Environment + Energy - The Conversation - Climate change, environmental health, biodiversity, extreme weather

A bee with floppy-looking antennae flies toward the camera.

It’s OK to love all the bees (the honey bees, too)

Christina Grozinger, Penn State; Andony Melathopoulos, Oregon State University; Clare Rittschof, University of Kentucky; Harland Patch, Penn State, and Jay Evans, Agricultural Research Service, USDA

A monkey drinks from a soda can, spilling drops down its chin in the process.

City animals act in the same brazen ways around the world

Daniel T. Blumstein, University of California, Los Angeles; Peter Mikula, and Piotr Tryjanowski

A woman sits in a yard with xeriscaping, a landscaping practice that uses rocks and water efficient plants.

Water conservation works, but climate change is outpacing it: Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas offer a glimpse of the future

Renee Obringer, Penn State and Dave White, Arizona State University

Why the Persian Gulf has more oil and gas than anywhere else on Earth

Scott L. Montgomery, University of Washington

Hormuz closure threatens the global food supply – why grocery price hikes are coming

Aya S. Chacar, Florida International University

A tractor spreads fertilizer on a field.

Toxic dust from California’s shrinking Salton Sea is harming children’s lung growth – we tracked the impact in 700 kids

Jill Johnston, University of California, Irvine; University of Southern California and Shohreh Farzan, University of Southern California

A sandy shoreline with a large lake in the background and sun at the horizon

Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s

Christine Keiner, Rochester Institute of Technology

A large mushroom cloud spreads above a beach and water.

A view of a massive canyon landscape with a condensed group of people on a platform overlooking the space.

You’re not going to be alone in national parks this summer – enjoy the company

Will Rice, University of Montana and Bing Pan, Penn State

Winter’s alarmingly low snowpack offers a glimpse of the changing rhythm of water in the western US

Imtiaz Rangwala, University of Colorado Boulder

A few across a mountain stream near Lake Tahoe and land covered in snow.

Trump’s ‘God Squad’ pits energy vs. endangered species, but it’s a false choice – protecting wildlife can be good for business

Dan Salas, University of Illinois Chicago

A mid-century automobile is obscured behind billowing exhaust.

How California’s war on smog and its ambitious car pollution rules made everyone’s air cleaner

Ann E. Carlson, University of California, Los Angeles

War in the Middle East made the case for renewables – what’s happening in each country tells a harder story

Ezgi Canpolat, Harvard University

An aerial view of a very large array of solar panels in a desert.

Birutė Galdikas: The last of ‘Leakey’s Angels’ in primatology’s most extraordinary chapter

Mireya Mayor, Florida International University

A woman with an orangutan on her shoulders.

2026’s historic snow drought brings worries about water, wildfires and the future in the West

Alejandro N. Flores, Boise State University

Snowmaking is evident on ski slopes in the mountains, while much of the surrounding land is snow-free

The long shadow of Paul Ehrlich’s ‘Population Bomb’ is evident in anti-immigration efforts today

Brian C. Keegan, University of Colorado Boulder; Harvard University and Emily Klancher Merchant, University of California, Davis

A crowd of abstract multicolored silhouettes of people made in the collage style

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War in the Middle East

Two gas stations next to each other advertise prices of $3.69 per gallon.

Soaring gas prices and disrupted supply chains will ripple out to increase costs in every store and sector of the economy

Vidya Mani, University of Virginia; Cornell University

Over 400 million barrels will be added to the oil market soon – what are strategic reserves and what can they do?

Scott L. Montgomery, University of Washington

In war-torn cities, air pollution from burning oil depots and bombed buildings unleashes invisible health threats

Armin Sorooshian, University of Arizona

A woman crouches down picking up up pieces while surrounded by missing walls and pulverized cement. Few items int he home are reconizable.

Targeting of energy facilities turned Iran war into worst-case scenario for Gulf states

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Iran’s nuclear materials and equipment remain a danger in an active war zone

Matthew Bunn, Harvard Kennedy School

An overhead view of a rugged landscape with gravel roads and metal buildings.

Extreme weather + disasters

The New York City skyline with the Empire State Building and an orange sky.

2025 was hotter than it should have been – 5 influences and a dirty surprise offer clues to what’s ahead

Michael Wysession, Washington University in St. Louis

Can you survive inside a tornado? This scientist did by accident – he’s lucky to be alive

Perry Samson, University of Michigan

Sixth year of drought in Texas and Oklahoma leaves ranchers facing wildfires and bracing for another tough year

Joel Lisonbee, University of Colorado Boulder and William Baule, Texas A&M University

A farmer walks toward cattle in a very dry landscape under a blue sky.

Tahoe avalanche: What causes snow slopes to collapse? A physicist and skier explains, with tips for surviving

Nathalie Vriend, University of Colorado Boulder

Why do mountaintops stay snowy?

Allie Mazurek, Colorado State University

A father and his young daughters walk through a field of wildflowers with a snow-covered mountain ahead.

Energy + infrastructure

A wide view of a landscape with trucks, large pipes and roads.

Global copper demand outstrips supply, threatening electrification and industrial growth

Morgan Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines and Adam Charles Simon, University of Michigan

Power outages in heat waves and storms can threaten the lives of medical device users – we looked at who is most at risk

Matthew D. Dean, University of California, Irvine and Katherine Asmussen, University of Tennessee

An older adult writes while using a machine with a face mask that assists with breathing.

How sewage treatment plants could handle food waste, sparing landfills and the climate

Ahmed Ibrahim Yunus, Georgia Institute of Technology and Joe Frank Bozeman III, Georgia Institute of Technology

An aerial view of large round basins of water.

How natural hydrogen, hiding deep in the Earth, could serve as a new energy source

Promise Longe, University of Kansas

A large drilling tower sits in an open, grassy area.

How deregulation made electricity more expensive, not cheaper

Noah Dormady, The Ohio State University

An electric plug on top of a $100 note and a utility bill.

AI's energy demand

Airplanes leave trails in a bright blue sky.

Despite its steep environmental costs, AI might also help save the planet

Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Data centers told to pitch in as storms and cold weather boost power demand

Nikki Luke, University of Tennessee and Conor Harrison, University of South Carolina

A downed tree blocks a snowy road and touches power lines.

Rising electricity prices and an aging grid challenge the nation as data centers demand more power

Barbara Kates-Garnick, Tufts University

A drawing of an electricity pylon and multiple pieces of electrical equipment, with a rising red arrow in the background.

Data centers need electricity fast, but utilities need years to build power plants – who should pay?

Theodore J. Kury, University of Florida

A person walks through a large area filled with metal containers of electronics.

AI’s ballooning energy consumption puts spotlight on data center efficiency

Divya Mahajan, Georgia Institute of Technology

A row of rectangular structures with eight round holes on top of each on the roof of a large industrial building

Biodiversity + environment

The world’s great fish migrations are collapsing – that’s a problem for millions of people

Zeb Hogan, University of Nevada, Reno

Bird losses are accelerating across North America, particularly in farming regions where agriculture is most intensive

François Leroy, The Ohio State University

A yellow bird singing on barbed wire fence.

Venezuela’s fragile environment faces rising risks as US pushes for oil and critical minerals and illegal gold mining spreads

Antonio Machado Allison, Wesleyan University

A young Venezuelan miner works in an open pit gold mine in Bolivar State, Venezuela, in 2023.

How protecting wilderness could mean purposefully tending it, not just leaving it alone

Clare E. Boerigter, United States Forest Service

Smoke billows above a forested hillside.

Warming winters are disrupting the hidden world of fungi – the result can shift mountain grasslands to scrub

Stephanie Kivlin, University of Tennessee; Aimee Classen, University of Michigan, and Lara A. Souza, University of Oklahoma

An outdoor view of a lake, snow on trees and mountains in the background

Climate change

A view of a lake with a very large exposed shoreline.

Why Colorado River negotiations stalled, and how they could resume with the possibility of agreement

Karen Schlatter, Colorado State University and Sharon B. Megdal, University of Arizona

Alaska’s glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods

Dan McGrath, Colorado State University

Lakes the color of turquoise gem stones stand out against the white glaciers that send meltwater into them.

Making sense of a chaotic planet: How understanding weather and climate risks depends on supercomputers like NCAR’s

Antonios Mamalakis, University of Virginia

How the oil industry and growing political divides turned climate change into a partisan issue

Joe Árvai, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Trump sits at a meeting about wildfires, with an image of a helicopter dumping water on a wildfire in the background.

Cement has a climate problem — here’s how geopolymers with add-ins like cork could help fix it

Alcina Johnson Sudagar, Washington University in St. Louis

Workers pour concrete on a residential street.

Laws + regulations

Cars are connected with cables to small towers in a parking lot.

EPA removal of vehicle emissions limits won’t stop the shift to electric vehicles, but will make it harder, slower and more expensive

Alan Jenn, University of California, Davis

Trump’s EPA decides climate change doesn’t endanger public health – the evidence says otherwise

Jonathan Levy, Boston University; Howard Frumkin, University of Washington; Jonathan Patz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Vijay Limaye, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Cars drive past a sign reading 'Caution: Extreme Heat Danger'

EPA rescinds 2009 endangerment finding, clearing way for Trump to shred more US climate rules – but serious court challenges await

Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan University

Taxis and other traffic move through midtown Manhattan at dusk in New York.

EPA’s new way of evaluating pollution rules hands deregulators a sledgehammer and license to ignore public health

Janet McCabe, Indiana University

A view across the Ohio River to two coal plants, with steam rising.

Trump’s second term is reshaping US science with unprecedented cuts and destabilizing policy changes

Kenneth M. Evans, Rice University

Trump seated on dais with two people on either side and American flags behind

Environmental health

Mosquitoes carrying malaria are evolving more quickly than insecticides can kill them – researchers pinpoint how

Jacob A Tennessen, Harvard University

Silicone wristbands can help scientists track people’s exposure to pollutants like ‘forever chemicals’

Yaw Edu Essandoh, Indiana University

An overhead shot of a person placing a black silicone wristband around their wrist. They are also wearing an orange and pink wristband.

PFAS are turning up in the Great Lakes, putting fish and water supplies at risk – here’s how they get there

Christy Remucal, University of Wisconsin-Madison

A view of the Lake Superior shoreline, with pine trees on sharp cliffs and wide expanse of blue water.

What air pollution does to the human body

Jenni Shearston, University of Colorado Boulder

Only the tops of the buildings are visible through the layer of smog in this view of the skyline from a distance.

The US used to be really dirty – environmental cleanup laws have made a huge difference

James Salzman, University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Los Angeles

Metal and plastic barrels with various labels on them sit in a pile.

Agriculture + water

Close-up of person picking coffee berries

Coffee crops are dying from a fungus with species-jumping genes – researchers are ‘resurrecting’ their genomes to understand how and why

Lily Peck, University of California, Los Angeles

American farmers, who once fed the world, face a volatile global market with diminishing federal backing

Peter Simons, Hamilton College

Why too much phosphorus in America’s farmland is polluting the country’s water

Dinesh Phuyal, University of Florida

A tractor pulls a piece of equipment spraying material over a field.

How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty

Stephen Acabado, University of California, Los Angeles

A view of a hillside with level sections built into it.

Why 2026 could see the end of the Farm Bill era of American agriculture policy

Christopher Neubert, Arizona State University and Kathleen Merrigan, Arizona State University

One person helps another select fruit from a display of various foods.

Lands of ice and snow

A white landscape with blocky ridges extends under a blue sky.

A walk across Alaska’s Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data

Alexandra Jahn, University of Colorado Boulder

US military has a long history in Greenland, from mining during WWII to a nuclear-powered Army base built into the ice

Paul Bierman, University of Vermont

A view of a mountain with dozens of rusted fuel drams left on the ground in the foreground.

In World War II’s dog-eat-dog struggle for resources, a Greenland mine launched a new world order

Thomas Robertson, Macalester College

A black-and-white photo of a mine with buildings around it.

West Antarctica’s history of rapid melting foretells sudden shifts in continent’s ‘catastrophic’ geology

Christine Siddoway, Colorado College; Anna Ruth (Ruthie) Halberstadt, The University of Texas at Austin, and Keiji Horikawa, University of Toyama

A graphic shows the outline of the modern area of the Antarctic continent, most of which is not covered by ice.

From record warming to rusting rivers, 2025 Arctic Report Card shows a region transforming faster than expected

Matthew L. Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Twila A. Moon, University of Colorado Boulder

Two people walk across snow and ice with areas of water evident and mountains in the background.

Critical minerals

A photo of a mechanical claw from a submersible and surrounding seafloor that appears almost paved in nodules.

In its hunt for critical minerals, the US is misconstruing what is and is not America’s

Coalter G Lathrop, Duke University

Mining the ocean floor: 5 deep-sea sources of critical minerals essential to technology, and the fragile marine life at risk

Leonardo Macelloni, University of Mississippi

A mechanical claw holds a polymetallic nodule underwater

America’s next big critical minerals source could be coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it

Hélène Nguemgaing, PhD, University of Maryland and Alan Collins, West Virginia University

Water flows over rocks covered with an orange debris from acid mine waste in a creek.

How the US can mine its own critical minerals − without digging new holes

Yuanzhi Tang, Georgia Institute of Technology and Scott McWhorter, Georgia Institute of Technology

Deep-sea mining threatens sea life in a way no one is thinking about, and Trump’s order could clear the way for operations soon

Alexus Cazares-Nuesser, University of Hawaii

An aquatic invertebrate that looks like a floating star or an underwater sunflower floats above nodules on the seabed.

National parks

Wooden posts stand next to an opening in a grass-covered mound of earth.

What does it mean to be a new national park? Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia may soon find out

Seth T. Kannarr, University of Tennessee

Yosemite embodies the long war over US national park privatization

Michael Childers, Colorado State University

A large building stands in front of a massive set of cliffs.

Hidden treasures of America’s national parks are closer than you might think

Jeffrey C. Hallo, Clemson University

A person paddles a boat on a river, with other people and a boat in the background, as well as a group of industrial buildings.

National parks are key conservation areas for wildlife and natural resources

Sarah Diaz, Coastal Carolina University and Linda Lane, Coastal Carolina University

A person wades through a deep area of water and grasses.

Why protecting wildland is crucial to American freedom and identity

Leisl Carr Childers, Colorado State University and Michael Childers, Colorado State University

Two people walk on a trail amid trees and red cliffs.

Local project

Better urban design could help save Florida’s threatened Big Cypress fox squirrel

Eve Bohnett, University of Florida

Big Cypress fox squirrel rests on a tree branch

Pittsburgh’s air pollution estimated to claim 3,000+ lives per year − and EPA rollbacks aren’t helping

Philip Landrigan, Boston College and Ella Whitman, University of Vermont

Downtown city buildings on a cloudy, hazy day.

Oversalting your sidewalk or driveway harms local streams and potentially even your drinking water – 3 tips to deice responsibly

Steven Goldsmith, Villanova University

A person puts snow melt down on a snow-covered sidewalk

Why Philly has so many sinkholes

Laura Toran, Temple University