Yale e360 · Page 19

Humans make use of tens of thousands of different kinds of plants, many rare and endangered. Troublingly, most useful plants grow outside protected areas, new research finds. Read more on E360 →

To reach its climate goals, the U.S. will need to build solar arrays on some 15,000 square miles of land, an area larger than Maryland. Growing native plants at these sites could give a much-needed boost to imperiled insects, a new study finds. Read more on…

An analysis of thousands of YouTube videos posted over the last five years finds a decline in videos that outright deny climate change but an uptick in those that impugn the credibility of scientists or question the practicality of shifting to renewable…

A dramatic shift in the Alaskan landscape is underway. As unprecedented heat melts long-frozen tundra, runoff is altering the composition of Arctic rivers and streams. One such waterway is Tukpahlearik Creek in northern Alaska, which recently turned a striking…

The Eastern monarch butterfly has long been thought to be in peril, but new studies indicate that its U.S. populations are not in decline. Scientists say the biggest threat the species faces is from well-meaning people who breed the butterflies at home and…

As the planet warms and extinctions mount, researchers are racing to catalog the vast array of life before it disappears. This year, researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, cataloged 89 new species of plant and fungi that spanned the breadth of the…

Once common in the West, whitebark pine is being wiped out by a deadly fungus, ravaging beetles, and climate change. Scientists hope advances in gene sequencing and a recent federal listing as threatened will speed the hunt for trees that can be replanted and…

Analysts project another record year for sales of electric vehicles, driven largely by surging demand in China, the biggest market for battery-powered cars. Read more on E360 →

The U.N. climate conference in Dubai agreed on a plan to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees C and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. But researchers are warning that these pledges are not grounded in sound science and will fail to prevent the worst impacts of…

Forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon was down 50 percent, year on year, in 2023, according to government figures. Read more on E360 →

A sprawling analysis of ocean traffic reveals that 75 percent of industrial fishing vessels worldwide are not publicly tracked, with the bulk of untracked fishing taking place in Southeast Asia. Read more on E360 →

Amid a wider social justice reckoning, some scientists are calling for scrapping species names that honor people considered objectionable, including dictators and enslavers, or use offensive words. Others question whether such a monumental effort is worthwhile…

The U.K. is drawing less power from natural gas and coal than it has at any point in the last 66 years. Read more on E360 →

Pipeline deliveries of Russian natural gas to Europe were down 55.6 percent, year on year, in 2023. Read more on E360 →

With climate change and an incipient El Niño driving up temperatures, 2024 is likely to eclipse 2023 as the hottest year ever, meteorologists project. Read more on E360 →

This year will conclude as the hottest on record, with warming reaching new highs in the final months of 2023. Unprecedented heat helped fuel another year of extreme weather. Read more on E360 →

The rapid growth of wind, solar, and electric vehicles means that demand for fossil fuels is likely to peak this decade. Is the energy sector ready for the transition? Read more on E360 →

While the world has made significant progress in building systems that can alert people to extreme weather, many places still lack access to early warnings, a new report finds. Read more on E360 →

In 2023, the U.S. experienced a record 25 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters — three more than the previous record, set in 2020. Read more on E360 →

Inspired by the Dutch model of living with water, New York’s coastal defenses are on the rise. The city — like others around the country — is combining infrastructure like floodwalls with nature-based features, as it moves ahead with the largest…