Category: Climate

The biting midge spreads Oropouche virus. Oropouche virus disease was a relatively rare illness for decades, lurking on the margins of tropical rainforests in the Caribbean and South America.  Sporadic reports of an infection causing fevers, coughs, chills, and body aches emerged among people living near or moving into the jungle. A tiny insect called…

President Donald Trump takes part in a press conference on recent Supreme Court rulings in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025, in Washington, DC. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images The Republican Party’s saving grace is supposed to be its commitment to economic growth and consumer abundance.  Sure, the GOP may see…

A grizzly bear and her cub traverse a steep hillside in June 2024. in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. In the early 1900s, long before smartphones and selfie sticks, tourists flocked to Yellowstone National Park — not for the geysers or scenery, but for a grotesque show: A nightly spectacle of grizzly bears raiding cafeteria scraps…

Summer has officially begun with a blast of scorching temperatures across much of the United States. The National Weather Service is warning of “extremely dangerous heat” baking 160 million people under a heat dome stretching from the Midwest to the East Coast the rest of this week. It’s already proven fatal.  But while this is…

A puma, or mountain lion, seen by a motion-sensing camera near the border wall. | Courtesy of Ganesh Marín The border wall between the US and Mexico is, of course, a barrier meant to prevent human migrants from crossing into America as they seek work, family, or refuge from violence.   It’s also a significant…

A You’re Hot, Stay Cool sign with an AC unit and fan posted to a street light during a heat wave on 86th Street in Manhattan, New York. | Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Lee Kuan Yew, the iron-willed founder of modern Singapore, was once asked what the most important invention of the…

An aerial view shows floodwaters covering farm fields and a rural road near Poplar Bluff, Missouri. In April, thunderstorms, heavy rains, high winds, and tornadoes plagued the regions for several days causing widespread damage. | Scott Olson/Getty Images Globally, humanity is producing more food than ever, but that harvest is concentrated in just a handful…

A capsule full of lab-raised mosquitoes falls from a drone in Maui. | Adam Knox/American Bird Conservancy It sounds like something out of a nightmare: a giant drone flying through the sky and dropping containers full of live, buzzing mosquitoes, one of the world’s most hated insects. But in Hawaii, this scenario is very much…

A drilling rig plugs an abandoned oil well in Montana. Abandoned wells are a major source of methane emissions. | Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Odorless and colorless, methane is a gas that is easy to miss — but it’s one of the most important contributors to global warming. It can trap up…

A home in front of the John E. Amos coal-fired power plant in Poca, West Virginia, in February 2022. | Dane Rhys/Bloomberg via 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: The…