EurekAlert! Climate Change - Latest News Releases

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Jun-2025 23:11 ET (30-Jun-2025 03:11 GMT/UTC)

When climate disasters hit, they often leave long-term health care access shortages, Drexel study finds

Drexel University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Immediate recovery efforts receive the most attention after severe natural disasters, yet new data from researchers at Drexel University and the University of Maryland suggests these climate events often also leave a critical long-term — and often unaddressed — problem in declines in access to health care.

Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Funder: National Institute on Aging

‘Unwavering determination’: Rice Wind Energy takes second place at national Collegiate Wind Competition

Rice University
Grant and Award Announcement

Rice University’s student-led Rice Wind Energy team soared to new heights this year, clinching second place overall at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2025 Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC). Hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratories at the University of Colorado Boulder campus, the CWC challenges students from across the country to design and build wind turbines, develop wind energy projects and engage in public outreach to promote renewable energy.

Does planting trees really help cool the planet?

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Replanting forests can help cool the planet even more than some scientists once believed, especially in the tropics. But even if every tree lost since the mid-19^th century is replanted, the total effect won’t cancel out human-generated warming.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment

Global inventory uncovers methane risks and reduction opportunities from abandoned oil and gas wells

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a paper published in National Science Review, an international team of scientists presents the first global inventory of methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells. The study estimates that approximately 4.5 million abandoned wells across 127 countries collectively emitted around 400,000 tonnes of methane in 2022, with over 90% of these emissions originating from unplugged wells. By identifying high-priority wells and accelerating the implementation of targeted well-plugging strategies, global methane emissions from these wells could be reduced by up to 61% by 2050.

Journal: National Science Review
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, EU–China Joint Research Program, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong

Atlantic ocean current unlikely to collapse with climate change

California Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Caltech researchers create a more detailed physical model that suggests a major Atlantic Ocean current will weaken far less under climate change than indicated by more extreme climate model projections.

Journal: Nature Geoscience

Living libraries could save our food

University of Hawaii at Manoa
Peer-Reviewed Publication

UH scientists helped pioneer a new way to breed climate-resilient crops faster by combining plant genebank data with climate and DNA analysis. The method, tested on sorghum, could speed up global efforts to secure food supplies in a changing climate.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

Report: ‘Future-proofing’ crops will require urgent, consistent effort

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a review in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, describes research efforts to “future-proof” the crops that are essential to feeding a hungry world in a changing climate. Long, who has spent decades studying the process of photosynthesis and finding ways to improve it, provides an overview of key scientific findings that offer a ray of hope.

Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Funder: Gates Agricultural Innovations, DOE/US Department of Energy

Agriculture in forests can provide climate and economic dividends

Yale University
Reports and Proceedings

Forest-based agroforestry can restore forests, promote livelihoods, and combat climate change, but emerging agroforestry initiatives focusing only on tree planting is leading to missed opportunities to support beneficial outcomes of forest management, a Yale-led team of scientists found.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

Huge sea-urchin populations are overwhelming Hawaii’s coral reefs

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This study measured the growth rate of coral reefs in Hōnaunau Bay, Hawaii, using on-site data gathering and aerial imagery. Researchers found that the reefs are being eroded by sea urchin populations which have exploded due to overfishing in the area. The reefs are also threatened by climate change and water pollution, and their growth rates are not fast enough to counteract the erosion caused by the urchins.

Journal: PLOS One

Even birds can’t outfly climate change

Yale University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New Haven, Conn. — As rising global temperatures alter ecosystems worldwide, animal species usually have two choices: adapt to changing local conditions or flee to a cooler clime. Ecologists have long assumed that the world’s bird species were best equipped to respond to the pressures of climate change simply because they have the option of flying to higher altitudes or towards global poles.

But a new Yale study finds that few bird species are able to escape the realities of a warming world.

The findings were published May 28 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Journal: Ecology and Evolution

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