Science & Earth

A 2026 study estimates PM2.5 pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania was linked to roughly 3,085–3,467 deaths in 2019, and many harms were reported at levels below the EPA's current PM2.5 standard.

Heat pumps run on electricity to move heat from the air, ground or water into homes, and UK homeowners can get a £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant while typically paying about £5,000 extra for installation.

Soil is described as a living ecosystem that hosts a large share of Earth's biodiversity, and the article outlines gradual practices such as adding organic matter, testing pH and nutrients, and avoiding aggressive tilling to maintain soil condition.

Crews and residents in Hawaii are beginning recovery after back-to-back kona storms caused widespread flooding across Oahu and Maui; officials said the immediate threat has passed while damage assessments and debris removal continue.

NASA-funded Science Through Shadows, led by Fiske Planetarium, offers a series of short films showing how eclipses, occultations and transits help scientists study celestial bodies; the videos are freely available in English and Spanish in 2D and fulldome formats.

A study reports that undisturbed primary forests in Sweden contain about 83% more carbon per acre than nearby managed forests when harvested wood products are excluded, and that most of the difference is in soils.

Experts told Travel + Leisure that Everglades National Park is the most mosquito-filled U.S. national park, and they also listed Congaree, Shenandoah, Denali and Gates of the Arctic as parks that regularly produce large numbers of mosquitoes.

A whale shark circled Darwin Island in the Galapagos and swam through a group of scuba divers; whale sharks visit the islands for cleaning stations where other fish remove remoras.

A biodiversity survey in Battambang, Cambodia, explored 64 caves across 10 karst hills between November 2023 and July 2025 and reported several species new to science, including a turquoise pit viper, a flying snake, multiple geckos, two micro-snails and two millipedes.

A U.N. report finds the gap between solar energy absorbed and energy reflected back to space is the largest since 1960, leaving more heat trapped on Earth. That imbalance is reported to be warming the oceans, atmosphere and frozen regions.

No-till gardening avoids digging to preserve soil structure and relies on mulches or layered organic matter such as cardboard, wood chips, or straw; experts note it can help water retention, fertility, and soil biology.

NOAA forecasts a Kp index of 5 for Sunday night, signaling minor to moderate geomagnetic storms that could make the northern lights visible across about 15 northern U.S. states along the Canadian border.

A Swiss study found that beaver-built wetlands at one stream sequestered about 108–146 tons of carbon per year and estimated that similar wetlands across suitable floodplains could offset roughly 1.2–1.8% of Switzerland’s annual emissions.

Researchers documented Lahille's bottlenose dolphins in Laguna, Brazil, guiding local fishers to mullet during the May–July migration; a decline in mullet numbers now threatens this long-standing cooperation.

Two bronze bison cast at the Art Casting Foundry in Loveland completed a roughly 1,800-mile tour and were installed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History on March 19. The museum plans related exhibits opening May 7 and May 21.

Never-before-seen photos from Neil Armstrong's 1966 Gemini 8 splashdown have been donated to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum; the images show Armstrong and David Scott after their unplanned splashdown near Okinawa.

Officials say back-to-back Kona storms have produced the worst flooding in Hawaii in 20 years, prompting evacuations after a nearby 120-year-old dam was reported to be at imminent risk of failure; a statewide flood watch runs through March 22.

Experts report a historic snow drought across multiple Western states, with record-low mountain snowpack and unusually warm winter temperatures. Federal and regional forecasts say that low snowmelt could reduce water supplies and raise the risk of earlier wildfire conditions in the months ahead.

State wildlife agencies still stock millions of nonnative fish into lakes and streams to support recreational fishing and the license revenue that funds conservation, while scientists say those introductions can harm native species and ecosystems.

A March heat wave across the U.S. Southwest shattered monthly temperature records, including a 110°F (43.3°C) reading in Arizona. World Weather Attribution reported the event would have been virtually impossible without human-caused warming and estimated roughly 2.6–4°C of extra warming contributed to the temperatures.

Grasses enter a dormant survival state in winter rather than dying, and common winter stresses — dehydration, snow mold, ice, mites, and road salt — often produce similar damage that becomes visible after snow and ice recede.

This winter was the warmest on record in six Western states, and the Colorado River Basin has record-low snow cover. A rapid March heat wave is accelerating melt and reducing the season’s snowpack.

Belarus’s forests now cover nearly 10 million hectares, up about one million hectares over 30 years, and UNDP and national authorities say they provide carbon storage, biodiversity habitat and local economic benefits. Officials report rising threats from climate-linked fires and pests and note recent steps to update forest management approaches and adopt a national biodiversity strategy.

Researchers at UCLA and Stanford used catch bond engineering to change one or two amino acids in a T cell receptor that recognizes prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), producing engineered T cells that showed improved tumor killing and persistence in laboratory and mouse models while avoiding detectable attacks on healthy tissue.

A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that transplanting gut microbes from different primates into mice changed gene expression in the mice's brains, affecting energy use and genes linked to synapses. The results come from animal models and researchers say testing for similar effects in humans is the next step.

The U.S. Space Force reassigned the GPS III-8 satellite from ULA's Vulcan Centaur to a SpaceX Falcon 9 following recurring solid rocket booster anomalies, and the mission is now scheduled no earlier than late April from Cape Canaveral.

NASA advised on the film Project Hail Mary and provided logo clearance, and astronauts screened the movie aboard the International Space Station while Artemis II preparations continue.

A film adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary opened Friday after a panel at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where Weir discussed the novel’s scientific grounding.

The Colorado River sharing agreement expires Oct. 1, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will set a new policy after states and Mexico did not reach a replacement deal.

A Nature NPJ Climate Action paper from Georgia Tech and Yale researchers says carbon removal can help reduce greenhouse gases but the industry is largely unregulated and needs greater transparency and oversight.