Climate

The grass pea — Lathyrus sativus — is hardy and drought resistant. It tastes like a sugar snap pea, although if that's all you were to eat its natural toxin could make you sick. But breeders might be able to address that issue.

Health & Safety

What are 'orphan crops'? And why is there a new campaign to get them adopted?

11:33am April 18, 2024

by Dan Charles

The grass pea is one: a hardy crop that can thrive in a drought. An agriculturist is spearheading an effort to diversity what farmers grow as climate change threatens staples like corn and wheat.

Queue Listen Now

Atypically heavy rains in the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Tuesday caused flooding, flight cancellations and school closures. Vehicles were abandoned on highways like this one in Dubai.

World News

Photos: UAE sees its heaviest rains in 75 years

10:51am April 18, 2024

by Aya Batrawy

Schools and businesses were closed across the United Arab Emirates after about a year's worth of rain fell in a single day. Flooding has also disrupted travel at Dubai International Airport.

Wildfire smoke covered huge swaths of the U.S. in 2023, including places like New York City, where it has historically been uncommon. New research shows the health costs of breathing in wildfire smoke can be high.

Wildfire smoke contributes to thousands of deaths each year in the U.S.

5:30am April 18, 2024

by Alejandra Borunda

Two new studies show the unseen toll smoke is taking on people across the country. Climate change is likely to make the problem even bigger.

A set of four tubes known as the "river outlet works," pictured on Nov. 2, 2022, could soon be the only way for water to make it through Glen Canyon Dam. Recently-discovered damage to those tubes has raised questions about their role going forward.

Damage at Glen Canyon Dam has Colorado River users concerned

4:33pm April 17, 2024

by Alex Hager

Newly discovered damage to part of the dam holding back America's second-largest reservoir has people who rely on the Colorado River worried about their ability to get the water they need.

Coral reefs undergo what may become the most extensive bleaching event on record

5:06am April 17, 2024

Ocean temperatures have been unusually hot, which turns the corals a ghostly white. Coral bleaching is expected to get worse as the climate keeps getting hotter. Scientists aim to help corals survive.

Politics & Government

Morning news brief

5:06am April 17, 2024

China urged to help ease Mideast tensions. Senate kicks off impeachment trial of the Homeland Security secretary. Coral reefs undergo a mass bleaching event which could soon be the worst on record.

Record levels of heat in the ocean are causing a worldwide mass bleaching event on coral reefs, as seen here on the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists are working on creating more heat-resistant coral to help restore reefs.

Environment

Coral reefs can't keep up with climate change. So scientists are speeding up evolution

5:00am April 17, 2024

Climate change is heating oceans faster than the world's coral reefs can handle. So scientists are breeding corals that can withstand hotter temperatures – but only to a point.

A motorcyclist and car drivers drive through a flooded road caused by heavy rain in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, April 15, 2024.

World News

Lightning, rains kill 36 people in Pakistan

5:27am April 15, 2024

by The Associated Press

Lightning and heavy rains have killed at least 36 people, mostly farmers, across Pakistan in the past three days, as authorities in the country's southwest declared a state of emergency.

Scientists Carly Biedul, Coordinator at The Great Salt Lake Institute, Bonnie Baxter, Director at The Great Salt Lake Institute, and Heidi Hoven, Senior Manager at the Gillmor Sanctuary and Audubon Rockies, showed us around a bird sanctuary where many species of birds and insects the the birds feed on are affected by the recession of The Great Salt Lake.

What biologists see from the shores of the drying Great Salt Lake

5:01am April 13, 2024

by Kirk Siegler

Half of the Great Salt Lake in Utah has now dried up but scientists say there's still some time left to reverse its decline.

A man works in a Florida agricultural field on a hot, humid day in July 2023, one of the hottest months ever recorded in the state. There are no federal heat regulations.

Florida blocks heat protections for workers right before summer

4:32pm April 12, 2024

by Alejandra Borunda

Miami-Dade County had proposed rules that would give workers breaks, water, and shade when it's too hot. But a new state law prevents cities and counties from doing that.