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Grist reports on how rising climate disasters are undermining homeownership as the traditional path to American wealth-building. The firm First Street projected last year that climate risks could erase nearly $1.5 trillion in US home values by 2055. The report features Sierra Isley, who narrowly avoided buying a home in Asheville, North Carolina, before Hurricane Helene devastated the area a month later.
Leaders from several academic institutions have announced the creation of an institute designed to bring researchers from the sciences, social sciences and humanities together for extended, in-person collaboration. The initiative aims to tackle complex global challenges—such as AI, climate change, health, the economy, migration and democracy—that the founders say cannot be addressed within single academic disciplines.
William Nordhaus, the Yale economist who created the DICE model for analyzing the economics of climate change starting in the 1970s, has died. He also co-authored the long-running textbook 'Economics' with Paul Samuelson and held numerous advisory and leadership roles, including on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's board and the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
Researchers point to a powerful El Niño weather pattern as a driver of higher atmospheric CO2 this year, citing Indonesia's peatland wildfires as one visible example of the phenomenon's carbon impact. The event is described as intensifying natural processes that release additional carbon dioxide beyond typical annual increases.
Research shows the Amazon rainforest has shifted from being a net absorber of carbon dioxide to a net emitter, largely due to human-driven deforestation and land degradation. The region, historically credited with storing billions of tons of CO2, is now releasing more carbon than it captures.
A new estimate indicates that roughly 50,000 people died from heat-related causes during Europe's summer heat wave. Researchers say this figure represents a record high, nearly double the toll recorded in previous years.
Researchers estimate more than 50,000 people died from heat-related causes in European urban areas during the summer of 2026, which saw five consecutive heat waves push temperatures to record highs across the continent. The researchers say a significant share of these deaths can be directly linked to climate change.
MIT Technology Review's latest coverage explores how researchers are seeking new approaches to advance computing performance now that transistor miniaturization has slowed, pushing the industry toward larger data centers instead. A separate report from the outlet's James Temple covers fieldwork in Alaska examining how wildfires are affecting permafrost and the climate implications of that thawing.
A new UN Environment Programme report finds global warming is now projected to reach 2.2°F (1.2°C) above current temperatures if countries meet their pledges, worse than last year's forecast. The report attributes this partly to the US formally withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and says US emissions rose by 133 megatons of CO2 equivalent in 2025, far more than any other nation, driven by higher electricity demand and increased coal power use.
An artist created a silver-colored statue of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis using gallium, a soft metal with a low melting point. Placed outdoors, the statue's face melted away within about 30 minutes, exposing a skeleton underneath.
Since the late 1990s, researchers have observed that glaciers in the Karakoram Range, which spans parts of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China, have gained modest amounts of ice even as most mountain glaciers worldwide lose mass. The region hosts over 13,000 glaciers across more than 20,000 square kilometers, with some ranging in elevation from above 7,000 meters to as low as 2,300 meters. Scientists have dubbed this behavior the 'Karakoram Anomaly' and currently attribute it largely to distinctive regional weather patterns.
A discussion piece examines various climate-change impacts already affecting the United States, asking which of these risks receives the least public attention relative to its severity. It does not name a single definitive answer but surveys multiple ongoing effects, such as extreme heat, flooding, and drought, that are reshaping communities nationwide.