The effects of climate change encompass the biophysical and socio-environmental consequences arising from long-term shifts in climate variables driven primarily by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Key effects include increased global mean surface and ocean temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, sea-level rise via thermal expansion and cryosphere melt, and increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, droughts, extreme precipitation events, and some categories of tropical cyclones. These changes cascade into impacts on hydrological regimes, ecosystem structure and function, species distributions, biogeochemical cycles, agricultural productivity, human health, and infrastructure, often interacting nonlinearly and amplifying existing environmental and socioeconomic vulnerabilities.
A crack appears beside a window after weeks of scorching weather. As much as you might hope the ground beneath your house will recover with the first rain, the effects of a dry summer can continue long after temperatures ...
Environment
Oct 21, 2026
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7
Keeping to warm climates throughout their 250-million-year history may have helped crocodiles and their relatives survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.
Evolution
Oct 21, 2026
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215
Less favorable ocean conditions mean marbled murrelet chicks take longer to leave the nest, making them more vulnerable to predation, according to a new study of the Pacific Northwest seabird by Oregon State University scientists.
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2026
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7
Climate change and changes in the way land is used are the two biggest threats to wildlife because they change the environment in which animals survive and thrive. Knowing how species respond to these pressures is central ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2026
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7
Climate change can look very different at the scale of a forest, field or hillside. A new review shows how changes in vegetation and atmospheric conditions can cause local microclimates to warm at very different rates from ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 21, 2026
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11
Losing more ground in the fight against climate change, humanity is heading for a hotter world than experts projected last year—and the United States is a big reason for that, a new United Nations report says.
Environment
Oct 21, 2026
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14
There are an estimated 10 quintillion insects alive on Earth at any given time. That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 individual insects. But how many species are there, why do we need them, and what would happen if their numbers ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2026
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9
New research led by the University of Michigan provides utilities and policymakers with forecasts that can help them better prepare for future extremes in peak energy demand in the United States.
Environment
Oct 21, 2026
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10
From heat-related illness and deaths to lost work hours and higher insurance and utility bills, climate change is already affecting California's economy. A new statewide report in California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment ...
Environment
Oct 20, 2026
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9
Today, as part of the official release of California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have launched a platform, data and tools that community leaders can use to estimate ...
Environment
Oct 20, 2026
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