Category: Climate

Adult sunflower sea stars feeding on mussels at UW Friday Harbor Laboratories. The stars suck out and ingest the soft tissues of mussels, then discard the shells, which collect at the bottom of the tank. The sea star on the bottom, “Charlotte,” is the mother of the lab’s stars grown in captivity. “It was like…

Torrential rain soaking northern China triggered a deadly landslide, burst riverbanks, and washed away cars on July 28, 2025, with thousands of people forced to evacuate the days-long deluge. | Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images From the wildfires that torched Los Angeles in January to the record-setting heat waves that cooked much of Europe in…

Humans are the dominant species on a dying planet, and we’re still clinging to the idea that we can think our way out, invent our way out, maybe even upload our way out.  But what if the solution isn’t more mastery or more control? What if the only way to survive is to become something…

Collections of microbes at the bottom of a trench in the Pacific Ocean. | Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, CAS The Titanic lies about 12,500 feet under the ocean. The pressure down there is so immense that even submersibles supposedly built for those conditions can, as we know, tragically fail.   Now imagine taking a…

If you’ve found yourself thinking this summer feels hotter than normal, you’re right. It’s not just the occasional heat dome trapping most of the nation in 90-degree heat; the summers have been steadily getting hotter on average because of climate change. That extreme heat is extremely dangerous to vulnerable populations like children, pregnant people, older…

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald…

President Donald Trump’s health and environmental agencies are pursuing very different agendas on pollution and human health. On a Friday evening this July, the Trump administration announced it would lay off all of the health research scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. Hundreds of investigators who try to understand how toxic pollution affects the human…

An aerial view of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Peten Department, Guatemala. | Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images Support independent journalism and help us keep telling stories like this — become a Vox Member today. During a nasty summer heat wave — see: much of the US right now — water is a reliable source of…

Energy infrastructure is increasingly driving higher electricity prices. Americans are paying more for electricity, and those prices are set to rise even further. In almost all parts of the country, the amount people pay for electricity on their power bills — the retail price — has risen faster than the rate of inflation since 2022,…

Steamy. | Yury Matev/Getty Images/iStockphoto Ah, yes, late July in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable by…corn sweat. Corn sweat. It’s a thing! The term refers to the moisture released by fields of corn during hot and sunny weather….