New Stanford-led research traces a direct line from warmer, wetter weather to a mosquito-borne disease epidemic. The findings could help inform policy and interventions to blunt such outbreaks.

Commercial whaling has left the bowhead whale vulnerable for many generations to come.

Small changes to aircraft flight paths to avoid the atmospheric conditions that create condensation trails – known as contrails – could reduce aviation’s global warming impact by nearly half, a new study suggests.

Climate researchers at ETH Zurich show where planting trees makes the most sense with a view to achieving the greatest possible cooling effect on the climate. Reforestation in tropical regions has the greatest cooling effect. Tree planting in the northern hemisphere, on the other hand, reduces the reflection of sunlight and has no effect or even contributes to global warming. The cooling effect on the climate will be a maximum of 0.25°C by 2100. This contribution is important, but it cannot replace the urgently required reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.