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A partially flooded area of Kherson, Ukraine

Ukraine Kakhovka dam explosion: Flooding is devastating wildlife

8 June 2023

Thousands of people have been evacuated due to the breach of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine. In a briefing, a minister for the Ukraine government explained how it is also harming ecosystems and farms


Smoke from wildfires in Canada has reached several cities, including New York

How long will the wildfire smoke last and is it bad for your health?

8 June 2023

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada has triggered air quality alerts across the northern US, including in New York City


Dried-up lake may explain why California is 'overdue' major earthquake

7 June 2023

Pressure on the San Andreas fault from a now-dried lake could have been sufficient to trigger past major earthquakes in California. The lake’s disappearance could explain why there have been no such quakes for nearly 300 years


City in Sierra Leone covers buildings in mirrors to fight extreme heat

City in Sierra Leone covers buildings in mirrors to fight extreme heat

3 June 2023

People in Freetown, Sierra Leone, are increasingly exposed to extreme heat due to climate change and the urban heat island effect, but covering homes in a reflective film significantly cut indoor temperatures


Why is China drilling a hole more than 10,000 metres deep?

2 June 2023

An oil company in China has started drilling a hole that would be the deepest in the country and among the deepest in the world


We’ve been drastically underestimating Earth’s microbial diversity

1 June 2023

A survey of bacteria and archaea living in 99 coral reefs across the Pacific Ocean found these ecosystems may contain more microbes than current estimates for the whole planet – suggesting everywhere else on Earth does too


US states agree to use less from Colorado river to avoid water crisis

22 May 2023

After months of negotiations, California, Nevada and Arizona have agreed to reduce the water they take from the Colorado river, but these drastic cuts are only a temporary solution to the water crisis facing the western US


Ozone layer treaty pushed back ice-free Arctic summers up to 15 years

22 May 2023

A 1987 treaty to ban ozone-destroying gases helped delay the first Arctic summer with no ice, which is now projected to happen by 2037 at the earliest


Glass Mountains, situated in the north tip of the Chihuahuan Desert, as seen from Alpine, Texas. - Image ID: R97NY1 (RF)

US desert grassland collapse is linked to changes in the Pacific Ocean

17 May 2023

Researchers have discovered a long-standing connection between temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and the health of arid grasslands in the US Southwest – but climate change seems to have broken it


Comb jellies, not sponges, might be the oldest animal group after all

17 May 2023

An argument that has been raging among biologists for over a decade – whether comb jellies or sponges were the first group to split off from the common ancestor of all animals – has a new twist, thanks to an analysis of genetic patterns


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