Scorching heat waves, wildfires, and devastating floods across the globe are no longer weather anomalies but part of the new normal thanks to global warming, scientists say. “The old records belong to a world that no longer exists,” Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Washington Post on…

Carbon dioxide emissions are killing off coral reefs and kelp forests as heat waves and ocean acidification damage marine ecosystems, scientists have warned. Writing in Scientific Reports, researchers say that three centuries of industrial development have already had a marked effect on our seas. But if CO2 levels continue to rise as predicted, the coming…

A version of the Thermotoga maritima bacterium engineered by Raghuveer Singh, Paul Blum and their colleagues produced 46 percent more hydrogen per cell than a naturally occurring form of the same species. The team’s highest reported yield – 5.7 units of hydrogen for every unit of glucose fed to the bacterium – easily surpassed the…

Land use changes are a major driver of species declines, but in addition to the habitat to which they’re best adapted, many bird species use ‘alternative’ habitats such as urban and agricultural land. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications documents a century of land use change in Illinois and shows that species’ long-term…

The vast majority of climate scientists agree that climate change is making these extreme temperatures more intense and more frequent, putting global public health at risk. Still, when it comes to mental health – an important but overlooked aspect of public health – the effects of a red-hot weather map are rarely considered. Now, a…

“Our paper tests a fundamental component of conservation biology we refer to as the ‘phylogenetic gambit,’” says Pearse, assistant professor in USU’s Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center. “That is, conservation biologists often use species’ evolutionary history – their phylogeny – to identify groups of species to save.” This idea is based on…

Roughly four out of five Americans support the act, and only one in 10 oppose it, found a survey of 1,287 Americans. Support has remained stable for the past two decades, the researchers report in the journal Conservation Letters. “Every time the ESA is in the news, you hear about how controversial it is. But…

It’s only July, but it has already been a long, hot spring and summer. The contiguous U.S. endured the warmest May ever recorded, and in June, the average temperature was 1.7 degrees Celsius (3.0 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average. Iowa, New Mexico and Texas set record highs for their minimum temperatures in June,…

As the world seeks to curb human-induced climate change, will protecting the carbon of tropical forests also ensure the survival of their species? A study published today in the leading journal Nature Climate Change suggests the answer to this question is far from straightforward. Forests with the greatest carbon content do not necessarily house the…

The surface area of its six glaciers has shrunk from 45 square kilometers in 2010 to 37 square kilometers in 2017, for a decline of 18 percent, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies said. It blamed the glacier loss on “extreme events associated with natural phenomena and climate change.” If things go on…