This article is part of the Fine Arts & Exhibits special section on the art world stretching boundaries with new artists, new audiences and new technology. It’s rare to experience art in a nearly totally dark room. But last year at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, that’s where visitors …
Read More »The ‘Greenest Governor’ Fights to Save a Landmark Climate Law
Long before the League of Conservation Voters embraced him as the “greenest governor” in America, Jay Inslee of Washington had written a book about climate change that called for a clean-energy revolution that would be the equivalent of the Apollo space program in commitment and innovation. But Mr. Inslee’s visions …
Read More »Art Can Fight Climate Change in More Ways Than One
This article is part of the Fine Arts & Exhibits special section on the art world stretching boundaries with new artists, new audiences and new technology. Visitors to the Hammer Museum’s show “Breath(e) Toward Climate and Social Justice” will be greeted by powerful works portraying the widespread impact of ecological …
Read More »Why Heat Waves of the Future May Be Even Deadlier Than Feared
Last month was the second-hottest September ever recorded; it came after the world’s warmest summer ever, in a year that is on track to be the most searing in recorded history. There’s only so much the human body can take. Heat killed 60,000 people in Europe alone in 2022, and …
Read More »Malaria Is Surging in Ethiopia, Reversing a Decade of Progress Against the Disease
Malaria infection rates are soaring in Ethiopia, where a combination of armed conflict, climate change and mosquitoes’ growing resistance to drugs and insecticides has accelerated the spread of a disease the country once thought it was bringing under control. More than 6.1 million malaria cases, and 1,038 deaths, have been …
Read More »Changing the DNA of Living Things to Fight Climate Change
With the push of a red button, a milky-colored liquid sprayed onto a load of corn seed at a warehouse in central Missouri. It was a hint of a revolution underway in American agriculture, driven by a desire to combat climate change while still feeding and fueling the world. Inside …
Read More »Wildfires in the West Aren’t Just Getting Bigger. They’re Faster, Too.
Wildfires aren’t just tearing through larger swaths of the American West. They’re spreading more quickly, too. A team of researchers looked at NASA satellite data on 60,000 wildfires in the contiguous United States between 2001 and 2020. After classifying each blaze by the most it grew in a single day, …
Read More »The U.N.’s Verdict on Climate Progress Over the Past Year: There Was None
One year after world leaders made a landmark promise to move away from fossil fuels, countries have essentially made no progress in cutting emissions and tackling global warming, according to a United Nations report issued on Thursday. Global greenhouse gas emissions soared to a record 57 gigatons last year and …
Read More »Can Biological Engineering Change the World?
Science is always focused on breakthroughs and the next big thing. And, too often, there is loads of hype about what benefits to society a particular breakthrough might bring. But when I saw the image of Albert Einstein peering out of a petri dish in the office of Christopher Voigt, …
Read More »The A.I. Power Grab
Cleaning up the technology industry was supposed to be easy. Powering server racks and personal computers isn’t nearly as energy-intensive as making concrete or steel. So until recently, eliminating planet-warming emissions in the tech sector was expected to be relatively straightforward. Tech companies positioned themselves as climate leaders and boasted …
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