Every time you flush, the waste disappears in a swirly whirl, never to be seen again. It’s magic! Actually, it’s science and engineering. WTTW News Explains. 

Lincoln Park Zoo said farewell today to a 300-year-old bur oak, but the tree will live on in multiple ways.

The peak water levels this spring will likely rank in the top 10 of all time in many places, but the National Weather Service said river levels will generally remain well below past records. 

A mystery vandal is once again undoing ecological restoration work at LaBagh Woods.

It's time for the annual City Nature Challenge, a friendly global competition among hundreds of cities, running from Friday through Monday. Here's how to submit nature observations and boost Chicago in the standings.

There’s a love triangle brewing at Montrose Beach, where Imani the piping plover has been joined by a mystery bachelor and … a female.

Chicago’s birders are celebrating the arrival of Imani at Montrose Beach. The piping plover is a 2021 chick of Monty and Rose.

A small number of people had to leave their homes in Wisconsin as the river kept rising. Others stacked sandbags in the small community of Buffalo, Iowa, in anticipation of flooding this weekend and early next week.

More than 20 years after residents began their fight to save the stair-step limestone wall at Promontory Point on the south lakefront, the Point was declared an official Chicago Landmark during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Crews are scheduled to begin removal of the ancient bur oak on May 1. The zoo is planning Arbor Day events on April 28 to give the tree a celebratory farewell.

Known as one of the oldest-recorded meteor showers, the Lyrids are expected to produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour for three nights centered around its peak of 8:06 p.m. CST on Saturday, according to EarthSky.

The CHARM Center, as it’s been dubbed, will open Saturday in South Holland. The free, permanent recycling hub will accept items including electronics, textiles and Styrofoam, many of which are reusable.

Peak bloom is still a couple weeks away, but the buds are beginning to burst forth in Jackson Park’s Cherry Blossom Grove.

A new short documentary, “Watershed Warriors,” focuses on Friends of the Fox River and the progress the organization has made to reclaim the waterway as a natural resource for the people, wildlife and plants that live within its watershed.

According to a new survey, there’s been a shift in the percentage of Americans who believe humans are the primary driver of climate change as opposed to natural changes in the environment.

In true springtime-in-Chicago fashion, last week’s record-setting summer-like temperatures gave way to a return on winter Monday, as people woke up to snow-covered cars and below-freezing wind chills.