research

Extreme climate shocks, intensified by global warming, killed hundreds of people and devastated livelihoods and ecosystems across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023, scientists with the World Meteorological Organization said earlier this week when they released the annual state of the climate report for the region.  Drought, heat, wildfires and extreme rainfall, as well […]

Africa’s great apes—from gorillas to chimpanzees and bonobos—are under far greater threat than scientists previously realized, a new study suggests.  While primatologists and conservationists have long tracked great ape populations and the human activities that negatively impact them—from poaching to expanding agriculture and oil drilling—there has historically been a dearth of information on the location […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responded to a “surface water pollution emergency” on farmland 17 miles south of downtown in 1979, federal officials joined state regulators in removing 17,000 barrels of hazardous waste from an illegal dump site. It would become notorious nationally as the “Valley of the Drums.” But the EPA didn’t […]

California emits more sulfuryl fluoride, a potent greenhouse gas and toxic pesticide, than the rest of the lower 48 states combined, a new study concludes.  The study, published Wednesday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, comes after California—a state that touts its leadership role in addressing climate change—denied a recent request to include the […]

If global warming continues at its current pace, a new study warns, tropical species could take over parts of Mediterranean marine ecosystems by the end of the century. The research analyzed a detailed fossil record showing how tropical mollusks replaced then-existing Mediterranean populations starting about 135,000 years ago, signaling a dramatic climate-driven and systemic reorganization […]

PHNOM PENH — On March 22, a jury in Miami, Florida, found Cambodian forestry official Kry Masphal not guilty of conspiracy and smuggling in relation to allegations that he was involved in exporting wild-caught monkeys to the United States and falsely labeling them as captive-bred. Masphal, the director of the Cambodian Forestry Administration’s Department of […]

This past August, in southern Ecuador amidst dense mangrove forests, scientists were at work. As I followed in her footsteps, Julie Shahan, a Stanford University Ph.D. student, navigated the challenging terrain, burdened by the large 25-pound piece of equipment on her back. This equipment, a gas analyzer, collects measurements to unlock the secrets of soil […]

“The future happens in California first” long referred to the state’s reputation as an environmental leader. It’s come to describe the Golden State’s front row seat to a rotating list of overlapping extreme events that are appearing with ever more frequency and ferocity as the climate warms. Now new research suggests that being on the […]

A powerful strain of the avian flu has swept through seal colonies in southern Argentina, wiping out many juveniles and raising concern about a spread to other species. The flu, also known as H5N1, appeared in South America in 2022 and made its way to Patagonian Argentina by August 2023, resulting in extreme mortality among […]

Rechargeable batteries have an important role to play in the fight against climate change, especially when it comes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions through the transition to electric vehicles. It’s one reason the rechargeable battery market is expected to grow to over $180 billion by 2030. But the transition minerals that go into those batteries […]