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Monday, August 24, 2026 9:57 PM ET

The Conversation - Environment

Fish DNA in Ozark streams reveals region's complex geologic history - David Duvernell, Missouri University of Science and Technology

12 hours ago

Using thunderquakes to X-ray Earth – a new study shows urban seismology in action -- Nolan Roth, The Ohio State University and Tieyuan Zhu, Penn State

12 hours ago

Antarctic krill fishing is now concentrated in the exact pattern conservation rules were designed to prevent -- Kim S. Bernard, Oregon State University

3 days ago

Puerto Rico is rationing water, but many residents stopped trusting the tap long before the drought -- Ivis García, Texas A&M University

4 days ago

Colorado River water conservation efforts get only halfway to a solution -- Sarah Porter, Arizona State University

3 days ago

Just because the bill is low doesn't mean energy is affordable -- Destenie Nock, Carnegie Mellon University

4 days ago

AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers -- Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

6 days ago

Severe flooding raises deadly overdose risk in rural Appalachia, study finds – and the harm lasts for years -- Kristina P. Brant, Penn State

5 days ago

Ancient forests took 100,000 years to recover from past global warming – Wyoming fossils reveal what happened -- Regan E. Dunn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

6 days ago

Dealing with disasters increasingly requires a smartphone – losing access can be a nightmare, but there are ways to prepare -- Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, University of North Dakota

6 days ago

Paving paradise: Dismantling the Roadless Rule threatens to disrupt wildlife, water and peace in the last quiet places in America -- Mariah Meek, Montana State University and Travis Belote, Montana State University

1 day ago

Wildfire-damaged historic buildings may not be as ruined as they appear, but saving them means acting fast -- Rebecca Napolitano, Penn State; Giorgia Giardina, Delft University of Technology, and Tiago Miguel Ferreira, Universidade de Lisboa

11 days ago

Controlling wild pigs can work if it's a group effort -- Chris Boyer, University of Tennessee; Aaron Smith, University of Tennessee, and Eunchun Park, University of Arkansas

11 days ago

As oil profits skyrocket, calls for windfall taxes rise -- Tibor Besedeš, Georgia Institute of Technology

12 days ago

Cyclospora spreads through human waste – so how did it get on food? -- Joan Rose, Michigan State University

13 days ago

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1 year ago

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2 years ago

Oil shortages escalate from wars in Iran and Ukraine, with few signs of relief -- Amy Myers Jaffe, New York University; Tufts University

19 days ago

Soaring US beef prices likely to rise further thanks to trade tensions and disease outbreaks -- Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee and Charles Martinez, University of Tennessee

2 months ago

Suspending federal gas tax wouldn't save drivers as much as they might hope – here's what goes into the price of a gallon of gas -- Robert I. Harris, Georgia Institute of Technology

3 months ago

When oil prices spike, where does the money go? -- Matthew E. Oliver, Georgia Institute of Technology and Tibor Besedeš, Georgia Institute of Technology

4 months ago

Why the Persian Gulf has more oil and gas than anywhere else on Earth -- Scott L. Montgomery, University of Washington

4 months ago

Read more about war and energy

4 months ago

Wildfires can leave surviving homes and their water unsafe – what Spokane residents need to know as they return -- Andrew J. Whelton, Purdue University

12 days ago

Chronic pain is missing from America's heat warnings -- Feinuo Sun, University of Texas at Arlington

14 days ago

Just weeks before devastating wildfires hit, Spokane practiced a mass evacuation – the drill paid off -- Ashley Bosa, Boise State University

14 days ago

Why the Spokane wildfires became so catastrophic -- Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; United Nations University and John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced

20 days ago

Wildfires can generate tornadoes, lightning and other extreme weather, sometimes miles from the flames -- Yunyao Li, University of Texas at Arlington

23 days ago

Read more about extreme weather

1 year ago

Green roofs can help cool cities in the summer heat, but building them is only the first step – many don't survive -- Taylor Wishart, University of Tennessee

11 days ago

Leaving vehicle engines idling is unhealthy, expensive – and often illegal -- Richard Marcantonio, University of Notre Dame

21 days ago

Electric companies don't need to black out customers to prevent wildfires – here are 3 relatively fast, affordable solutions -- Jasmine Garland, University of Colorado Boulder

1 month ago

Energy costs are high and unaffordable – what utilities, governments, communities and you can do to help save consumers money -- Sanya Carley, University of Pennsylvania; Alexandra Klass, University of Michigan; Alison L. Knasin, University of Pennsylvania; David Konisky, Indiana University, and Shelley Welton, University of Pennsylvania

2 months ago

Blackout risks are rising – why neighboring power grids can't just send extra electricity where it's needed -- Sufan Jiang, University of Tennessee; Nanyang Technological University and Fangxing Fran Li, University of Tennessee

2 months ago

Read more about energy

7 months ago

It may be almost impossible to make data centers pay their 'fair share' of electricity costs -- Theodore J. Kury, University of Florida

1 month ago

Data center fights pit social values, democracy and capitalism against each other -- Lauren Mullenbach, University of Michigan

1 month ago

How local communities are challenging Big Tech data centers' noise, pollution and rising electricity bills -- Rachel Mural, Harvard Kennedy School

2 months ago

5 WAYS DATA CENTERS ENDANGER THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE -- Neha Gour, George Mason University; Ed Maibach, George Mason University, and Luis Ortiz, George Mason University

2 months ago

When can a power company take your land for data center infrastructure? -- Aaron Walayat, University of Dayton

1 month ago

Read more stories about AI

8 months ago

More than half of Earth's migratory bird species are declining – here's how we can still save them -- Peter P. Marra, Georgetown University and Nathan W. Cooper, Smithsonian Institution

27 days ago

Beyond birds and mice, free-ranging cats eat a surprising number of insects -- Christopher A. Lepczyk, Auburn University; Daniel Rubinoff, University of Hawaii, and Jean E. Fantle-Lepczyk, Auburn University

1 month ago

The world agreed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 – but marine protection can't be judged by area alone -- Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, Oregon State University and Ana K. Spalding, Smithsonian Institution

2 months ago

Life after death: From burned trees to bleached corals, how dead organisms live on as the building blocks of new life -- Kai Kopecky, University of Colorado Boulder and John Kominoski, Florida International University

2 months ago

Bison restoration efforts and grazing rights hinge on one question: Are bison wildlife? -- Madison Stevens, Montana State University and Elizabeth (Libby) Lunstrum, Boise State University

2 months ago

Read more about environmental issues

1 year ago

Climate change may be making us lonelier: How heat waves and extreme weather disrupt social connections everyone relies on -- Fiona Doherty, University of Tennessee

19 days ago

French climate lawsuit offers a window into the next round of the global legal fight -- Aminta Ossom, Harvard University; Harvard Kennedy School

27 days ago

How do scientists know if climate change made a heat wave, extreme storm or wildfire worse? -- Kevin T. Smiley, Louisiana State University ; Deepti Singh, Washington State University; Jennifer Marlon, Yale University, and Jim Hurrell, Colorado State University

28 days ago

The National Climate Assessment is broken – appointing Matthew Wielicki to lead it won't help -- Joe Árvai, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

1 month ago

You've never heard of these glaciers, but they're becoming critical climate havens as America's iconic mountain glaciers and their water fade -- Dan McGrath, Colorado State University; Ashlesha Khatiwada, Colorado State University, and Scott Hotaling, Utah State University

1 month ago

Read more about climate change

1 year ago

HOAs are often barriers to sustainable landscaping and solar energy – here's how they could be bridges instead -- Daniel Kramer, Michigan State University and Madeline Carr, Michigan State University

21 days ago

Trump administration moves to block public from enforcing environmental protection laws -- Sarah J. Morath, Wake Forest University

21 days ago

Why Trump's move to gut the Endangered Species Act likely won't hold up in court -- Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law & Graduate School

1 month ago

Most Americans support conservation – here's how the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative got politicians from both parties on board too -- Mike Shriberg, University of Michigan

1 month ago

Supreme Court bars states from protecting consumers if federal agencies won't -- Sarah J. Morath, Wake Forest University

1 month ago

Read more about environmental regulation

1 year ago

Flesh-eating bacteria are devouring limbs in warming waters worldwide − here's how to protect yourself -- Bill Sullivan, Indiana University

12 days ago

Sargassum, the smelly nemesis of beach vacations, has become a self-sustaining disaster that will keep coming back -- Xing Zhou, Georgia Institute of Technology; Annalisa Bracco, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Joseph Montoya, Georgia Institute of Technology

25 days ago

How to avoid tick bites in your yard or while hiking in the woods, and what to do if one starts feasting on you -- Amanda Roome, Binghamton University, State University of New York

1 month ago

Replacing gas stoves with electric stoves greatly reduces asthma symptoms -- Ashwini Sehgal, Case Western Reserve University

1 month ago

Fishing for DNA – how a cup of river water can reveal secrets about human health, pollution and biodiversity -- Jenny Whilde, University of Florida

1 month ago

Read more about environmental health

1 year ago

Better guacamole? How avocado import rules helped cut Mexico's water pollution – it holds lessons for future US trade deals -- Jayash Paudel, University of Oklahoma

26 days ago

Bird droppings were a foundation of modern agriculture and American empire -- Edward D. Melillo, Amherst College

27 days ago

Fertilizers carry a hidden cost for soil's crucial microbes – using less as prices rise might pay off for farms in unexpected ways -- Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

1 month ago

When your local reflecting pool or pond turns green with algae, don't reach for chemicals – nature has better solutions -- Eric Palkovacs, University of California, Santa Cruz

1 month ago

War-induced fertilizer shortage may be reducing US soil and water pollution -- Kimberly Van Meter, Penn State and Nandita Basu, University of Waterloo

1 month ago

Read more about food and agriculture

9 months ago

Alaska's glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods -- Dan McGrath, Colorado State University

5 months ago

A walk across Alaska's Arctic sea ice brings to life the losses that appear in climate data -- Alexandra Jahn, University of Colorado Boulder

6 months ago

US military has a long history in Greenland, from mining during WWII to a nuclear-powered Army base built into the ice -- Paul Bierman, University of Vermont

7 months ago

West Antarctica's history of rapid melting foretells sudden shifts in continent's 'catastrophic' geology -- Christine Siddoway, Colorado College; Anna Ruth (Ruthie) Halberstadt, The University of Texas at Austin, and Keiji Horikawa, University of Toyama

29 days ago

From record warming to rusting rivers, 2025 Arctic Report Card shows a region transforming faster than expected -- Matthew L. Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Twila A. Moon, University of Colorado Boulder

8 months ago

The missing link in America's critical minerals push isn't mining – it's processing expertise -- Hélène Nguemgaing, University of Maryland and Alan Collins, West Virginia University

3 months ago

The race to mine critical minerals for AI and clean energy is creating 'sacrifice zones' that harm water and health of world's poor -- Abraham Nunbogu, United Nations University and Kaveh Madani, United Nations University

3 months ago

In its hunt for critical minerals, the US is misconstruing what is and is not America's -- Coalter G Lathrop, Duke University

5 months ago

Mining the ocean floor: 5 deep-sea sources of critical minerals essential to technology, and the fragile marine life at risk -- Leonardo Macelloni, University of Mississippi

5 months ago

America's next big critical minerals source could be coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it -- Hélène Nguemgaing, University of Maryland and Alan Collins, West Virginia University

4 months ago

Read more about critical minerals

1 year ago

Small businesses at the gateways to America's national parks face 4 big risks – including changing boundaries and extreme weather -- Nancy Forster-Holt, University of Rhode Island

6 days ago

The US has acknowledged Bears Ears and Grand Staircase as sacred for over a century, but keeps stripping away protections -- Kerri J. Malloy, San José State University

1 month ago

You're not going to be alone in national parks this summer – enjoy the company -- Will Rice, University of Montana and Bing Pan, Penn State

4 months ago

What does it mean to be a new national park? Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia may soon find out -- Seth T. Kannarr, University of Tennessee

8 months ago

Yosemite embodies the long war over US national park privatization -- Michael Childers, Colorado State University

1 year ago

Read more about national parks

1 year ago

Severe storms battered Pittsburgh twice as often as usual this spring – a meteorologist explains why -- Christopher Davis, UMass Amherst

28 days ago

Colorado prepares for screwworms, as the pest that was eradicated in 1966 returns to the US -- Sarah Tomlinson, Colorado State University

1 month ago

Pennsylvania roads are being coated in radioactive wastewater − here's why -- William Burgos, Penn State and Nathaniel Warner, Penn State

1 month ago

Should you swim in Pittsburgh's rivers? A water researcher breaks down the answer -- Daniel Bain, University of Pittsburgh

2 months ago