Quanta Series Marvels at 'The Achievement of Climate Science'

September 15, 2025 at 13:00 PM EDT

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 15, 2025 / For most of us, the word "climate" immediately generates thoughts of melting ice, rising seas, wildfires and gathering storms. However, while studying the pressing challenge of climate change, scientists have revealed so much more: a fundamental understanding of how Earth's climate works.

Illustration
An illustration of the Earth climate system. Credit: Mark Belan/Quanta Magazine

Since its founding, Quanta Magazine has sought to illuminate the pursuit of knowledge about the basic mechanics of the natural world. Today, the Pulitzer Prize-winning magazine continues this mission with "How We Came To Know Earth," a nine-story chronicle of the modern understanding of fundamental climate science - from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from the math of tipping points to the audacity of climate models.

Senior Editor Hannah Waters edited the series and led its development. Before joining Quanta in 2023 to edit its biology section, Waters oversaw the climate desk at Audubon Magazine, which gave her a direct look at the hard work of climate science.

"Over many years as a climate journalist, I wrote and edited harrowing stories about the impacts of climate change. I learned so many interesting things about how Earth's climate works, but there was rarely space to share that understanding," Waters says. "It has been exciting to finally get to explore the foundational science of Earth's climate in this series. I learned a lot by working on it, and I hope Quanta readers do, too."

"How We Came To Know Earth" is the third Quanta series to explore a single topic in a rich, multimedia format. In 2024, Quanta examined the nature of the universe in "The Unraveling of Space-Time," which won the 2025 National Magazine Award for Best Single-Topic Issue and a Webby People's Voice Award. And earlier this year, the magazine published "Science, Promise and Peril in the Age of AI," an exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing the practice of science and math.

Samir Patel, Quanta's editor-in-chief, says that climate science will occupy a more notable presence in the magazine's standard coverage. "The public understanding of science is in a challenging place, but this rigorous, foundational science is the only way to make sense of what is happening to the world," he says. "We at Quanta work hard to make complexity comprehensible, and we are bringing that commitment to the most critical challenge of our time."

Quanta again worked with HLabs to bring the special issue to life. HLabs is an award-winning digital design agency that previously developed "The Unraveling of Space-Time." The Quanta art department, led by Art Director Samuel Velasco, produced imaginative 3D models envisioning a series of alternative Earths that creatively reflect the stories in the series.

Waters, Patel and staff writer Joseph Howlett are available for media interviews about the series and its subject matter.

Quanta Magazine is an award-winning, editorially independent online publication of the Simons Foundation.

Contact Information

Matt Carlstrom
mcarlstrom@quantamagazine.org