There are a lot of ways for disaster victims to get help in the immediate aftermath of a flood or fire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency gives out temporary housing assistance and pays for debris removal, insurance companies pay to rebuild homes and replace lost valuables, and charity groups pass...
The oceans are full of heat, and it’s coming ashore
It’s barely the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere, and heatwaves are once again breaking temperature records. In the United States, dozens of cities sweltered through their hottest Fourth of July celebrations, with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In New Jersey alone, dozens died from the heat over the...
The tiny cell that broke a big rule of biology
For decades, Jon Zehr was haunted by an organism he knew was there — but couldn’t see. It all started in the ‘90s on a research boat in the middle of the ocean. Zehr was an oceanographer studying nitrogen-fixing bacteria — simple, microbial life forms that could pull the element straight...
How to build a highway in the age of climate change
Between the view, the marshes, and the birds, Liat Meitzenheimer concedes the drive along California State Route 37 is scenic. Still, she avoids it for two reasons: congestion and flooding. The highway, about half of which is two-lane, is often backed up with people commuting between affordable communities in Solano...
Why heat is so deadly and how to stay safe
Don’t underestimate heat. While less visible than other extreme weather events like hurricanes or floods, heat consistently accounts for more U.S. fatalities than any other type of weather disaster. Around the world, extreme heat now kills one person every minute, according to a recent report, a rate that has risen...
Another super typhoon just pummeled the Pacific
When a 150-mph cyclone hit the Mariana Islands in mid-April, federal officials handed out more than 1,400 tents and 1,100 temporary roofs to help families with damaged or destroyed homes. Last week, local officials urged residents to take the tents down and find safer shelter as another super typhoon approached....
El Niño is here, and it’s already scrambling fisheries throughout the Pacific
We’re not even one month into “super” El Niño, the natural Pacific weather pattern characterized by warmer than average sea surface temperatures, and fisheries around the world are already getting scrambled. In Peru, government officials have effectively canceled the fishing season for anchovies, one of the country’s most important exports...
Western Europe just set the record for its hottest June ever
Europe has spent several weeks enduring blistering heat. The heatwave the continent experienced last month closed schools, disrupted power supplies, and has been linked to thousands of deaths. France, Germany, and Denmark all saw their highest temperature ever, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Now, new data shows that western...
The plan to make climate science harder to erase
When Rebecca Lindsey was fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last February, the first thing she did was stew. Then she worried about what was going to happen to the website she and her team had built over the last decade and a half. Lindsey had long been...
Trump tried to appease MAHA’s fury over Roundup. It backfired.
On a 200-acre farm and cattle ranch in Bandera, Texas, Mollie Engelhart grows organic produce, sells raw milk, and writes a daily column about the power of regenerative agriculture. She’s a farmer and a Make America Healthy Again mom who doesn’t like being called a MAHA mom. She prefers to...