Climate change is disrupting maple syrup by shortening its production season

Climate change creates conditions for more invasive species

Increasing temperatures shift the conditions native organisms are accustomed to, allowing those from warmer climates to move in with a greater chance of survival. Drought stress can cause invasive plants to absorb less herbicide, limiting the effectiveness of the control method, while melting ice can open new Arctic shipping routes, expanding the transport of species.

Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide lead plants to produce more pollen

Pollen issues are emerging earlier in the year and lasting longer as rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere boost plants’ pollen production and also simultaneously extend warmer, pollen-producing seasons.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence

Severe turbulence over the North Atlantic has increased by 55% over the past 40 years, driven by strengthened jet streams and storm systems. Ongoing increases in global temperatures, which fuel these changes, may triple severe turbulence incidents in the coming decades.

More extreme heat days are putting human health at risk in both the short and long term

America is generally experiencing more frequent extreme heat days, over a longer period, in certain parts of the country. The heat-related death toll is rising, and beyond those direct deaths, extreme heat can also have troubling ripple effects including elevated violence and decreased productivity.

Rising sea levels due to climate change may be slowing Earth's rotation

A 2024 PNAS study found that from 2000 to 2020, the length of a day increased at a rate of 1.33 milliseconds per century, an unprecedented amount in the 3.6 million years of day-length changes reconstructed from an analysis of benthic foraminifera fossils. Researchers suggest the slowing comes from changing ice sheets redistributing planetary mass.

Mapping how the El Niño-Southern Oscillation affects weather patterns around the world

In the warm episode (El Niño), summers in India, Indonesia, Australia, and the Caribbean are drier than normal, while winters bring wetter, cooler conditions to the US Gulf Coast and warmer conditions to the Pacific Northwest. During the cold episode (La Niña), these are reversed, with India, Indonesia, and the southern Caribbean experiencing greater rainfall in the summers.

This year's first leaf and first bloom in the US, mapped

Spring tends to arrive within a range of dates in the contiguous US. See a map illustrating the most recent year's first leaf and first bloom in relation to historical averages to see how early or late the season arrived.

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.”

During the fall, chlorophyll breakdown in leaves produces color changes

With shorter days and less sunlight, the concentration of the green pigment diminishes, revealing yellow and orange pigments. Red leaves result from trapped sugars, producing new pigments called anthocyanins, which weren't present in leaves during the growing season.

Brief article explaining why the Amazon rainforest might now produce more carbon dioxide than it absorbs

Climate change and deforestation may have transformed the Amazon rainforest into a net source of planet-warming gases instead of a carbon sink, according to Smithsonian magazine.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

US honeybee colony loss remains a concern, despite rebounding from the mid-2000s CCD

In the winter of 2006-07, worker honeybees began mysteriously disappearing from hives—a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder—triggering the loss of as many as 90% of hives. The lack of dead bees found near hives and the declining prevalence of CCD since then have made finding a single cause challenging.

SAD disrupts melatonin secretion, producing it longer in the morning

The hormone is secreted from the pineal gland in the brain and is key to the timing of sleep. However, the substance does not generate sleep itself. With seasonal affective disorder, the body misperceives the photoperiod—the time with light—and the cycle of sleeping and waking gets off-phase, leading to issues with circadian rhythms.

Niagara Falls generates its own microclimate

Constant mist from the Falls produces localized weather effects, including rare ice formations that can rise over 100 feet high in winter.

Switzerland's glaciers have lost ice volume every year since 2001

The trajectory of global warming is projected to cause three-quarters of the country's glaciers to be lost by 2100. Accelerated glacial melting worldwide affects as many as 800 million people who rely on meltwater for agriculture and personal use.

Environmental conditions, shifting immunity, and viral strain could help explain 2025 spike

The surge in HFMD in the summer and early fall of 2025 in the mid-Atlantic could be the result of a confluence of factors, including a more virulent strain of disease-causing virus, good environmental conditions for the virus to spread—hot, humd—and a potential immunity gap among kids due to milder HFMD outbreaks the previous year.

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.

Tree rings can reveal centuries of environmental change and natural events

The width and shape of tree rings reflect yearly growth conditions like rainfall or snowfall. Scars in the rings can record disruptions such as fires, avalanches, or earthquakes, explaining when and how those events occurred.

The extremophilic origins of watermelon snow and its impact on glacial melting

Also known as "blood snow," the red coloration is produced by snow algae that thrive in extremely cold conditions and take the shape of red spherical cysts in winter. To protect themselves from more intense summer solar radiation, these psychrophiles accumulate red, orange, and yellow pigments, intensifying their coloration and causing glaciers to reflect less sunlight than if they were white.

The dark side of modern sugar production

Humanity's ancestors evolved to wring more calories from sugary fruits by storing excess sugar as fat, an adaption that's culminated in many peoples' palettes preferring calorie-rich sweet. Now, the desire for sugar has both contributed to a widespread health crisis and been at the center of atrocities around the world.

Watch an animation of Arctic sea ice grow to its maximum

Each year, Arctic sea ice freezes over millions of square miles amid colder temperatures. This 1-minute animation depicts that process using data from the winter of 2022-23.

Wildfires have seriously affected Napa's winemaking

If there’s a single thing that has defined the last decade of California winemaking, it’s the effects of climate change, particularly wildfires. To avoid the threats of wildfires, some vineyards have pivoted to more heat-tolerant grapes.

Craft beer is partially responsible for disrupting Budweiser’s US market share

Over the past few decades, as craft beer from smaller breweries has become more popular (as well as seltzers, light beers, and other alternatives), Budweiser’s market share has declined.

How a black market for banned refrigerants still threatens ozone recovery and climate progress

Despite the Montreal Protocol's success, illegal trade in chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons persists. Driven by high profits and weak enforcement, smugglers supply banned refrigerants, causing significant ozone depletion and greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to billions of tons of carbon dioxide.

Fracking has led to an increased global oil supply, contributing to lower oil prices

Fracking technology has significantly increased how much crude oil the US produces. As more countries adopt fracking technology, there could be an increased downward pressure on prices—although fracking has been widely criticized for its negative environmental impacts.

Beanless 'coffee' is an eco-friendly alternative

As we consider the role of agriculture in climate change, many people are seeking alternatives to the most resource-hungry crops—coffee included. Are new synthetic alternatives the answer? Startups are exploring beanless “coffee” made in a variety of ways.

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.

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.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

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

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

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

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.

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

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

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.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

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.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.