This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

Cattle play a colossal role in climate change: As the single largest agricultural source of methane, a potent planet-warming gas, the world’s 940 million cows spew nearly 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions—much of it through belches and droppings.

As such, there’s an astonishing amount of time and money being funneled into emission control. On-farm biodigesters, for example, take a backend approach by harvesting methane wafting from manure pits. A slew of research aims to curb bovine burps by feeding them seaweed, essential oils, and even a bovine Beano of sorts. The latest endeavor, a $70 million effort led by a Nobel laureate, uses gene-editing technology in an effort to eliminate that pollution by reengineering the animals’ gut microbes.

Given the world’s growing appetite for meat and dairy, these novel ventures are crucial to inching us toward international and national climate goals. Yet they beg the question: Wouldn’t it be easier to ditch milk, cheese, and beef for plant-based alternatives? Why fight nature when there’s an easier solution, at least from a scientific perspective?

Research shows that even a modest skew away from meat-based diets can shrink an individual’s carbon footprint as much as 75 percent. As it turns out, however, untangling cows from the climate equation is enormously complicated—especially in the United States, where the industry, worth $275 billion annually, boasts the world’s fourth largest cattle population and is its top beef and dairy producer. Achieving a cheeseburger-free America faces formidable challenges. Beyond overcoming cultural shifts—the country’s per-capita consumption of mozzarella, to name one example, averages one pound a month—lies the challenge of meeting nutritional demands and rebalancing the intricacies of an agricultural, food, and industrial economy inextricably linked to livestock farming.

For these reasons, greener diets are but one prong in a larger set of food-based solutions for curtailing human-caused climate change, said Stephen Sturdivant, an environmental engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency. “We need a comprehensive combination of strategies to achieve a truly sustainable future,” he said. “We can’t just cherry-pick our way to get there.”

The nation’s taste for meat and dairy is undeniable. In addition to a steady, decade-long-rise in beef consumption, which hit 20 billion pounds in 2021, Americans gobbled up 12 percent more cheese, butter, and ice cream than in the previous year, continuing an upward trend that started half a century ago.

There’s a fundamental disconnect, though, between our growing demand for animal-based protein and its enormous carbon footprint. Producing a pound of steak generates nearly 100 times more greenhouse gas than an equivalent amount of peas, while cheese production emits eight times the volume of making tofu.

Although the American beef and dairy industries are among the most efficient in the world—due in part to better breeding, genetics, and nutrition—they still leave a significant hoofprint. The nation’s 92 million cattle generate 4 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gases and account for 40 percent of all agricultural emissions.

However, if those herds were to magically disappear, it wouldn’t eliminate the problem entirely. According to a peer-reviewed study, an animal-free agricultural system would shave just 2.6 percent off the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, any reduction would be noteworthy given the nation’s outsized role in climate change—that drop would be equivalent to three times Portugal’s annual emissions—though that benefit would come with drawbacks.

With no livestock to feed, the acreage now used to grow silage and hay could be replaced with food crops. Yet because higher value fruits and vegetables require quality soil, specific climate conditions, and ample water infrastructure, most of that land would be limited to growing calorie-heavy, hardy broad acre crops such as corn and soybeans—a system change that would add its own climate impacts.

In fact, agriculture’s current emissions are a result of a certain balance between crops and livestock, said Robin White, a professor of animal and poultry science at Virginia Tech and the lead author of the research. Crops need fertilizer, a resource often provided by livestock, and producing synthetic versions is an energy-intensive process that typically requires fossil fuels and emits methane. Cattle also help keep agricultural byproducts—from fruit peels and pulp to almond hulls and spent brewery grains—out of landfills, reducing the carbon output of crop waste by 60 percent.

Eliminating the nation’s cattle and replacing feed production with food crops would create more food, White said, resulting in a caloric surplus of 25 percent. That abundance, however, would come with deficits in essential nutrients, as plant-based foods tend to fall short in vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and fatty acids. (Although existing studies reflect good long-term health in vegetarians, research on those who eschew all animal-derived foods is inconclusive.)

Larger discussions around sustainability tend to overlook these complexities, said White. Food insecurity is often tied to caloric sufficiency, but doesn’t always reflect nutritional needs, particularly those of vulnerable populations. Pregnant, lactating, and elderly women, for example, are susceptible to anemia and low bone density, mainly due to inadequate iron and calcium intake—nutrients readily available in red meat and dairy products, and easily accessible to large swaths of the population.

“These types of nuances get lost,” said White, when we focus exclusively on the broader metrics of diet change. While balanced choices can work for individuals, keeping the country adequately fed and healthy is a complicated endeavor. “There’s an entire agricultural system behind that food production,” she added, and changing the pieces within it requires careful examination.

Given the scale of the beef and dairy industries, the central role they play in feeding people, and the difficulty of removing them from the economy, cattle clearly aren’t moving on any time soon. For that reason, there’s been no shortage of resources aimed at, quite literally, the gut of the emissions issue.

As with most ruminants, cattle make the most of a paltry diet, converting cud, grains, and crop waste into muscle and milk. Extracting all that energy from cellulose and plant fibers requires the work of digestive microbes; cow rumens host entire colonies of bacteria, yeast, and fungi that ferment complex carbohydrates into microbial protein, which they then absorb, and volatile fatty acids, which they expel as methane and other gases.

Several dietary supplements have been shown to minimize bovine bloating. A twice-daily garlic and citrus extract can cut emissions by 20 percent, while a red seaweed additive can inhibit them by as much as 80 percent without impacting animal health or productivity or imparting detectable flavor to the resulting proteins. But having a transformative impact will require industrial-scale production and implementation. The promising strain of seaweed, for instance, prefers tropical waters, and developing a supply chain robust enough to serve tens of millions of cattle with a daily intervention leaves a trail of unanswered questions regarding effective farming, processing, and distribution techniques.

Ultimately, tinkering with the animals’ digestive system may hold the most scalable answer. Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for pioneering the CRISPR gene-editing tool, is leading a University of California team that hopes to do just that. The recently launched project aims to identify the offending gut bacteria through metagenomics, another breakthrough technology that maps the functions of complex microbial communities, then restructure their DNA to produce less methane. The goal is to develop an oral treatment for calves that, once administered, will continue repopulating their rumen with the genetically modified microflora.

“We’re trying to come up with a solution to reduce methane that is easily accessible and inexpensive,” Matthias Hess, an associate professor at UC Davis and a project lead, said in an interview. It’s a fix that, if successful, could make a serious dent in tamping down cattle emissions the world over.

Their mission launched earlier this year, funded by the TED Audacious Project. Along with livestock, microbiomes generate nearly two-thirds of global methane emissions through landfills, wastewater, and rice paddies. If successful, “our technology could really move the needle in our fight against climate change,” Doudna said in a recent TED Talk.

Even as science tries making cows more climate-friendly, the tide of consumption has seen a steady shift. In the last two years, the majority of Americans have upped their intake of plant-based foods, with almost half of millennials and Gen Z-ers regularly eating vegan. But there’s also been another notable tip in the scale: Just 12 percent of the country eats half the nation’s beef. And for many in the meat-heavy minority, the perils of climate change seem to do little in nudging them toward planet-friendlier meals.

A global study of factors that encourage greener diets found that climate risk perception is but one influencing factor, along with health implications and economic circumstances. Yet it’s the people around us, said Sibel Eker, the report’s lead author, who hold the most sway in changing individual attitudes, beliefs, and values—in other words, there’s power in herd mentality.

“If there are more vegetarians or flexitarians around you, you tend to think that this is the norm in society,” said Eker, a sustainable service systems researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. “So if you have the intention of changing your behavior, the social cost [to do so] becomes lower.”

In fact, when it comes to influencing environment-related behaviors such as recycling and ditching cars, social norms and comparisons are incredibly effective, far outpacing other drivers such as financial incentives and public appeals, according to a separate study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. And positive visibility and reinforcement — by individuals, a community, or mass and social media—do more to encourage climate action than shaming people who aren’t fully on board, Eker said. Otherwise, it just makes the matter alienating and polarizing.

In the end, the overarching nature of the food system requires a collective approach to shrinking its enormous emissions. While there’s no denying the outsized environmental footprint of animal-based foods, dietary shifts are part of a much larger strategy around food-based climate action, said the EPA’s Sturdivant. Along with improved farming practices such as maximizing yields and minimizing inputs, reducing food loss and waste is just as critical. And for these reasons and more, meatless Mondays, vegan Fridays, and less polluting cows all have their place in mitigating the role cattle play in warming the world.