NATURE

The Biden administration plans to significantly increase efforts to stave off catastrophic wildfires that have been torching areas of the U.S. West by more aggressively thinning forests around areas where nature and neighborhoods collide.

Japan’s environment minister says the country will gradually phase out coal plants over the next two decades while developing new technologies to reduce, capture and recycle carbon.

A tiny Wyoming town faces transformation when a company started by Bill Gates builds a new type of nuclear power plant there.

Many states in the U.S. are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not be enough to keep the lights on as they seek to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels.

Despite sitting almost on top of the volcano that erupted so violently, the Pacific nation of Tonga appears to have avoided the widespread devastation that many initially feared.

China is showing no signs of slowing its demand for American lobster this year despite disruption to the supply chain and international trade caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A dangerous winter storm is whipping the East Coast with significant snowfall, strong thunderstorms and blustery winds.

New Zealand and Australia have sent military surveillance flights to assess the damage caused by a huge undersea volcanic eruption in Tonga.

Tesla is turning to Mozambique for a key component in its electric car batteries in what analysts believe is a first-of-its-kind deal designed to reduce its dependence on China for graphite.

The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford is set to land her ultralight plane in Belgium on Monday.

Governors and state lawmakers are prioritizing climate change as they write their state budgets, devoting money to lowering emissions and guarding against natural disasters such as flood and fire.

Environmental protesters are once again demanding the cancelation of plans for lithium mining in western Serbia.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row.

The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption has begun to recede, while the extent of damage to Tonga remains unclear.

Wildlife rehabilitators are decontaminating dozens of alligators, brushing their teeth and scrubbing their hides in the weeks after a pipeline rupture dumped 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a New Orleans area wetland.

Sixteen years after their legal battle began, about 18,000 homeowners in central Florida will be paid more than $42 million collectively by Florida’s agriculture agency for destroying their citrus trees during a state effort to eradicate a harmful citrus disease.

More than 150 former Environmental Protection Agency employees are writing to the Virginia Senate, asking the Democrat-controlled chamber to oppose the nomination of former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to GOP Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet.

Conservationists and veterinarians are warning that plastic waste in an open landfill in eastern Sri Lanka is killing elephants, after two more were found dead over the weekend.

The ashes of Winter the dolphin have been returned to the sea, about two months after the beloved marine mammal of movie star fame died at a Florida aquarium.

An unprecedented, experimental attempt to feed manatees facing starvation in Florida has started slowly but wildlife officials expressed optimism it will work as cold weather drives the marine mammals toward warmer waters.

Two U.S. science agencies say 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record globally, part of a long-term warming trend.

Federal records show a severely corroded pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel just outside New Orleans.

The Biden administration says it will hold its first offshore wind auction next month.

A land mine-detecting rat in Cambodia who received a prestigious award for his life-saving duty has died in retirement.

A judge has heard arguments from lawyers for Michigan's former health director who wants involuntary manslaughter charges dismissed in the Flint water crisis.

A judge is weighing whether a Georgia county can move ahead with buying land for a commercial spaceport or must first give voters a shot at a special election to approve the deal.

The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites.

Germany’s new climate minister says the country faces a “gigantic” task if it wants to achieve its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring sufficient energy for its energy-hungry industry.

A report based on U.S. trade data shows American companies are still importing teak from Myanmar despite sanctions imposed after the military seized power.

The World Economic Forum says cybersecurity and space are emerging risks to the global economy, on top of existing challenges posed by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

A mass of arctic air swept into the Northeast, bringing bone-chilling sub-zero temperatures and closing schools across the region for the second time in less than a week.

A snowy owl apparently touring iconic buildings of the nation’s capital is captivating birdwatchers who manage to get a glimpse of the rare, resplendent visitor from the Arctic.

Damage wrought by Hurricane Ida in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the flash floods that hit Europe last summer have helped make 2021 one of the most expensive years for natural disasters.

The president of Turkmenistan is calling for an end to one of the country's most notable but infernal sights.

President Joe Biden faces a steep path to achieve his ambitious goal of slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Colorado authorities say last week’s wildfire caused $513 million in damage and destroyed 1,084 homes and structures.

With more bad weather looming, Virginia officials are seeking to reassure the public they are prepared as they reacted to harsh criticism of their response to a storm earlier this week that left hundreds of motorists stranded on Interstate 95.

Twenty of Yellowstone National Park’s renowned gray wolves roamed from the park and were shot by hunters in neighboring states in recent months.

The White House’s top official on environmental justice is stepping down a year after President Joe Biden took office with an ambitious plan to help disadvantaged communities and overhaul policies that have historically hurt them.

Britain's Prince William has appealed for innovators around the world to submit nominations for his Earthshot Prize, a competition aimed at finding new ways to tackle climate change.

Europe's sky is filling up with near-empty flights that even airlines admit serve no purpose except securing valuable time slots at some of the world's biggest airports.

Croatian rescuers are praising a dog who protected his injured owner from freezing high on a snowy mountain, keeping him warm for 13 hours in the dark until he could get medical attention.

Californians won't be able to water their lawns for 48 hours after rainstorms or let their sprinkles run onto the sidewalk under new mandatory water restrictions.

An athletic Hungarian farm dog and a tiny pet of bygone Russian aristocrats are the latest breeds to join the American Kennel Club’s purebred lineup.

Investigators looking for the cause of the Colorado wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and buildings have narrowed their search to a sparsely populated neighborhood near Boulder.

A Colorado wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes has been boxed in by firefighters to prevent it from spreading.

U.S. officials say they have almost completed a lengthy project to dig up and remove radioactive and hazardous waste buried for decades in unlined pits at an eastern Idaho nuclear facility that sits atop a giant aquifer.

Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, known for his fossil-finding and conservation work in his native Kenya, has died at 77.

There once was a small fish called “tequila splitfin” or “zoogoneticus tequila” that swam in a river in western Mexico, but disappeared toward the end of the 20th century.

Draft European Union plans that would allow nuclear and gas energy to remain part of the bloc’s path to a climate-friendly future came under immediate criticism over the weekend.

NASA recently announced the discovery of 301 newly identified planets beyond the edges of our solar system, presenting new scientific mysteries. Here's what that discovery means.

Health bosses could not provide evidence of progress a year after the report into Elizabeth's death.

There’s been swift, early warning about the new variant but that only means there’s still a lot of work to be done.

It is the final day of the Court of Appeal hearing and a ruling will be published at a later date.

It's long been known that the Vikings arrived in the Americas sometime before Christopher Columbus. Now, a new article in the journal Nature pinpoints the exact year: 1021.

The race to decarbonize is making growing trees popular because its a cheaper, but carbon capture tech needs to be scaled up, says Microsoft in Nature article.

The incremental nature of this year’s iPhone 13 improvements is a big letdown and offers current iPhone owners little incentive to trade up.

Heating from humans has caused irreparable damage to the Earth that may get worse in coming decades.

Steven Bouquet has been jailed for more than five years after he killed nine cats in night attacks.

Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates back Nature's Fynd, an alt-meat company whose fungus-based breakfast patties, nuggets and cream cheese are headed to grocery stores.

Police are hunting vandals who targeted the commemorative stone in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

"Sunday Morning" takes us to the far-away shores of Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania, home to the aptly-named Fischer's Lovebirds. Videographer: Lee McEachern.

Nature: Starling murmurations "Sunday Morning" goes sky-gazing at Greenbrae, California, where flocks of starlings are performing aerial acrobatics known as murmurations. Videographer: Lee McEachern.

Nature: Baboons in Botswana "Sunday Morning" takes us among the baboons at Chobe National Park in Botswana, Africa. Videographer: Justin Grubb.

Nature: Big horn sheep in Montana "Sunday Morning" takes us to Big Sky Country, in Western Montana's Sapphire Mountains. Videographer: Brad Markel.

Nature: Elephant seals "Sunday Morning" takes us to the beach at San Simeon, Calif., a home for elephant seals. Videographer: Lance Milbrand.

In the Chicago area, full-service restaurants and hotels were singled out as contributing “far more to infections” among the superspreader locations, according to the study, which has been peer reviewed and was placed on Nature’s website Tuesday prior to final editing. The travel period examined dates to March and May, before the surges seen during the summer and now in the fall.

“I think the nature of the campaign that’s been waged against her is really a campaign against all of the criminal justice reforms we’ve been struggling so hard to enact — for people who want to go back to the bad old days when the jail was often full of poor Black and brown people who were often there on charges of nonviolent offenses and they just couldn’t pay their bail,” Preckwinkle said.

We leave you this Sunday Morning with the mighty moose of Maine's North Woods. Videographer: Scot Miller

We end this week's episode with a return to Dallas, this time at the Great Trinity Forest. Videographer: Scot Miller

We leave you this Sunday Morning among flowers in bloom in Arizona's Sonoran Desert, near Pinnacle Peak. Videographer: Phil Giriodi

We leave you this Sunday morning at the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, Rhode Island. Videographer: Richard Boghosian.

We leave you this Sunday Morning in Yosemite National Park in California ...amidst towering cliffs and roaring waterfalls. Videographer: Lance Milbrand

We leave you this Sunday Morning among the flowers that bloom in spring at Dallas' Great Trinity Forest. Videographer: Scot Miller

We leave you this first day of spring at our oldest National Park, Yellowstone, where the ice on Yellowstone Lake is breaking up ... an ice-out, they call it.

We leave you this Sunday morning with the quiet landscape of Antelope Canyon, Arizona. Videographer: Jamie McDonald.

We leave you this Sunday in Nature's winter wonderland, amid a display of snow-capped mountains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Videographer: Scot Miller

We leave you this "Sunday Morning" in the mid-winter snows of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Videographer: Jeff Reisly

We leave you this Sunday swimming among blue sharks off the coast of Rhode Island. Videographer: Mauricio Handler

We leave you this Sunday before Thanksgiving among wild turkeys near Stonewall, Texas. Videographer: Scot Miller

Sunday Morning" offers us views of scenic rock formations of the Bisti Wilderness in northern New Mexico. Videographer: Jamie McDonald.

Halloween is right around the corner, so we end with a wary look at the vultures of Roaring River State Park in Cassville, Missouri. Videographer: Roy Neher

We leave you this Sunday where the pronghorn antelope play at Custer State Park in South Dakota. Videographer: Charles Schultz

We leave you this Fourth of July weekend in the company of bald eagles at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in western New York State

We leave you this morning in Glacier National Park in Montana, by the rushing waters of Avalanche Gorge.

"She was meant to look like that," says CrossFit creator Greg Glassman about a muscular weightlifter. "That's what nature would have carved from her a million years ago, or she'd have been eaten."

We leave you this morning at Saguaro National Park in Arizona, as we help observe National Park Week (which runs through next Sunday).

We leave you this morning in the company of Muscovy ducks in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nature: Wildflowers We leave you this first Sunday of spring among the wildflowers at Edgewood County Park in Redwood City, California.

Nature: Snowy owl We leave you this snowy Sunday in the company of a snowy owl, in Genessee County in western New York state.

Nature: Yellowstone National Park This week's moment in nature leaves you in the winter stillness of Yellowstone National Park.

Nature: Iguanas in the U.S. Virgin Islands We leave you this morning in the U.S. Virgin Islands, relaxing with iguanas.

Nature: Frozen falls We leave you this midwinter Sunday at Taughannock Falls State Park in Ulysses, New York.

Nature: Wild turkeys in Oklahoma This week's moment in nature takes us on a visit to the wild turkeys of Oklahoma.

Nature: Devil's Playground This week's moment in nature takes us among the rock formations of Devil's Playground in Utah.

Nature: Fall colors This week's moment in nature takes us among the autumn leaves near Milan, New Hampshire.

Nature: The LBJ Ranch This week's moment in nature takes us to the wide open spaces of President Lyndon Johnson's ranch near Stonewall, Texas.

Nature: Yellowstone National Park This week's moment in nature takes us to Yellowstone National Park, where one of its most unpredictable geysers is showing its stuff.

Nature: Seals at Cape Cod This "Sunday Morning" moment of nature shows off some grey seals frolicking in the waters off Cape Cod.

Nature: Buffalo's Beaver Lake This week's moment in nature takes us among the busy beavers of Beaver Lake near Buffalo, N.Y.