climate change

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Joshua Trees' Early Blooms Are a Big Problem

Scientists fear the trees won't be pollinated as yucca moths remain underground

(Newser) - Joshua trees are jumping the gun on flowering this year, and researchers say the timing glitch could ripple through the Mojave Desert ecosystem. The spiky desert icons, found across California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, usually start blooming in late February. This season, though, many burst into flower in October and...

Doomsday Clock Now Closer Than Ever to 'Catastrophe'

Group of scientists sets it at 85 seconds before 12, the worst mark ever

(Newser) - The world's most famous metaphor for self-destruction just ticked a few seconds closer to the brink. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday set its Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight, moving it four seconds nearer to symbolic "global catastrophe" and marking the most perilous setting...

RFK Jr.'s Food Pyramid Could Mean Trouble for Environment

Experts warn push for protein-heavy meat, dairy would drive emissions, require much more farmland

(Newser) - Nutrition advice from the Trump administration is colliding head-on with climate concerns. The Guardian reports that guidelines rolled out by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. push Americans toward a meat- and dairy-heavy diet that would nearly double current protein intake, featuring an "inverted" food pyramid loaded with steak,...

How the Warming Arctic Can Cause Brutal Cold Snaps

Scientists link polar vortex shifts to warming climate

(Newser) - As he has done many times before, President Trump scoffed at climate change Friday because of cold weather. "Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States," he said in a Truth Social post. "Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???" Scientists say,...

It's One of the Fastest Shifts Ever in Breeding Time

Antarctic penguins transition to earlier breeding, with potentially fatal consequences

(Newser) - Antarctica's penguins are speeding up their family planning—and scientists say that's not good news. A 10-year study of three penguin species found their breeding seasons have shifted earlier at what researchers describe as record rates, likely driven by rapid climate change. Using 77 time-lapse cameras across 37...

Ancient Wolf Pup's Meal Shows How Woolly Rhinos Vanished

Genome indicates no major threats 400 years before extinction, suggesting climate-related decline

(Newser) - Scientists learned a lot about one of the last generations of woolly rhinocheros—from a chunk of meat swallowed by a wolf pup some 14,400 years ago. The mummified body of a 2-month-old female wolf, discovered in 2011 in the Siberian permafrost near the village of Tumat, had her...

2025 Was Earth's 3rd-Hottest Year on Record

Global temperatures now average 1.47 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels

(Newser) - If 2025 felt unusually hot, that's because it was—again. New data from the European Union's Copernicus climate change monitoring service shows last year ranked as the third-warmest on record, with global temperatures continuing a streak that's starting to look less like an anomaly and more like...

Surprise: Trump Wins Praise for Environmental 'Moon Shot'

Op-ed calls push for nuclear energy a game-changer, even if climate change isn't the reason

(Newser) - President Trump is "skeptical of climate change and shows little concern for the environment," writes Ted Nordhaus in a Washington Post op-ed. But if it sounds like the heart of a piece slamming Trump policies, think again. Instead, the founder of the nonprofit Breakthrough Institute—which seeks technological...

'Little Angels' Are First Insects to Win Legal Rights

New ordinances in Peru protect stingless bees, key pollinators in the Amazon rainforest

(Newser) - Stingless bees in Peru's Amazon are now more than just pollinators—they're legal subjects with rights, in what advocates say is the first such protection for insects anywhere. Two municipalities, Satipo in the Junin region and Nauta in Loreto, have passed ordinances recognizing native stingless bees' rights "...

Warming Shuts Ski Resorts, Turning Lifts Into Junk
Rising Snow Lines Turn
Ski Resorts Into Debris Fields
in case you missed it
Jan 4, 2026 2:10 PM CST

Rising Snow Lines Turn Ski Resorts Into Debris Fields

Decaying machinery pollutes fragile mountain ecosystems in French Alps

(Newser) - Ski maps are still stacked at Céüze 2000—but nobody's coming to use them. The small resort in France's southern Alps, a fixture for 85 years, is now part of a growing archipelago of "ghost" ski areas across the mountains. As winters warm and the...

GOP Megadonor Teams With Environmentalist for $1B Deal

Their 2021 spat on Twitter led to friendship, and a deal to form Texas' second-largest state park

(Newser) - A long-ago spat on Twitter over dead birds has Texas on track to add one of the biggest state parks in its history. Back in 2021, Dallas Republican megadonor Doug Deason posted about wind turbines killing raptors, per the New York Times . Environmental advocate Luke Metzger jumped in to argue...

2025 Was One of Three Hottest Years on Record

According to World Weather Attribution scientists

(Newser) - Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said. It was also the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through the threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius...

In Vitro for Corals? Kind of, in the Caribbean

In Dominican Republic, assisted coral fertilization via Fundemar group offers hope for vanishing reefs

(Newser) - Oxygen tank strapped to his back, Michael del Rosario moves his fins delicately as he glides along an underwater nursery just off the Dominican Republic coast, proudly showing off the "coral babies" growing on metal structures that look like large spiders. Del Rosario helped plant these tiny animals in...

Judge to Hawaii: Go Ahead and Tax Those Cruise Ships

Federal judge upholds state's new levy, set to go into effect Jan. 1

(Newser) - A federal judge's ruling has cleared the way for Hawaii to include cruise ship passengers in a new tourist tax to help cope with climate change, a levy set to go into effect at the start of 2026. US District Judge Jill A. Otake denied a request this week...

It's a Rare 'Feel-Good Story' About Polar Bears

Canadian mother bear found to have adopted a cub that isn't hers

(Newser) - With much of the polar bear population expected to vanish within the next 25 years , researchers say it's nice to see the animals are looking out for each other. Researchers stationed near Churchill, Manitoba, recently witnessed something they almost never see: a mother bear with a cub that isn'...

Trump Dismantles a Key Climate Research Center

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says 'science is being attacked'

(Newser) - The Trump administration is breaking up one of the country's premier climate research hubs. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said Tuesday night that the National Science Foundation will dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), escalating the administration's effort to scale back government-funded climate...

Earth Is Barreling Toward 'Peak Glacier Extinction'

Study warns we could lose up to 4K glaciers a year by mid-2050s if global temps aren't managed

(Newser) - A new study estimates the planet is heading toward a midcentury peak in glacier loss, with thousands of ice masses set to vanish each year as temperatures climb. Researchers writing in Nature Climate Change modeled the fate of more than 200,000 glaciers worldwide and identified a period they call...

Climate Change Is Altering Polar Bear DNA
Climate Change Is
Altering Polar Bear DNA
NEW STUDY
Dec 15, 2025 8:43 AM CST

Climate Change Is Altering Polar Bear DNA

Study suggests species might avoid extinction, with some help

(Newser) - Polar bears appear to be rewriting parts of their DNA in response to a warming Arctic, according to new research that scientists describe as both alarming and cautiously hopeful. A study from researchers at the University of East Anglia, published in the journal Mobile DNA , suggests this is the first...

New England's Shrimp Aren't Doing So Hot

Fisherman shutdown extended 3 more years as shrimp population dips due to warming waters

(Newser) - Regulators voted Thursday to extend a shutdown preventing New England fishermen from catching shrimp, a historic industry that has recently fallen victim to warming oceans. New England fishermen, especially those from Maine, used to catch millions of pounds of small pink shrimp in the winter, but the business has been...

Startups Want to Dim the Sun
Startups Aim to Dim the Sun
Dec 6, 2025 5:00 PM CST

Startups Aim to Dim the Sun

But critics are worried about letting private companies tinker with the climate

(Newser) - Private startups are starting to embrace the concept of solar geoengineering—essentially, finding a way to cool the planet through artificial means—and two pieces exploring the trend raise concerns about what may result. The Washington Post focuses on the firms Make Sunsets—which invites people to invest $1 in...

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