Climate
- Plants
Soil microbes that survived tough climates can help young trees do the same
Trees grown in soil with microbes that have survived drought and high or low temperatures have a better shot at survival when facing the same conditions.
- Environment
More than half of the world’s largest lakes are drying up
Satellite data from 1992 to 2020 reveal that 53 percent of the world’s largest freshwater bodies shrank during that period while only 24 percent grew.
By Nikk Ogasa - Climate
There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program
The electric vehicle program is reducing carbon dioxide emissions but also shifting the pollution burden to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.
- Climate
Thawing permafrost may unleash industrial pollution across the Arctic
As the frozen ground warms due to climate change, industrial pollutants could flow free from thousands of sites across the Arctic.
By Nikk Ogasa - Plants
Ultrasound reveals trees’ drought-survival secrets
Scientists used ultrasound sensors and electrical probes to reveal how drought affects the tissues of living trees.
- Earth
A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life
A subglacial river has carved out the cavern beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, and may be supplying nutrients necessary for life.
By Douglas Fox - Climate
Methane may not warm the Earth quite as much as previously thought
Methane absorbs both longwave and shortwave radiation, with competing effects on climate, a study finds. The gas remains a potent warmer of the planet.
By Douglas Fox - Earth
The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?
A dropping lake level affects agriculture, public health and the environment — but water conservation can halt the decline.
- Climate
The summer of 2021 was the Pacific Northwest’s hottest in a millennium
Tree ring data from the Pacific Northwest reveal that the region’s average summer temperature in 2021 was the highest since at least the year 950.
By Sid Perkins - Climate
‘Flash droughts’ are growing increasingly common
Droughts are forming faster more often in much of the world due to climate change, a new study finds.
- Climate
How an Indigenous community in Panama is escaping rising seas
The Indigenous Guna peoples' relocation from Panama could offer lessons for other communities threatened by climate change.
- Climate
Baseball’s home run boom is due, in part, to climate change
Higher air temperatures led to an average of 58 more home runs each MLB season from 2010 to 2019, a study shows.