Climate

Climate

What to know about the extreme U.S. flooding — and ways to stay safe

An oceanographer explains how climate change, warming oceans and a souped-up atmosphere are creating conditions for deadly floods.

Earth

How hot can Earth get? Our planet’s climate history holds clues

Earth has survived huge temperature swings over eons of climate change. Humans might not be so lucky.

Climate

Trees can’t get up and walk away, but forests can

In fantasy worlds, trees like the Lord of the Rings’ Ents are agile and mobile. In the real world, they’re slow.

Climate

Climate change could separate vanilla plants and their pollinators

The vanilla species grown for its flavoring is finicky. Genes from its wild relatives could help make it hardier — but not if those cousins go extinct.

Climate

Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves

Even without reaching heat wave levels, sustained high temperatures may contribute to a litany of health issues.

Climate

This paint ‘sweats’ to keep your house cool

This experimental paint reflects sunlight, emits heat and mimics sweating to cool buildings without air conditioning, even in the tropics.

Earth

Climate change is coming for your cheese

Adapting to climate change by replacing grass in cows' feed with corn affected the nutritional value and quality of cheese, French researchers found.

Plants

Trees ‘remember’ times of water abundance and scarcity

Spruce trees that experienced long-term droughts were more resistant to future ones, while pines acclimatized to wet periods were more vulnerable.

Climate

Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost

Penguin poop provides ammonia for cloud formation in coastal Antarctica, potentially helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region.

Climate

Losing a key U.S. climate report would hurt future disaster prep

A scientist who worked on the National Climate Assessment explains how stopping work on it may make us more vulnerable to extreme weather disasters.

Climate

Wetland bacteria could make more methane in a warming world

Warming temperatures can ramp up the activity of methane-producing bacteria in wetland soils, adding to methane emissions.

Climate

Earth’s landmasses lost trillions of tons of water this century

Rising global temperatures are driving the sharp decline in terrestrial water storage. This trend isn’t likely to change, scientists say.