Science
Europe's Summer Heat Killed More Than 50,000 People, and Climate Change Caused Two-Thirds
A study in Nature Health puts the toll across 854 cities at 50,391, a 71% jump over the previous deadliest summer, in 2022.
Topic
Climate change
32 stories from Planck Standard. Latest: October 23, 2026.
ScienceClimate Tipping Points Get Wildly Uneven Research, and Low-Threshold Ones Are Not Favored, Study Finds
A PNAS analysis of 20,736 papers found Greenland drew 20% of the attention while boreal permafrost thaw, with a similar 1.5C threshold, got 0.7%.
ScienceFusing a Healthy Coral to a Bleached One Helped the Sick Coral Regain Its Color in Lab Tests
All 52 pairs of Great Barrier Reef coral fragments fused, and the bleached partners recovered faster where the two tissues met, Australian researchers report.
ScienceChinstrap Penguins Collapse 63% on the World's Largest Colony Island, and Macaronis Take Over
Drone and satellite counts show Zavodovski Island lost more than 680,000 breeding chinstraps since 2011. Researchers blame climate change reshaping krill supplies, not the volcano.
WatchPoliticsSupreme Court Skeptical of Boulder's Climate Suit Against Exxon and Suncor on Term's First Day
Conservative justices warned of 'chaos' if states can sue oil companies over climate change, while Kagan and Jackson pressed the companies. Justice Alito sat out the case.
PoliticsSupreme Court Opens Term Monday With Climate, AR-15, Religion and Deportation Fights
A docket loaded with politically charged cases begins with a six-justice conservative majority and the likelihood of more election disputes arriving on the emergency docket.
ScienceSwiss Glaciers Lose 5.5% of Their Ice in 2026, the Second-Worst Melt on Record
Heat waves and a snow-poor winter stripped 2.2 trillion liters of water from the Alps between July and September. Only 2022 was worse.
PoliticsJustice Alito Drops Out of the Supreme Court's Big Climate Case, Raising a 4-4 Risk
A one-line letter Monday said Alito will not take part in the Exxon and Suncor fight with Boulder, Colorado, a week before arguments. He owns stock in two other oil companies.
ScienceAn AI Counted 39,619 Icebergs Stuck to the Seafloor Around Antarctica
The first continent-wide map of grounded icebergs, built from Sentinel-1 radar images by a University of Tasmania master's student, finds 80% of them crowded onto 14% of the coastline. The small ones are the ones most likely to melt loose first.
ScienceEarth Is Now Warming at 0.35°C per Decade — Nearly Double the Rate It Held for 45 Years
Potsdam researchers stripped El Niño, volcanoes and the solar cycle out of the temperature record and found a break around 2015 that shows up in all five major global datasets.
ScienceThawing Permafrost Is Dumping Ancient Carbon Into the Arctic Ocean. The Seafloor Is Burying About 90% of It
Sediment cores from Canada's Herschel Island show that bacteria largely ignore the old permafrost carbon in favor of fresher algal material — keeping most of it out of the atmosphere.
Top NewsJuly's Flash-Flood Emergencies Near a U.S. Record as a Warming Climate Supercharges Downpours
The National Weather Service has issued more than 30 flash-flood emergencies this month alone, part of a barrage of extreme rainfall events scientists tie directly to a hotter atmosphere.
ScienceEarth's Oceans, Lakes and Rivers Are Losing Oxygen at an Alarming Rate, Scientists Warn
A new study finds waters worldwide are being drained of oxygen by warming and pollution, threatening food webs and the planet's ability to regulate its own climate.
ScienceAfter 37 Years of Heated Soil, a Harvard Forest Experiment Finds Even 'Stable' Carbon Is Escaping
The world's longest-running soil warming study reports that carbon once thought locked away for good is breaking down as temperatures rise — a feedback that could amplify future warming.
ScienceInvasive Asian Mantises Are Sweeping Across Europe, Devouring Native Wildlife
Two fast-breeding mantis species from Asia have been formally declared invasive as they push northward across the continent, preying on pollinators, small vertebrates and even native mantises.
ScienceScientists Sound the Alarm as 'Brain-Eating' Amoebae Spread to New Regions
Climate change and aging water systems are helping resilient free-living amoebae expand their reach, researchers warn — and the organisms can shelter other dangerous microbes inside them.
ScienceScientists Discover a Continent-Scale 'Fan' of 30 Hidden Basins Beneath East Antarctica's Ice
Buried under ice up to three kilometers thick, the newly mapped structure radiates from a single point near the South Pole and may shape how the ice sheet responds to warming.
ScienceAntarctica's Hektoria Glacier Collapsed at the Fastest Rate Ever Recorded in Modern History, Retreating 15 Miles in 15 Months, NASA Satellites Confirm
A new study published in The Cryosphere documents a two-month interval during which Hektoria's grounded ice line retreated more than five miles — a melt rate unprecedented since satellite tracking of polar ice began.
ScienceAtlantic Ocean Current on Track for 51% Collapse by 2100 — Far Worse Than Previous Estimates
Two new studies using real-world ocean data find that earlier climate models underestimated AMOC weakening by 60 percent, raising collapse probability above 50% and threatening catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa, and the U.S. East Coast.
ScienceAnthropocene Study Reveals Human Activity as New Planetary Force Reshaping Earth
Research shows how cultural and social innovations have given humans extraordinary power to transform ecosystems, with both positive potential and serious environmental costs.
ScienceHuman Societies Have Become New Force of Nature Reshaping Earth
Researcher argues Anthropocene era demonstrates humanity's capacity for both massive destruction and collective positive change through cultural evolution.
ScienceEmperor Penguins Declared Endangered as Record Antarctic Sea Ice Loss Accelerates
The IUCN upgraded the iconic species from Near Threatened to Endangered on April 9, projecting the population will halve by the 2080s without major emissions reductions.
ScienceAtlantic Ocean Circulation Could Weaken 51% by 2100, Threatening Global Climate Stability
A landmark new study drawing on 1,600 years of ocean proxy data found AMOC already weaker than at any point in the modern record — and accelerating in its decline.
ScienceMIT Discovers Hidden Chemical Leak Delaying Ozone Recovery by Seven Years
Research reveals that ozone-depleting chemicals still permitted for industrial use are escaping into the atmosphere at much higher rates than previously thought.
- Science
MIT Discovers Hidden Loophole Slowing Ozone Layer Recovery by Seven Years
Industrial chemical leaks are occurring at much higher rates than expected, potentially delaying ozone healing until 2047.
ScienceHidden Ocean Methane Source Discovered That Could Accelerate Global Warming
Scientists solve long-standing mystery of methane emissions from oxygen-rich ocean waters, revealing process that may intensify as planet warms.
ScienceScientists Finally Solve the Colorado River's 25-Year Missing Water Mystery — and Plants Are the Culprit
University of Washington researchers identified that warmer, drier springs cause vegetation to absorb nearly 70% of snowmelt before it reaches the river, upending traditional forecasting methods relied upon by seven states.
ScienceEmperor Penguin and Antarctic Fur Seal Declared Endangered by IUCN as Sea Ice Collapses
The IUCN Red List upgraded two iconic Antarctic species simultaneously, with the fur seal population down 57% in 26 years and penguin chicks drowning as ice breaks up prematurely.
PoliticsClimate Change Denial Sees Resurgence in Trump's Washington
Conference near White House draws dozens who reject scientific consensus on climate change, with attendees expressing triumphant mood.
ScienceNew Study Finds U.S. States Are Warming Unevenly — Reality More Alarming Than Averages Suggest
Only 27 states show rising average temperatures, but 41 states are warming in specific parts of their temperature distributions.
ScienceAntarctic Ice Cores Extend Climate Record to 3 Million Years — Earth Far More CO2-Sensitive Than Thought
Oregon State University researchers drilling in Antarctica's Allan Hills found that CO2 levels three million years ago were 250 ppm — yet temperatures were far warmer than expected, suggesting standard climate models badly underestimate Earth's sensitivity.
SciencePhoenix Hits 110°F in March — Scientists Say the Heat Dome Was 'Virtually Impossible' Without Climate Change
An extreme high-pressure system locked over the Southwest shattered all-time March temperature records and killed at least four people; a rapid attribution study found climate change added up to 7.2°F to the event.
