The global impacts of the 1877 'super' El Niño and what could result from similar future events

Understanding how the El Niño-Southern Oscillation is affected by climate change

An analysis of El Niño and La Niña patterns from 1901 to 2020 suggests that anthropogenic warming—global warming caused by humans—has at least partly contributed to increased ENSO variability in recent decades. While ENSO increases the likelihood of droughts and flooding across different regions, researchers say these severe weather events are made more extreme by greenhouse gas emissions.

Breaking down the health effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Second only to the seasons, ENSO is the most significant source of variability in global climate, shifting rainfall and temperature patterns, particularly in Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia. The incidence of vector-borne diseases like malaria, respiratory diseases related to wildfire smoke, food insecurity, and drought-related health and nutritional impacts has been observed to be affected by ENSO.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

A medieval warm period reshaped agriculture across parts of the world

Between 750 and 1350 CE, some regions experienced temperatures that rivaled or exceeded late-20th-century averages, likely due to shifts in El Niño–La Niña cycles. The warmer, wetter climate in Europe and northeast North America boosted agriculture, while causing droughts elsewhere.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

How scientists use data to anticipate the phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Sea-surface temperatures across various regions of the equatorial Pacific Ocean can be compared with ocean temperatures elsewhere in the tropics to identify anomalies that indicate where in the ENSO cycle Earth finds itself. The "Niño 3.4" region in particular—known as the Ocean Niño Index—is a key indicator of ENSO phase and intensity.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

Learn about various ocean-atmosphere cycles impacting global weather patterns

Although the El Niño-Southern Oscillation is among the most impactful, the North Atlantic Oscillation strongly influences weather patterns in the Northeast US by periodically changing atmospheric pressure over the Atlantic. The North Pacific Oscillation fluctuates atmospheric pressure and sea-surface temperatures that affect winter temperatures over much of the US.

Climate shifts are projected to cause more cases of food poisoning

Research published in 2024 suggests that with more severe heatwaves and natural disasters, scientists expect there to be a rise in foodborne disease, especially in Africa and Asia. Already, there are an estimated 600 million food poisoning cases and 420,000 deaths annually. Diarrhea is the most common cause of those deaths.

Could the world's largest solar storm happen again?

In 1859, the world witnessed the most intense solar storm in recorded history. The electromagnetic deluge of dust and gas lit up the night sky and sparked fires, disrupting Earth's magnetic field and putting on a show for the millions. If a storm with a similar intensity today occurred, scientists believe it would be catastrophic for our communications systems. Learn what would happen if the Carrington Event happened again here.

Explore Earth's future climate under different levels of warming

An incredible interactive project showing how global warming is projected to affect the world, from temperatures to rainfall, droughts and flooding, and more.

Supervolcanoes can eject enough material to fill one-fourth of the Grand Canyon

Although extremely rare, their released material can trigger winters by blocking the sun and cooling the Earth’s surface for years. The Toba supereruption 74,000 years ago disrupted food chains and reduced the human population to a few thousand.

The resulting climate change, not the asteroid impact itself, killed most dinosaurs

Although the Chicxulub impact caused widespread destruction through earthquakes and tsunamis, the subsequent nuclear winter, acid rain, and eventual greenhouse warming drove mass extinction. Roughly 70% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, went extinct.

From 2023 to 2025, coral reefs experienced their fourth global bleaching event

Heat stress from the 33-month-long event impacted about 84.4% of the world's coral reef area across waters in at least 83 countries and territories, making it the largest such event to date. Due to climate change, about 90% of coral reefs are expected to undergo bleaching annually by 2050, leaving insufficient time for recovery during the winter months between bleaching events.

Understanding the 1.5 degree Celsius climate benchmark

As more parts of the world are facing extreme weather, from high temperatures to increased natural disasters, there is much debate about what can be done. MIT News explores and explains the 1.5-degree benchmark for limiting the effects of climate change. Read to understand where the planet stands in relation to this threshold and what can be done at the global, regional, and personal levels to “keep 1.5 alive.”

Mapping projected food inflation across the world in 2026

Iran tops the list of hardest-hit countries with a projected 56% inflation on food prices in 2026, followed by Argentina (33%) and Turkey (25%). In the opposite direction is Niger, whose food inflation is expected to drop 18% as a result of strong harvests and financial stabilization. The global average of food inflation is expected to be 3%.

The total cost of weather and climate disasters from 1980 to 2024 is almost $3T

The NOAA’s Office of Coastal Management tracks the cost of damage, deaths, and other key statistics related to hurricanes and weather disasters. In 2024, there were 27 billion-dollar disasters, each averaging $1.2B more in damage than the prior five-year average.

The 1957 and 1968 influenza pandemics caused millions of deaths worldwide

The 1957 H2N2 pandemic spread from East Asia, killing more than 1M globally, while the 1968 H3N2 pandemic began in Hong Kong and caused a similar toll, with both strains rapidly moving across continents.

The Rodinia supercontinent triggered a global ice age when it broke 750 million years ago

Before Pangaea, the Earth’s continental plates had drifted together and broken apart multiple times, with each event altering atmospheric CO2 concentrations and triggering climate change. The continents are estimated to come together again in 50 million to 250 million years.

Why Earth will be made uninhabitable by the sun far sooner than when the sun dies

The star has enough fuel to continue fusing hydrogen into helium for another 5 billion years, but the gradual increase in core temperature from these reactions will brighten the sun by 10% every billion years. Some models predict that the increased radiation will be enough to vaporize all of Earth's surface water about 1 billion years from now, long before the sun becomes a red giant and disintegrates the planet.

Drought conditions force fewer ships to sail the Panama Canal daily

In 2023, canal authorities reduced traffic in the canal amid severely dry conditions. These seven infographics from the Woodwell Climate Research Center explain exactly what happened that historically dry October, and how it affected global supply chains.

If, not when: An earthquake is destined to destroy the Pacific Northwest.

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history. Read a deep dive into the history of the region and the potential impact of the eventual seismic boom.

Global life expectancy has more than doubled since the 1850s

The human species experienced a dramatic increase in expected lifespan over the past 150 years. Antibiotics, improved sanitation, and better worldwide food distribution are a few factors contributing to this rapid transformation. Use this interactive resource to explore longevity gains over time and compare these improvements across the globe.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Microplastics have been shown to disrupt photosynthesis in plants and algae

A major study found that pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long are causing an estimated 4% to 14% loss of the world's wheat, rice, and maize, potentially putting an additional 400 million people at risk of starvation within 20 years. The damage from microplastics to crops may already rival the impact of climate change on food supplies.

Learn the history of food science breakthroughs from the 20th century

Long after humans developed the means to produce sufficient food to feed civilizations, scientific research focused on a wide variety of objectives, such as developing methods to preserve food quality (accomplished via frozen food), speeding up cooking (leading to the microwave), and lowering the cost of sweetening food, which high fructose corn syrup provides.

How the California wildfires are impacting wildlife

The deadly 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires in California have devastated neighborhoods, forested canyons and chaparral—a type of shrubland. In addition to taking dozens of human lives and displacing thousands, the fires destroyed countless habitats and displaced many species. See the unfortunate effects of the flames on wildlife populations, including birds, snakes, wildcats, and fish.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.