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Climate Change

The researchers have collected thousands of coral samples since 2006.

Corals Reveal El Niño Events Have Become Stronger in Recent Decades, Probably Because Humans Have Been Heating Up the Planet

Researchers used elements trapped within Galápagos corals to understand natural swings in the climate over the past millennium. They hint that variability has gone up over the past 40 years compared to preindustrial times

Streets affected by the catastrophic floods are now covered in mud.

What Triggered the Devastating Floods in Nepal and Tibet, and Are We Due for More in the Future? Here’s What Scientists Know So Far

Natural hazards researchers suspect that a landslide involving a glacier triggered the event, and they say more could happen because of human-caused climate change

Scientists reconstructed the ancient forest canopy using fragments of fossilized leaves.

Forests Didn’t Fare Well During an Ancient Global Warming Event, Offering a ‘Cautionary’ Tale About Today’s Climate Change

An intense global warming event 56 million years ago caused a forest in modern-day Wyoming to lose around 60 percent of its canopy cover, and it took more than 100,000 years to bounce back, a study suggests

Illustration of the La Brea Tar Pit's ancient habitat, with the newly discovered toad species (center and right) and the Mexican burrowing toad (bottom)

Paleontologists Discover a New Species of Ice Age Toad at the La Brea Tar Pits, Offering Clues About the Area’s Ancient Climate

The fossilized remains, recovered in 1929, were part of La Brea’s relatively understudied amphibian collection. Since toads are cold-blooded and sensitive to environmental changes, the discovery can help researchers piece together past climate conditions

A hunger stone along the banks of the Elbe River in Decin, a city in the Czech Republic

‘Hunger Stones’ Resurface in Europe, Bringing Centuries-Old Warnings Back Into View as Rivers Hit Historic Lows

As drought exposes stretches of riverbed in central Europe, markers carved by past generations to record low water levels are emerging once again

Marmots can spend up to eight months in hibernation, so packing on the pounds during the short alpine summer is essential to their survival.

Cast Your Vote for the Chunkiest Alpine Rodent During Colorado’s First-Ever Fat Marmot Week

The inaugural competition puts eight yellow-bellied marmots head-to-head while shining a light on the science behind their seasonal weight gain and survival at high elevations

Claude Monet lived in Giverny, a small village about 50 miles northwest of Paris, for more than four decades.

In France, Brutal Summer Heat Waves Are Taking a Toll on the Flowers That Inspired Claude Monet’s Most Beloved Paintings

The colorful nasturtiums at the artist’s house and gardens have been hit particularly hard this summer as France grapples with a record 52 heatwave days

Brazil experienced its first urban outbreak of yellow fever in decades from late 2016 through 2018. During that time, people flocked to health centers to get a vaccine, which can provide lifelong protection.

Brazil’s First Urban Yellow Fever Outbreak in Nearly a Century May Have Been Fueled by a Surprising Culprit

Extremely wet conditions are known to help spread mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever. But based on computer simulations, researchers suspect that a severe drought may have contributed to the South American country’s recent deadly epidemic

The small blue, shown here, has lost about 40 percent of its habitat in the United Kingdom over the last 150 years.

Butterflies Around the World Are Moving to New Habitats, Largely Because of Climate Change, a Study Suggests

Researchers examined data on 1,758 butterfly species—about ten percent of all those known—from 105 countries and estimated that about one in ten global species has shifted its distribution range

German warships dating to World War II are visible again in the Danube River, as they were in 2024 as pictured here.   

The Danube River Has Fallen to Record-Low Water Levels, Revealing Nazi Warships, Bombs and Woolly Mammoth Bones In Its Channel

Residents and researchers are finding historic and prehistoric relics as Europe’s second-longest river dries

Concordia is situated atop a 10,800-foot-thick ice cap on the Antarctic Plateau more than 600 miles from the nearest coastline.

Antarctic Interior Hits Minus 119.4 Degrees Fahrenheit, Earth’s Lowest Recorded Temperature in More Than a Decade

The record-setting cold at the Concordia research station comes just weeks after another part of the southernmost continent experienced the opposite extreme, with winter temperatures climbing to unprecedented highs

Beachgoers rested at Lake Lacanau's Moutchic Beach in southwestern France last week, as clouds of smoke rose into the sky from the Gironde wildfire.

Dangerous ‘Fire Clouds’ Are Making France’s Wildfires Even More Destructive

It’s the first time the phenomenon, which is fairly common in North America, has been observed in France

The Solomon Siren by Jason deCaires Taylor honors Kale Island, which was submerged a decade ago due to rising sea levels. 

This Pacific Island Disappeared Under Rising Seas. A New Sculpture Marking the Spot Will Morph Into a Home for Seabirds, Coral and Marine Life

“The Solomon Siren” remembers Kale Island, submerged a decade ago in the Solomon Islands

Koala conservation is a complex balancing act in Australia. In some regions, populations are in steep decline, but in others, the animals are overabundant.

Koalas Are at Risk of Extinction in Some Parts of Australia. Can Freezing Their Sperm and Eggs Help Save the Iconic Marsupials?

Scientists are preserving the animals’ reproductive cells in liquid nitrogen in a bid to boost genetic diversity in future populations

Commercial whalers hunted southern right whales to the brink of extinction. Though the species has rebounded, its recovery has been uneven.

Poop From Southern Right Whales Reveals That the Animals Might Be More Resilient to Climate Change Than We Thought

Scientists long believed that these whales, which swim throughout the Southern Hemisphere, mainly feasted on krill and small crustaceans called copepods, which are disappearing from the warming ocean. A new study suggests that the cetaceans have a more varied, flexible diet

The Canopus, a pool at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy

How Has Roman Concrete Lasted for Millennia? A 1,900-Year-Old Latrine Offers New Clues About the Material’s Impressive Durability

A chemical process called carbonation, which helps seal cracks, could help explain why many ancient Roman structures are still standing today. Researchers hope that the insights will lead to better modern-day building materials

Earth is currently experiencing an occurrence of the El Niño climate pattern.

Could We Mitigate Super El Niños by Artificially Changing the Climate? A New Study Indicates Yes

Researchers used computer models to see what would have happened had scientists caused marine cloud brightening in the face of strong past El Niños

Scientists analyzed about 25 years' worth of data from the Fram Strait, a passageway where the Arctic and Atlantic oceans meet.

The Arctic Ocean May Have Passed a Crucial Tipping Point That Could Harm Food Webs and Worsen Climate Change

Sea ice loss seems to have triggered a decline in the nutrient nitrate, affecting the tiny organisms that form the foundations of marine food chains and absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study

A 187-foot-tall dipterocarp tree

Tall Trees Were Thought to Be More Vulnerable to Drought. But These Towering Plants in Southeast Asia Have Adapted to Move Water Efficiently

A new study found that enormous dipterocarp trees have special adaptations to transport water up to their highest limbs, challenging the assumption that they would more easily succumb to dry conditions

To turn shrimp shells into a feedstock for hydrogen gas production, the process begins with mashing the shells into a rust-colored shrimp slurry.

How Shrimp Shells Are Being Turned Into ‘Carbon Negative’ Fuel, Food and Construction Materials

Engineers in Singapore have developed a new, multistep chemical process that transforms organic waste into useful, sustainable products

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