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Oil painting by Ulpiano Checa showing the Huns entering Rome, led by Attila. They all are riding horses and carrying spears.

Attila the Hun raided Rome due to starvation, not bloodlust, study suggests

By Ben Turner published

The infamous barbarian's most devastating incursions took place in years with extremely dry summers.

After damaging parts of Cuba and leaving much of the country in the dark, Hurricane Ian reached Florida’s west coast on the afternoon of Sept. 28.

Is Atlantic hurricane season getting worse (and is climate change to blame)?

By Joshua A. Krisch published

Recent studies have linked climate change to environmental conditions that fuel hurricane season.

Mineral deposits from Lake Mead, showing drop in water levels from drought.

Rare 'triple-dip' La Niña could bring another year of intense hurricanes and drought to the US

By Joanna Thompson published

The cooler climate pattern is predicted to persist for the third winter in a row, bringing an increased risk of powerful hurricanes to the eastern U.S. and flooding to Australia.

A visible satellite image of Hurricane Ida approaching land in the Gulf of Mexico, taken by NOAA's GOES-16 (GOES East) satellite at 4:10 a.m. EDT on August 29, 2021.

Expect another above-average hurricane season in 2022, NOAA predicts

By Harry Baker published

NOAA has announced that the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be more active than average for the seventh year in a row.

Waves crashed over Newhaven Harbor wall in Newhaven, southern England on Feb. 18, as Storm Eunice brought high winds across the country. Powerful storms such as this are becoming more frequent due to human induced climate change.

Humanity faces 'grave and mounting threat' of climate change — unless we act, IPCC report reveals

By Mindy Weisberger published

Humans are reeling under climate disruption, and there's worse to come, scientists warn in the latest UN climate assessment.

Ukrainian servicemen ride on tanks towards the front line to engage with Russian forces in the Lugansk region of Ukraine, on Feb. 25.

Ukrainian scientists leave international climate report committee, amid safety fears

By Mindy Weisberger published

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led top Ukrainian scientists to withdraw from final approvals of a landmark climate report.

Earth seen from 1 million miles (1.6 million km) away. Global warming is the gradual heating of the planet's surface, oceans and atmosphere.

What is global warming?

By Stephanie Pappas last updated

Global warming is the gradual heating of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere.

Ice melts on the tundra and thawing permafrost in Newtok, Alaska.

Melting permafrost in the Arctic could release radioactive waste and awaken sleeping viruses

By Mindy Weisberger published

Thawing permafrost driven by climate change could free decades-old radioactive material, antibiotic-resistant microbes and unknown viruses that have been frozen for millennia.

An image taken from the International Space Station in 2011 shows Earthshine on the moon.

Climate change is making Earth dimmer

By Meghan Bartels published

Earth is reflecting less light as its climate continues to change, new research suggests.

A deer wanders through heavy smoke in front of a row of burned cars during the Dixie fire in Greenville, California on Aug. 6. The enormous wildfire has been burning since mid-July and is the largest in the state's history.

Human influence on global warming is 'unequivocal,' IPCC report says

By Mindy Weisberger published

Hundreds of scientists with a UN panel reviewed more than 14,000 studies documenting climate change evidence, to create a new report for policymakers worldwide.

This image created with satellite data shows extreme heat in the Southwest on June 15, 2021. The region has been facing heat waves and drought going into the summer.

Half the country is facing an apocalyptic summer

By Stephanie Pappas published

A severe drought going into the summer is setting up the western United States for water rationing and nasty wildfires.

Greenland's ice sheet may have disappeared far more recently than once thought, enabling plants and trees to thrive.

Top-secret Cold War military project found perfectly preserved fossil plants under Greenland ice

By Mindy Weisberger published

Plant fossils that may be a million years old hint that Greenland's icy shell melted away more recently than expected — and could melt again.

When sea levels were low, the Arctic Ocean was cut off from other oceans while still receiving freshwater input from rivers and glaciers.

Arctic Ocean was once a tub of fresh water covered with a half-mile of ice

By Stephanie Pappas published

At least twice, the Arctic Ocean was a freshwater pool cut off from other oceans and capped with almost 3,000 feet of ice.

This color-coded map displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Scale is in degrees Celsius.

Broiling 2020 was the hottest year ever, NASA climate scientists say

By Mindy Weisberger published

Researchers with NASA and NOAA released their annual assessments of global temperatures and climate trends, finding 2020 to be one of the hottest years in 140 years of record-keeping.

A Dec. 17 image shows A-68a after its big split, likely due to a collision with shallow seabed off the shore of South Georgia.

The world's largest iceberg has just broken in two

By Rafi Letzter published

A chunk of ice about the size of Queens and the Bronx combined has broken off what was, until this fracture, the world's largest iceberg.

A 2019 image shows the Yemeni port Hudaydah, where a million-barrel oil leak is possible in the near future.

Red Sea oil tanker 4 times as big as Exxon Valdez could spill any day now

By Rafi Letzter published

A mammoth oil tanker is decaying into the Red Sea, threatening to pollute the water supply of millions of people and the world's most resilient coral reef.

Aerial view of researchers working on Arctic sea ice.

Arctic sea ice goes through 'historic' loss in 2020

By Rafi Letzter published

Arctic sea ice has been in decline for a while now, but 2020 is turning out to be the second-worst year ever — with implications for the whole planet.

Hurricane Delta

Louisiana braces for its 3rd dangerous hurricane in only 6 weeks

By Rafi Letzter published

People in Louisiana are still living in tents after Hurricane Laura made landfall in August.

A photo shows Death Valley, California's Bad Water Basin.

Death Valley tops 130 F, setting possible global heat record

By Rafi Letzter published

The American southwest is cooking.

Camels are pictured on an Australian camel dairy farm in April 2016. Camels are not native to Australia, and thirsty feral camels have become a significant problem in recent months amid severe drought and fires.

Australian Hunters to Kill 10,000 Feral Camels from Helicopters Amid Worsening Drought

By Rafi Letzter published

The dry season is turning the pest creatures into dangerous competitors for limited water supplies.