Science

Climate change is driving wildfires, giving ‘rocket fuel’ to tropical storms

By PBS NewsHour

As hundreds of wildfires in California continue to blaze and thousands of people evacuate, this year’s hurricane season is on track to become one of the busiest on record. Andrew Freedman, editor of Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang joins Hari…

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Trump to announce plasma treatment authorized for COVID-19

By Jonathan Lemire, Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

After expressing frustration at the slow pace of approval for coronavirus treatments, President Donald Trump was set to announce on Sunday the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients.

Reinforcements arriving to help in deadly California fires

By Olga R. Rodriguez, Janie Har, Associated Press

Firefighters and aircraft from 10 states began arriving in California Friday to help weary crews battling some of the largest blazes in state history as weekend weather threatened to renew the advance of flames that have killed six people and…

How mud shaped life on Earth

By Laura Poppick, Knowable Magazine

For most of Earth’s history, hardly any of the mucky stuff existed on land. It finally started piling up around 458 million years ago, changing life on the planet forever.

Hit by virus surge, Hong Kong offers free tests to everyone

By Zen Soo, Associated Press

Leader Carrie Lam says the testing program, which will last up to two weeks, will allow residents to be tested on a voluntary basis. The testing is aimed at identifying people who are infected with the coronavirus but have exhibited…

In a record melt, Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in 2019

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

A new satellite study finds that Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in a record melt last year. That's 140 trillion gallons of water or enough to cover all of California in more than four feet of water.

California’s wildfire-prone landscape stoked by human actions

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

Scientists say California has a really flammable ecosystem and global warming is making it worse.

Scientists on Arctic mission reach the North Pole after an unplanned detour

By Frank Jordans, Associated Press

Expedition leader Markus Rex said Wednesday that the icebreaker was able to reach the geographic North Pole because of large openings in sea ice that would normally make shipping in the region above Greenland too difficult.

Pharmacists can give childhood shots, U.S. officials say

By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

Public health officials have been worried that vaccination rates would fall because doctors' offices were closed by the pandemic. The authorization allows state-licensed pharmacies to administer childhood vaccines without a doctor's prescription.