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Ten Holstein cattle in a row feeding on grain.

How bird flu virus fragments get into milk sold in US stores, and what widespread positive tests mean for dairy in America

Noelia Silva del Rio, University of California, Davis; Richard V. Pereira, University of California, Davis; Robert B. Moeller, University of California, Davis; Terry W. Lehenbauer, University of California, Davis, and Todd Cornish, University of California, Davis

Medium-sized fish swim around several rocks covered in purple and green-gray colored coral.

Coral-bleaching is devastating reefs globally, threatening tiny creatures that have shaped human cultures for centuries

Michele Currie Navakas, Miami University

How trains linked rival port cities along the US East Coast into a cultural and economic megalopolis

David Alff, University at Buffalo

A silver train speeds through the frame, slightly blurred

Billions of cicadas are about to emerge from underground in a rare double-brood convergence

John Cooley, University of Connecticut and Chris Simon, University of Connecticut

Several large insects on a tree trunk with the Capitol dome in the background

Large retailers don’t have smokestacks, but they generate a lot of pollution − and states are starting to regulate it

Johnathan Williams, University of Northern Iowa

Two tractor-trailer trucks parked at a loading dock.

Why don’t female crickets chirp?

Floyd W. Shockley, Smithsonian Institution

Wild turkey numbers are falling in some parts of the US – the main reason may be habitat loss

Marcus Lashley, University of Florida and William Gulsby, Auburn University

A half-dozen turkeys grouped in a suburban yard

Native American voices are finally factoring into energy projects – a hydropower ruling is a victory for environmental justice on tribal lands

Emily Benton Hite, Saint Louis University and Denielle Perry, Northern Arizona University

A large dam with a spillway stretches in front of a reservoir

Removing PFAS from public water will cost billions and take time – until then, here are ways to filter out harmful ‘forever chemicals’ at home

Kyle Doudrick, University of Notre Dame

A hand turns on a faucet and water splashes form a full glass.

Rural counties increasingly rely on prisons to provide firefighters and EMTs who work for free, but the inmates have little protection or future job prospects

J. Carlee Purdum, Texas A&M University

Inmate firefighters in orange and carrying equipment for fighting fires follow a crew chief along a path.

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Extreme weather

Text message from a California utility warming of possible planned blackouts in 2019.

Colorado is latest state to try turning off the electrical grid to prevent wildfires − a complex, technical operation pioneered in California

Kyri Baker, University of Colorado Boulder

The South’s aging water infrastructure is getting pounded by climate change – fixing it is also a struggle

Jonathan Fisk, Auburn University; John C. Morris, Auburn University, and Megan E. Heim LaFrombois, Auburn University

Water gushes from a pipe draining a work area as workers try to figure out how to fix a broken water main.

Power outages leave poor communities in the dark longer: Evidence from 15 million outages raises questions about recovery times

Chuanyi Ji, Georgia Institute of Technology and Scott C. Ganz, Georgetown University

A couple stand in the doorway of their home with water surrounding it, including up the front step.

Tornadoes, wildfires and other disasters tell a story of vulnerability and recovery in America

Tricia Wachtendorf, University of Delaware and James Kendra, University of Delaware

A woman sorts through belongs at a family member's home after a tornado hit Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on March 26, 2023.

Where does lightning strike? New maps pinpoint 36.8 million yearly ground strike points in unprecedented detail

Chris Vagasky, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Multiple lightning strikes hit the mountains in the background beyond the lights of a town.

Biodiversity + environment

As climate change and pollution imperil coral reefs, scientists are deep-freezing corals to repopulate future oceans

Mary Hagedorn, Smithsonian Institution

Grizzly bear conservation is as much about human relationships as it is the animals

Alexander L. Metcalf, University of Montana

A grizzly bear walking through a patch of sunlit grass

Surviving fishing gear entanglement isn’t enough for endangered right whales – females still don’t breed afterward

Joshua Reed, Macquarie University; Leslie New, Ursinus College; Peter Corkeron, Griffith University, and Rob Harcourt, Macquarie University

A mother whale, trailing rope, swims with her calf.

Sharks, turtles and other sea creatures face greater risk from industrial fishing than previously thought − we estimated added pressure from ‘dark’ fishing vessels

Heather Welch, University of California, Santa Cruz

A large black bird, dead, tangled in a net with many fish

Gold, silver and lithium mining on federal land doesn’t bring in any royalties to the US Treasury – because of an 1872 law

Sam Kalen, University of Wyoming

Large swaths of exposed red dirt surrounded by forested land.

Climate change

Cars and trucks move across a multi-level bridge in two directions

New York City greenlights congestion pricing – here’s how this toll plan is expected to improve traffic, air quality and public transit

John Rennie Short, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

More climate-warming methane leaks into the atmosphere than ever gets reported – here’s how satellites can find the leaks and avoid wasting a valuable resource

Riley Duren, University of Arizona

A colored image show methane leaking form a source with buildings nearby.

Coastal wetlands can’t keep pace with sea-level rise, and infrastructure is leaving them nowhere to go

Randall W. Parkinson, Florida International University

Areas of golden grasses broken up by water. Lines where canals once went through are evident.

Climate engineering carries serious national security risks − countries facing extreme heat may try it anyway, and the world needs to be prepared

Ben Kravitz, Indiana University and Tyler Felgenhauer, Duke University

Fighting every wildfire ensures the big fires are more extreme, and may harm forests’ ability to adapt to climate change

Mark Kreider, University of Montana

Energy + infrastructure

A blurred vehicle races past wind turbines.

America’s green manufacturing boom, from EV batteries to solar panel production, isn’t powered by renewable energy − yet

James Morton Turner, Wellesley College

Solar power occupies a lot of space – here’s how to make it more ecologically beneficial to the land it sits on

Matthew Sturchio, Colorado State University

Grasses rise between rows of solar PV panels

Why aren’t there solar-powered cars?

Chen Liu, Clarkson University

A white vehicle with a long, low dome moves along a red highway

Six innovative ways to float skyscraper-sized wind turbines

Emma C. Edwards, University of Oxford

Offshore wind turbine and installation boat

E-bike incentives are a costly way to cut carbon emissions, but they also promote health, equity and cleaner air

Christopher R. Cherry, University of Tennessee; John MacArthur, Portland State University, and Luke Jones, Valdosta State University

A man rides an e-bike, towing two small children in a trailer.

Environmental health

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’: Why EPA set federal drinking water limits for these health-harming contaminants

Kathryn Crawford, Middlebury

Hands in purple gloves pour a water sample into a bottle for testing.

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are getting into ocean ecosystems, where dolphins, fish and manatees dine – we traced their origins

Natalia Soares Quinete, Florida International University and Olutobi Daniel Ogunbiyi, Florida International University

A helicopter of view of Miami's gleaming office towers over Biscayne Bay, where boats are running through the channels.

Female mosquitoes rely on one another to choose the best breeding sites − and with the arrival of spring, they’re already on the hunt

Kaylee Marrero, Florida International University; Andre Luis da Costa da Silva, Florida International University, and Matthew DeGennaro, Florida International University

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, is showing up in pregnant women living near farm fields – that raises health concerns

Cynthia Curl, Boise State University and Carly Hyland, University of California, Berkeley

A street with dozens of residential houses backs up to a farm field with only a fence between them.

Regulation + lawsuits

EPA’s new auto emissions standard will speed the transition to cleaner cars, while also addressing consumer and industry concerns

Alan Jenn, University of California, Davis

A silver sedan parked in a row of spaces with chargers, marked 'EV Charging Only'

SEC approves first US climate disclosure rules: Why the requirements are much weaker than planned and what they mean for companies

Sehoon Kim, University of Florida

Industries lit up near the Port of Los Angeles at dusk.

A Supreme Court ruling on fishing for herring could sharply curb federal regulatory power

Robin Kundis Craig, University of Southern California

A bin filled with herring aboard a fishing boat

California is wrestling with electricity prices – here’s how to design a system that covers the cost of fixing the grid while keeping prices fair

Yihsu Chen, University of California, Santa Cruz and Andrew L. Liu, Purdue University

Four homes with solar panels on their roofs