All That Rain Is Driving Up Cases of a Deadly Fungal Disease in California
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Last week, a long, narrow section of the Earth’s atmosphere funneled trillions of gallons of water eastward from the Pacific tropics and unleashed it on California. This weather event, known as an atmospheric river, broke rainfall records, dumped more than a […]
Kyiv Is Using Homegrown Tech to Treat the Trauma of War
But this is only half of the problem that needs solving. For those who do want to seek treatment, there simply aren’t enough resources to help them. Clinical psychologists are supposed to limit the number of patient consultations they do in a day, so they don’t burn out. Before the full-scale invasion, Inna Davydenko saw […]
Ocean Temperatures Keep Shattering Records—and Stunning Scientists
So what’s going on here? For one, the oceans have been steadily warming over the decades, absorbing something like 90 percent of the extra heat that humans have added to the atmosphere. “The oceans are our saviors, in a way,” says biological oceanographer Francisco Chavez of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. “Things […]
Leading Lab-Grown Meat Company Upside Foods Just Paused a Major Expansion
It has been a rocky year for plans for large-scale cultivated meat production. In May 2022, another Californian startup, Eat Just, announced its plans to build up to 10 large bioreactors, each with a 250,000-liter capacity, with the bioreactor firm ABEC. The deal later fell apart, with ABEC later filing an amended legal complaint in […]
The Feds Just Bet Even Bigger on American-Made Heat Pumps
While everyone’s been focused on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles to cut carbon emissions, a technological hero has been rapidly ascending under the radar: the heat pump. Instead of burning natural gas or coal to produce heat, this fully electric device extracts warmth from outdoor air—even when it’s freezing outside—and pumps it inside to […]
A Virus Found in Wastewater Beat Back a Woman’s ‘Zombie’ Bacteria
But Cole’s progress was short-lived. Her blood infection returned, and her doctors determined the phage-antibiotic combination was no longer effective. She passed away from pneumonia in March 2022, seven months after phage therapy was stopped. Cole’s case demonstrates both the hope and limitations of phage therapy. The problem this time wasn’t just bacterial evolution. When […]
Smoking Alters Your Immune System For Years After You Quit
To figure out why and how the effect lasts for years after someone smokes their last cigarette, Duffy’s team turned to their donors’ DNA. Seemingly everything from wildfire smoke to your parents’ trauma has been linked to epigenetic changes—physical manipulations of the DNA molecule that switch genes on or off. Sure enough, the long-term effect […]
Farming Prioritizes Cows and Cars—Not People
In late February, farmers from across the US will gather in Houston, Texas, to witness the crowning of their champions: the winners of the National Corn Yield Contest. Every year, thousands of participants brush up on the contest’s 17-page rule book and then attempt to plough, plant, and fertilize their way into the record books. […]
Wild Animals Should Be Paid for the Benefits They Provide Humanity
We need to understand the value of nature if we want to protect it—and that should include paying ecosystems for keeping us alive, argues Ian Redmond, head of conservation for not-for-profit streaming platform Ecoflix and cofounder of Rebalance Earth, a company that aims to build a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy. He’s trying to change […]
Climate Finance Is Targeting the Wrong Industries
To achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, we have to increase the amount of capital invested in climate tech by 590 percent, says Daria Saharova, managing partner at VC World Fund, a European venture capital firm specializing in climate tech. While European funds, including the UK’s, have €19.6 trillion ($21.1 trillion) under management—and invested €19.6 […]