Climate Science

Latest climate science research, data, and scientific findings from leading institutions

Dozens of active and planned NASA spacecraft killed in Trump budget request

Proposal would end nearly all new major science missions

Final NSF budget proposal jettisons one giant telescope amid savage agencywide cuts

Trump’s 57% proposed cut to agency would drop grant success rates to 7% and gut education and training

‘Devasting.’ NIH cancels future funding plans for HIV vaccine consortia

Researchers decry agency’s decision just as new leads reinvigorate search for long-sought vaccine

Trump officials downplay fake citations in high-profile report on children’s health

References to phantom studies comes after White House pledge to practice “gold standard” science

NIH funding policy deals new blow to HIV-related trial networks

Halt to foreign “subawards” disrupts ongoing global studies and has researchers scrambling to fulfill ethical obligations to trial volunteers

Clearest ever images of Sun’s corona reveal ‘raindrops’ of dancing plasma

New system yields sharp views of the Sun’s mysterious outer atmosphere

Small currents, big impact: Satellite breakthrough reveals hidden ocean forces

While scientists have long studied currents of large eddies, the smaller ones – called submesoscale eddies – are notoriously difficult to detect. These currents, which range from several kilometers to...

Rising soil nitrous acid emissions, driven by climate change and fertilization, accelerate global ozone pollution

Ozone pollution is a global environmental concern that not only threatens human health and crop production, but also worsens global warming. While the formation of ozone is often attributed to...

Will your car hit that deer? Depends on your headlight bulbs—and the deer’s personality

Halogen bulbs more reliably catch deer’s attention, but whether the animals flee or freeze comes down to individual temperament

Ocean simulation game reveals how seals navigate underwater

Unusual setup shows how the animals get their bearings in deep ocean

To boost nuclear power, Trump orders controversial rewrite of radiation safety rules

Researchers have long debated the risks posed by low levels of ionizing radiation

Will NSF’s flagship training program survive under Trump?

Despite 50 Nobelists and 75,000 alumni, NSF’s graduate research fellows could be a vanishing breed

Save twice the ice by limiting global warming

A new study finds that if global warming exceeds the Paris Climate Agreement targets, the non-polar glacier mass will diminish significantly. However, if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius,...

Anthropologists spotlight human toll of glacier loss

Anthropologists have examined the societal consequences of global glacier loss.

Agriculture in forests can provide climate and economic dividends

Forest-based agroforestry can restore forests, promote livelihoods, and combat climate change, but emerging agroforestry initiatives focusing only on tree planting is leading to missed opportunities to support beneficial outcomes of...

Leprosy was an American scourge long before Europeans arrived

Scientists find DNA from an enigmatic bacterium in 1000-year-old skeletons

Can gene-edited pigs solve the organ transplant shortage?

With clinical trials imminent, hopes are rising high for the long-struggling field of xenotransplantation

Rock record illuminates oxygen history

A new study reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on...

An iron oxide 'oxygen sponge' for efficient thermochemical hydrogen production

As the world shifts toward sustainable energy sources, ‘green hydrogen’ - hydrogen produced without emitting carbon - has emerged as a leading candidate for clean power. Scientists have now developed...

'Future-proofing' crops will require urgent, consistent effort

A professor of crop sciences and of plant biology describes research efforts to ‘future-proof’ the crops that are essential to feeding a hungry world in a changing climate. Long, who...

Atlantic ocean current unlikely to collapse with climate change

Researchers created a detailed physical model that suggests a major Atlantic Ocean current will weaken far less under climate change than indicated by more extreme climate model projections.

Living libraries could save our food

Scientists have pioneered a new way to breed climate-resilient crops faster by combining plant genebank data with climate and DNA analysis. The method, tested on sorghum, could speed up global...

Does planting trees really help cool the planet?

Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19th century is replanted,...

When climate disasters hit, they often leave long-term health care access shortages

Immediate recovery efforts receive the most attention after severe natural disasters, yet new data from researchers at Drexel University and the University of Maryland suggests these climate events often also...

What does the new FDA framework mean for the future of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.?

Under proposed policy, updated shots would be limited to at-risk populations

This weapon was made from a whale carcass nearly 20,000 years ago

Study pushes back human use of whale bones more than 1000 years

What does Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ really mean?

Critics worry new executive order allows political appointees to determine how science is used in policy decisions

New Zealand, betting on innovation and economic growth, cuts existing science funds

Scientists warn that chronic underfunding and diverting support away from fundamental research may undermine efforts to boost the economy

Explorers of Ukrainian caves may have brought deadly bat fungus to U.S.

Study traces mysterious strain of white-nose disease to visits between American and European cavers

Bedbugs may be the first urban pest

A new study of the insects’ genomes traces their success back to early civilization

Watch a robot play badminton against human players

Advanced training lets a four-legged robot learn to move around the court with ease

U.S. aid helped two African countries rein in HIV. Then came Trump

In Lesotho and Eswatini, treatment and prevention cutbacks are hitting pregnant women, children, and teens especially hard

Philanthropist gives $90 million to support theoretical physics research

Leinweber Foundation donation will help fund postdocs and graduate students at multiple institutions

China is quietly preparing to build a gigantic telescope

Astronomers are puzzled by the silence over an instrument that could briefly reign as world’s biggest

Huge sea-urchin populations are overwhelming Hawaii's coral reefs

This study measured the growth rate of coral reefs in Honaunau Bay, Hawaii, using on-site data gathering and aerial imagery. Researchers found that the reefs are being eroded by sea...

Coastal Alaska wolves exposed to high mercury concentrations from eating sea otters

Scientists show that wolves that are eating sea otters in Alaska have much higher concentrations of mercury than those eating other prey such as deer and moose.

Involving communities in nature-based solutions to climate challenges leads to greater innovation, study shows

Involving communities in nature-based solutions to tackle urban climate and environmental challenges leads to innovation and multiple benefits, a study shows.

Even birds can't outfly climate change

As rising global temperatures alter ecosystems worldwide, animal species usually have two choices: adapt to changing local conditions or flee to a cooler clime. Ecologists have long assumed that the...

Geography-guided industrial-level upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate plastics through alkaline seawater-based processes | Science Advances

Abstract The escalating plastic crisis can be mitigated by upgrading waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Leveraging the geographical advantages of offshores with established chlor-alkali industries, abundant renewable energy, and extensive seawater,...

Environmental change and globalization dynamics in Roman Anatolia: Stabilizing an accelerating system | Science Advances

Abstract The role of the Great Acceleration in transitioning the Earth into a new system state invites questions about the acceleration mechanism itself. Here, we use socioeconomic and environmental datasets...

Efficient perovskite solar modules enabled by a UV-stable and high-conductivity hole transport material | Science Advances

Abstract Ultraviolet (UV) radiation poses a substantial challenge to the stability of prevalent p-i-n (positive-intrinsic-negative) perovskite solar cells (PSCs), demanding more robust hole-transport layers (HTLs) due to light incident from...

Without public trust, effective climate policy is impossible

When formulating climate policy, too little attention is paid to social factors and too much to technological breakthroughs and economic reasons. Because citizens are hardly heard in this process, European...

The ocean seems to be getting darker

Scientists, who have spent more than a decade examining the impact of artificial light at night on the world’s coasts and oceans, have shown that more than one-fifth of the...

Targeted policies to break the deadlock on heating bans

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 26 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02343-9As an important policy instrument for building sector decarbonization, bans on fossil fuel-based heating face fierce opposition with doubts over their economic...

Post-flood selective migration interacts with media sentiment and income effects

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 26 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02345-7A gap remains in understanding flood-induced migration across sociodemographic groups. This study quantifies the flood-induced inflow/outflow selective migration by education, employment and...

Unraveling plankton adaptation in global oceans through the untargeted analysis of lipidomes | Science Advances

Abstract Microbial responses to environmental changes are well studied in laboratory cultures, but in situ adaptations of plankton lipidomes remain less understood. Building upon a global lipidomic study showing temperature-driven...

Single-cell profiling demonstrates the combined effect of wheeze phenotype and infant viral infection on airway epithelial development | Science Advances

Abstract The development of the airway epithelium in asthma is unclear. We characterized nasal airway epithelial cell (NAEC) developmental phenotypes from children aged 2 to 3 years in an a...

Impact plasma amplification of the ancient lunar dynamo | Science Advances

Abstract Spacecraft magnetometry and paleomagnetic measurements of lunar samples provide evidence that the Moon had a magnetic field billions of years ago. Because this field was likely stronger than that...