Green & indigenous News

Australian researchers have developed a powerful new way to target deadly, drug-resistant bacteria by designing antibodies that recognize a sugar found only on bacterial cells—an advance that could underpin a new generation of immunotherapies for multidrug resistant hospital-acquired infections.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

The Montezuma Wetlands drape across 1,800 acres of Solano County, California, where the Sacramento River empties into San Francisco Bay. Once drained and diked for farming and grazing, the marsh has been rehabilitated over the past two decades, and in 2020, tidal waters returned for the first time in a century. Today, the land teems with shorebirds, waterfowl, and other wildlife in a rare example of large-scale habitat restoration.

But just as the ecosystem is on the mend, another makeover may be coming. A company called Montezuma Carbon wants to send millions of tons of carbon dioxide from Bay Area polluters through a 40-mile pipeline and store it in saline aquifers 2 miles beneath the wetland. Approval could come in as little as 12 to 18 months once the county approves a test well, with what its backers call “limited disposal” coming one year after that. If the project proceeds, it could be the Golden State’s first large-scale, climate-driven carbon capture and storage site. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency approved Carbon TerraVault, a smaller project in Kern County, California, that would store carbon dioxide in depleted oil wells.

Proponents say the area’s geology and proximity to regional industries make it an ideal place to stash carbon, and the company notes its facilities will be “well away from the restored wetland areas and far from sensitive habitats.” Residents and environmental justice groups argue that the project is being steered toward a low-income, working-class county long burdened with industrial development, and they worry about safety, ecological disruption, and whether the technology is a distraction from more effective and affordable climate solutions. Their fight over risk, consent, and who must live with climate infrastructure will help define not just the future of this project, but how California decides who bears the costs of decarbonization.

Long before becoming a showpiece of ecological recovery, the wetland in question was treated as expendable. Beginning in the late 19th century, the Montezuma Wetlands were transformed into farmland and shielded from natural tidal flows. By the end of the 20th century, much of the area functioned less as a marsh and more as a repository for industrial waste.

That began to change in the early 2000s, when University of California, Berkeley professor and environmental scientist Jim Levine led a remediation effort that used sediment dredged from the Port of Oakland to restore the wetland. The project was praised by regulators and conservationists and reestablished tidal habitat, altering the trajectory of a landscape long defined by extraction.

Read Next

Inside a California oil town’s divisive plan to survive the energy transition

Jake Bittle

Levine’s involvement with the site evolved, eventually placing the Montezuma Wetlands at the center of a vastly different environmental experiment. Around 2010, scientists with Shell and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory identified the area’s shale composition as potentially suitable for storing large amounts of carbon dioxide. As California’s climate targets grew more ambitious, Levine began promoting the site as a place where those geological conditions could support a large-scale carbon capture and storage project.

In May 2023, Montezuma Carbon sought an EPA permit to inject CO2, sourced from refineries, hydrogen plants, and power plants, into the Montezuma Wetlands. The project, designed by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley lab, Stanford University, and UC-Berkeley, stalled last spring as Levine’s health declined. After his death in September, its technical lead, seismologist and Berkeley professor Jamie Rector, wanted to “do right by Jim” and reignite the proposal, positioning it as both a climate solution and a research-driven test case — even as scrutiny and opposition have intensified.

“Solano County historically has long been treated as a waste dump for the region’s polluters,” said local pediatrician Bonnie Hamilton. “We have a beautiful area and don’t want to see it messed up for the sake of rich people wanting to get richer.”

Opponents frame Montezuma Carbon’s proposal as a question of who controls their land and who absorbs the risks of decarbonization. The county is home to roughly half a million people, including the Bay Area’s largest per capita populations of veterans and residents with disabilities, and it is among the most racially diverse counties in the nation. Limited resources can make navigating regulatory and legal processes difficult, heightening concerns about meaningful consent. Those worries are compounded by a history of industrial violations, including an $82 million penalty levied last year against the Valero refinery in Benicia for years of unreported toxic emissions and other air quality failures.

Within the next three years, the project’s architects hope to be depositing up to 8 million tons of carbon annually, a significant stride toward the state’s goal of capturing 13 to 20 million tons by 2030. Rector believes the site could store at least 100 million tons over its 40-year lifespan. The site’s compacted mud, silt, and clay, he said, would provide a natural cap that could keep the pollutant locked underground indefinitely, while its location alongside Bay Area industries would reduce carbon transportation costs.

The Sleipner carbon dioxide gas processing and capture project, the world’s first commercial sequestration operation, has stored 20 million tons of the gas about 3,000 feet under the North Sea.
Daniel Sannum Lauten / AFP via Getty Images

The National Energy Technology Laboratory, which leads the Energy Department’s research on carbon capture and storage, points to key advantages of the site like minimal environmental sensitivity and low population density. The nearest community, Rio Vista, is 10 miles away. Rector added that advanced pipeline monitoring systems, such as acoustic, pressure, and temperature sensors, can quickly detect and contain leaks. Unlike enhanced oil recovery — where pressurized CO2 is injected to extract oil, with regulations aimed primarily at protecting groundwater — EPA rules for climate-driven sequestration require operators to demonstrate that injected carbon will remain buried. The project’s proponents also argue that decades of experience pumping carbon underground — including more than a billion tons injected in the U.S. for commercial use, such as for beverage carbonation, since the 1970s, and over 20 million tons that have been safely stored at Norway’s Sleipner project since 1996 — suggest that Montezuma is a low-risk site.

Pipeline safety has drawn heightened scrutiny since 2020, when a carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi, casting a dense cloud of gas near the ground and hospitalizing dozens of residents. Although that pipeline was federally regulated, critics and regulators alike later acknowledged those rules were inadequate for managing the public safety risks of large-scale CO2 transport.

Rector quipped that the project would leak “when pigs fly,” but identified pressure-induced seismicity as the principal peril, given the wetlands’ position between the Kirby Hills and Midland faults — though the National Energy Technology Laboratory has said a devastating event is unlikely. To reduce that risk, Rector has proposed drawing down water from a nearby reservoir to ease subsurface pressure and create more capacity for injected gas, with the water potentially redirected to farmers and industries facing chronic shortages.

Carbon capture and storage is widely seen by policymakers, industry leaders, and many scientists as a necessary — if imperfect — tool for meeting state climate goals, even as environmentalists argue it diverts attention from cheaper, cleaner solutions. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said “there is no path” to carbon neutrality without the technology, a point the California Air Resources Board echoed when it told Grist it “could not weigh in on specific projects, but carbon management is a critical piece of the state’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.” This institutional support is reflected in legislation like SB 614, which stresses the technology is central to California’s effort to reach net-zero emissions.

Read Next

How much carbon can we safely store underground? Much less than previously thought.

Joseph Winters

Supporters argue that the value of carbon capture is most obvious in sectors where greenhouse gases are hardest to curb, such as cement production, which accounts for roughly 8 percent of global CO2 output. While lower-carbon materials and cleaner manufacturing techniques are emerging, they will be costly and slow to deploy at scale. Even with those changes, substantial emissions would remain, said Ben Grove, a deputy director at the Clean Air Task Force, leading him to consider carbon capture a necessary complement to other climate solutions.

For Montezuma Carbon, that high-level backing has yet to translate into financial certainty. Project leaders say technological advances that could lower costs, along with government incentives and private investment, are still essential.

Still, the company faces significant hurdles, including regulatory approval and the loss of its founder. Cost is now the “albatross around our neck,” Rector said, as the project has no financing and is estimated to require roughly $2 billion. The Department of Energy denied a $340 million grant in 2023, and Rector acknowledged that without government subsidies or a promising return for investors, funding will be difficult.

In its EPA application, Montezuma Carbon contends the project would bring jobs, tax revenue, cleaner air, and a hub for climate innovation to “disadvantaged local communities.” Residents and local environmental justice advocates don’t buy it. They also argue the technology will only perpetuate the use of fossil fuels. The International Institute for Sustainable Development considers carbon capture and storage “expensive, energy intensive, unproven at scale, and has no impact on the 80 percent of oil and gas emissions that result from downstream use.” Similar carbon pipeline schemes have failed in the Midwest because of community opposition, and Montezuma Carbon is just one of a dozen such projects under consideration in California.

Dr. Bonnie Hamilton, a Solano County pediatrician, speaks at a Sept. 9, 2025 press conference launching Communities Against Carbon Transport and Injection, a local coalition formed to block the Montezuma Carbon project. Tom Kunhardt, Communities Against Carbon Transport and Injection

Local officials are reviewing California’s first geological carbon storage project, in Kern County, as they try to understand how similar proposals have been evaluated elsewhere. County Supervisor Cassanda James “does not have a comment at this time,” according to her chief of staff, and other county supervisors did not respond to requests for comment. Alma Hernandez, the mayor of Suisun City, which is about 20 miles from the proposed site, said her staff is “still learning more” about the project and “no position has been taken.”

For many residents, the unanswered questions go deeper than permitting or precedent. They ask whether industries labeled “essential” must continue emitting carbon dioxide at all, or whether cleaner alternatives could negate the need for technologies like underground storage. And they question who gets to decide which communities should host infrastructure designed to manage the consequences of pollution generated elsewhere. “All of us want to believe the climate crisis could be solved without changing how society functions,” Theo LeQuesne of the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The Montezuma Wetlands have endured centuries of human interference, first in its destruction and then its restoration. It now faces another possible refashioning to manage emissions from an economy that still rests solidly on fossil fuels.

At the heart of the debate is not only whether carbon capture is an effective way to meet California’s climate goals, but where such infrastructure should be built, and who gets to decide. The fate of the project hinges on the weight of statewide climate ambitions, scientific confidence in the technology, and the objections of the community being asked to host it.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Inside the polarizing plan to stash carbon in a California wetland on Feb 4, 2026.

From Grist via This RSS Feed.

The conversation around energy use in the United States has become … electric. Everyone from President Donald Trump to the Today show has been talking about the surging demand for, and rising costs of, electrons. Many people worry that utilities won’t be able to produce enough power. But a report released today argues that the better question is: Can we use what utilities already produce more efficiently in order to absorb the coming surge?

“A lot of folks have been looking at this from the perspective of, do we need more supply-side resources and gas plants?,” said Mike Specian, utilities manager with the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, or ACEEE, who wrote the report. “We found that there is a lack of discussion of demand-side measures.”

When Specian dug into the data, he discovered that implementing energy efficiency measures and shifting electricity usage to lower-demand times are two of the fastest and cheapest ways of meeting growing thirst for electricity. These moves could help meet much, if not all, of the nation’s projected load growth. Moreover, they would cost only half — or less — what building out new infrastructure would, while avoiding the emissions those operations would bring. But Specian also found that governments could be doing more to incentivize utilities to take advantage of these demand-side gains.

“Energy efficiency and flexibility are still a massive untapped resource in the U.S.,” he said. “As we get to higher levels of electrification, it’s going to become increasingly important.”

The report estimated that, by 2040, utility-driven efficiency programs could cut usage by about 8 percent, or around 70 gigawatts, and that making those cuts currently costs around $20.70 per megawatt. The cheapest gas-fired power plants now start at about $45 per kilowatt generated. While the cost of load shifting is harder to pin down, the report estimates moving electricity use away from peak hours — often through time-of-use pricing, smart devices, or utility controls — to times when the grid is less strained and power is cheaper could save another 60 to 200 gigawatts of power by 2035. That alone would far outweigh even the most aggressive near-term projections for data center capacity growth.

Vijay Modi, director of the Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Laboratory Columbia University, agrees that energy efficiency is critical, but isn’t sure how many easy savings are left to be had. He also believes that governments at every level — rather than utilities — are best suited to incentivize that work. He sees greater potential in balancing loads to ease peak demand.

“This is a big concern,” he said, explaining that when peak load goes up, it could require upgrading substations, transformers, power lines, and a host of other distribution equipment. That raises costs and rates. Utilities, he added, are well positioned to solve this because they have the data needed to effectively shift usage and are already taking steps in that direction by investing in load management software, installing battery storage and generating electricity closer to end users with things like small-scale renewable energy.

“It defers some of the heavy investment,” said Modi. “In turn, the customer also benefits.”

Specian says that one reason utilities tend to focus on the supply side of the equation is that they can often make more money that way. Building infrastructure is considered a capital investment, and utilities can pass that cost on to customers, plus an additional rate of return, or premium, which is typically around 10 percent. Energy efficiency programs, however, are generally considered an operating expense, which aren’t eligible for a rate of return. This setup, he said, motivates utilities to build new infrastructure rather than conserve energy, even if the latter presents a more affordable option for ratepayers.

“Our incentives aren’t properly lined up,” said Specian. State legislators and regulators can address this, he said, by implementing Energy Efficiency Resource Standards or performance-based regulation. “Decoupling,” which separates a company’s revenue from the amount of electricity it sells, is another tactic that many states are adopting.

Joe Daniel, who runs the carbon-free electricity team at the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, has also been watching a model known as “fuel cost sharing,” which allows utilities and ratepayers to share any savings or added costs rather than passing them on entirely to customers. “It’s a policy that seems to make logical sense,” he said. A handful of states across the political spectrum have adopted the approach and, of the people he’s spoken with or heard from, Daniel said “every consumer advocate, every state public commissioner, likes it.”

The Edison Electric Institute, which represents all of the country’s investor-owned electric companies, told Grist that, regardless of regulation, utilities are making progress in these areas. “EEI’s member companies operate robust energy-efficiency programs that save enough electricity each year to power nearly 30 million U.S. homes,” the organization said in a statement. “Electric companies continue to work closely with customers who are interested in demand response, energy efficiency, and other load-flexibility programs that can reduce their energy use and costs.”

Because infrastructure changes happen on long timelines, it’s critical to keep pushing on these levers now, said Ben Finkelor, executive director of the Energy and Efficiency Institute at the University of California, Davis. “The planning is 10 years out,” he said, adding that preparing today could save billions in the future. “Perhaps we can avoid building those baseload assets.”

Specian hopes his report reaches legislatures, regulators and consumers alike. Whoever reads it, he says the message should be clear.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The U.S. doesn’t need to generate as much new electricity as you think on Feb 4, 2026.

From Grist via This RSS Feed.

After the Department of Homeland Security launched the largest immigration operation in the country in Minneapolis and St. Paul, residents there banded together to protect their communities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions. Their organizing has taken on many forms, with locals working tirelessly to keep their neighbors safe and fed.

One of those people is Tracy Wong, who turned her restaurant, My Huong Kitchen, into a refuge.

Wong can’t help but help people. That’s something she says she’s tried to do all her life. And on the day that Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Wong didn’t hesitate to immediately help her community.

On the day that Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Wong didn’t hesitate to immediately help her community.

Moments after Pretti was shot, hundreds of residents rushed to the scene in the city’s Whittier neighborhood, despite the dangerously cold weather. Agents threw tear-gas canisters into the crowds, causing residents to struggle to breathe and see.

Just a block away from Pretti’s shooting sits Wong’s Vietnamese restaurant, a local spot known for bahn mi sandwiches, pho, noodle salad, and more. At the time, Wong was at her home nearby, taking care of her parents, but when she heard about the shooting, she rushed to her business to check on her employees. As events unfolded, others in the restaurant urged Wong to leave. But instead of locking her doors, she opened them up.

“I cannot go anywhere,” Wong recalled saying. “I have to stay in here, inside the restaurant, so I make sure that everybody is okay.” Protestors running from the site of the shooting began filling her restaurant. Wang offered them warmth, hot tea, and safety.

My Huong Kitchen is about a block from where Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents. Owner Tracy Wong opened her doors that day to welcome those seeking safety. (Photo courtesy of Tracy Wong)

Two of the people seeking refuge at My Huong Kitchen the day of Pretti’s shooting were Samie Solina and Mitchell Yehl, journalists from local news station KARE 11. Solina shared a video to Instagram of Wong, urging people to come into her restaurant. Overnight, Wong became a community hero. The video has over 180,000 likes and nearly 5,000 comments, with many sharing their own experiences of meeting Wong.

“Been eating here for more than 10 years and she has always been the kindest,” one commenter said. Another person wrote, “She sheltered my sister and I. Gave us water, hand warmers, and even some food while the street was full of tear gas. She is so kind and loving!”

Watching the federal immigration operation unfold in Minneapolis has been frightening and difficult for Wong. She told Civil Eats that a former employee of hers named Maria had her husband and her sister taken by ICE, leaving Maria to care for her two children and her sister’s child. She told Wong they were going to leave the country, out of fear for what would happen to the children if ICE took her next.

“I keep begging her,” Wong said. “I say, ‘I find my way to support you with three kids. Hold on tight, hold on tight.’” Weeks later, Maria left, Wong said.

The 60-year-old business owner continues to do her best to help others. “Even though I don’t eat, I don’t sleep,” Wong said, her voice shaking, “I still go help. I still go to work.”

Tracy Wong with journalists from local news station KARE 11, whose video about Wong and her generosity went viral. (Photo courtesy of Tracy Wong)

Cooking is not just Wong’s job; it’s something she loves and has done all her life. As an 11-year-old girl, she cooked for her parents and eight siblings. “We could not afford to go out to eat,” Wong explained. “So, then on the weekend, I cook all this curry, pho—you know, Vietnamese food.”

Wong’s passion for Vietnamese cuisine goes back to her childhood. Born in Vietnam to Chinese parents, she later moved with her family to Minnesota in the 1980s. After several years of living in California with her husband and son, she moved back to Minneapolis in 2012 to open up My Huong Kitchen.

In the days after the shooting, Tracy’s niece set up a GoFundMe for people who wanted to support her aunt. Contributions reached $31,000 within a week and will go toward the restaurant’s needs, like paying wages, replacing appliances, and stocking inventory.

The community is showing up to support Wong in person, too. After word got out that she protected protestors, a seemingly endless stream of people have stopped by to thank her and dine at My Huong Kitchen.

“My body has felt excited day and night because it seems like people all around the world are loving and supporting me. It’s overwhelming in the most beautiful way,” Wong told Civil Eats.

The surge in support required the restaurant to open later in the day on Sunday, and use a limited menu in order to have enough time to prep their inventory.

Wong keeps finding extra ways to give—even if it means never stopping to take a break.

My Huong Kitchen is usually closed on Mondays, but Wong opened her doors on the first Monday in February so people could stop by for free coffee, donuts, and cookies supplied by Shuang Hur Supermarket, an Asian grocery store next to Wong’s restaurant.

As Wong spoke to Civil Eats, a resident stopped by the restaurant, looking to support her business. After Wong welcomed her in and directed her to the food and drinks, the patron asked if there was anything she could do for Wong.

“To eat, to drink, to be happy, to be safe,” Wong simply replied.

“Whatever I do, like right now, I do with love,” Wong told Civil Eats. “I like to tell everyone that. . . . When people need help, please help them.”

The post In the Face of ICE, This Minneapolis Restaurant Owner Shelters and Feeds Her Community appeared first on Civil Eats.

From Civil Eats via This RSS Feed.

Future Harvest is a non-profit organization that trains and supports farmers in Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Washington D.C. in order to advance an agricultural system that sustains farmers, communities, and the environment.

Most farmers in the Future Harvest network operate small, diversified farms that sell directly to nearby communities. The organization also runs a well-known Beginner Farming Training Program, and many of the individuals who go on to grow the region’s tomatoes and raise its pastured chickens are graduates.

Once a year, those farmers and others working in sustainable agriculture gather for an annual conference to learn, network, and share resources. The theme of this year’s conference was “Pivot, Care, Grow.”

Civil Eats was on the scene to talk to farmers about the biggest challenges they’re facing and how they’re meeting them. They talked about distribution, equipment, infrastructure, and—of course—the weather.

Featured in this video:

Denzell Mitchell, executive director, The Farm Alliance of Baltimore/Black Butterfly Farm; Nazirak Ahmen, Purple Mountain Grown; Rachel Armistead, Red Wiggler Farm; Janelle Dunn, Farmers Alliance; Tom Farquhar, Sandy Spring Gardens.

The post Mid-Atlantic Farmers Share Challenges appeared first on Civil Eats.

From Civil Eats via This RSS Feed.

The extraction of olive pomace oil is cited as the most sustainable alternative for the recovery of the olive oil industry's byproducts, according to a methodology developed by the UCO that considers economic, environmental and social indicators. The olive oil industry is a good example of how to tackle the challenges of sustainability in the agri-food sector. Each olive campaign generates tons of alperujo, the main byproduct of the extraction of olive oil, a derivative that must be managed. For decades, mills have been on the circular economy path, establishing different ways of exploiting olive pomace that go beyond just avoiding pollution.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Reforested areas in the Baza (Granada) and Los Filabres (Almería) mountain ranges have experienced severe die-offs in recent years, with extensive woodland loss. Needle or leaf loss (defoliation) is one of the best indicators of tree health, particularly in pine forests under stress. When trees lose their needles, or leaves, their photosynthetic capacity deteriorates significantly, reducing growth and often leading to mortality.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Precocial animals, the ones that move autonomously within hours after hatching or birth, have many biases they are born with that help them survive, finds a new paper led by Queen Mary University of London, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Jessica Hill
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — A Nevada jury on Friday convicted “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country.

The jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty of 13 of the 21 charges he faced. Most of the guilty verdicts centered on Chasing Horse’s conduct with a victim who was 14 when he began assaulting her. He was acquitted of some sexual assault charges when the main victim was older and lived with him and his other companions.

Chasing Horse, 49, faces a minimum of 25 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for March 11.

He has also been charged with sex crimes in other states as well as Canada. British Columbia prosecutors said Friday that once Chasing Horse has been sentenced and any appeals are finished in the U.S., they will assess next steps in their prosecution.

Friday’s verdict marked the climax of a yearslong effort to prosecute Chasing Horse after he was first arrested and indicted in 2023. Prosecutors said Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls.

As the verdict was read, Chasing Horse stood quietly. Victims and their supporters cried and hugged in the hallway while wearing yellow ribbons. The main victim declined to comment.

William Rowles, the Clark County chief deputy district attorney, thanked the women who had accused Chasing Horse of assault for testifying.

“I just hope that the people who came forward over the years and made complaints against Nathan Chasing Horse can find some peace in this,” he said.

Defense attorney Craig Mueller said he will file a motion for a new trial and told The Associated Press he was confused and disappointed in the jury’s verdict. He said he had some “meaningful doubts about the sincerity of the accusations.”

Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation. He is widely known for his portrayal of Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning film.

“Dances With Wolves” was one of the most prominent films featuring Native American actors when it premiered in 1990.

His trial came as authorities have responded more in recent years to an epidemic of violence against Native women.

During the 11-day trial, jurors heard from three women who said Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them, some of whom were underage at the time. The jury returned guilty verdicts on some charges related to all three.

Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci said in her closing argument Wednesday that for almost 20 years, Chasing Horse “spun a web of abuse” that caught many women.

Mueller said in his closing argument that there was no evidence, including from eyewitnesses. He questioned the main accuser’s credibility, calling her a “scorned woman.”

Prosecutors said sexual assault cases rarely have eyewitnesses and often happen behind closed doors.

The main accuser was 14 in 2012 when Chasing Horse allegedly told her the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer.

He then sexually assaulted her and told her that if she told anyone, her mother would die, Pucci said. The sexual assaults continued for years, Pucci said.

“Today’s verdict sends a clear message that exploitation and abuse will not be tolerated, regardless of the defendant’s public persona or claims of spiritual authority,” said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who came in to the Las Vegas court room to hear the verdict, in a statement.

The post ‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Nathan Chasing Horse convicted on sexual assault charges appeared first on ICT.

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

Artificial light from major coastal cities can disrupt the nighttime biology of sharks, according to new research that provides the first-ever measurements of melatonin—a hormone tied to biological rhythms—in wild sharks.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

In South and West Dallas, initiatives like Restorative Farms have turned vacant lots into hubs for fresh produce, job training, and sustainable practices such as hydroponics—helping combat food deserts and build local food networks. More complex than small community gardens, urban farms can help tackle food insecurity and create jobs, especially in underserved areas. But systemic challenges, such as funding gaps and overcoming environmental and soil contamination, can make sustainability challenging.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

A new analysis shows that the Pacific Northwest's mature and old-growth forests are most at risk of severe wildfire in areas that historically burned frequently at lower severity. The study by scientists at Oregon State University and USDA Forest Service Research & Development is important because those forests are culturally, economically and ecologically significant, supporting biodiversity while storing vast amounts of carbon, and they are under increasing threat of stand-replacing wildfire.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Shark and ray populations are struggling across the world due to overfishing and other threats. A new report delineates 816 areas of the ocean that should be protected to help them recover. The report “Ocean Travellers” was published in December by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, but wasn’t publicly announced until Jan. 14. Almost all of the 816 areas, known as Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs), host key activities, such as reproduction, for at least one threatened shark or ray species. They’re visible on an online atlas open to the public. Until recently, sharks and rays haven’t been a conservation priority, but the “conversation is changing,” according to Rima Jabado, chair of the IUCN’s Shark Specialist Group, which produced the report to help guide policy decisions. “We want to change the narrative, but to do that, we need the data, and this is the core of this project,” Jabado told Mongabay. “We’re doing the work for the government, so they don’t need to do it.” Researchers from the Greece-based NGO iSea measure a spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela), an endangered species. They did so aboard a gillnet fishing boat in Greece’s Amvrakikos Gulf, a designated Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA). Image by Philip Jacobson/Mongabay. The ISRA initiative exists alongside similar efforts by the IUCN and other institutions to designate “important areas” for marine mammals, marine turtles and birds. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a United Nations treaty, also has a map of Ecologically or Biologically…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

The negotiations were intense, says Julia Peña Niño, the Colombia country manager at the Natural Resource Governance Institute. At the seventh U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi last December, behind closed doors, Colombia’s joint proposal with Oman was facing resistance from several member states. The Colombian government wanted a legally binding global treaty on sustainability and tracing the flow of critical minerals around the world, as it has been pushing in several U.N. meetings. In the end, it left with a simple three-point nonbinding resolution to enhance international dialogue and cooperation on mineral governance as well as resource recovery from mining waste and tailings. The resolution tried to close the door on further negotiations, but some organizations say the next U.N. Environment Assembly in December 2027 could be grounds for considering a potential global minerals treaty. The intensity of the negotiations reflected “both the urgency to act and the political complexity of addressing the various facets of minerals value chains,” Peña Niño told Mongabay via email. Some observers remain cynical and say national security concerns and economic development played a hand in pushing down the traceability treaty. According to analysts, tracking the flow of minerals is complex work — but may be vital in order to prevent and mitigate the socioenvironmental damage caused by surging mineral demand to feed renewable technology and military industries, such as forest degradation, river contamination and and land-grabs from Indigenous peoples. Geopolitics, elections, intricate supply chains and governance issues all make it more complex. While…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

When snow blankets the landscape, it may seem like life slows down. But beneath the surface, an entire world of activity is unfolding.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy Jr. is a sustainable-food entrepreneur based on Negros Island in the Philippines, which recently hosted the global “good food” movement Slow Food’s first-ever regional conference in Asia and the Pacific. Held in Bacolod City, in Negros Occidental province, from Nov. 19-23, 2025, the gathering brought together farmers, chefs, food artisans and policymakers from across the region to discuss agroecology, biodiversity and climate-resilient food systems. Uy has also been named “Slow Food councilor” for Southeast Asia, after having spent nearly two decades working with organic farmers and the provincial government to advance a vision of Negros as an “organic island” — a sustainable food hub where people can access healthy, locally grown produce at fair prices without relying on imported, oil-based chemical fertilizers that undermine environmental health, farmer livelihoods and food security. That vision now encompasses an estimated 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) of organic farmland across Negros, involving roughly 20,000 small-scale farmers and farming households, with Bacolod serving as a key urban hub linking producers, markets and institutions. Uy’s work in sustainable food systems began in 2005, when he and his wife started a composting business that converted organic waste into fertilizer. At the time, chemical inputs were inexpensive and widely used, but a subsequent spike in global oil prices exposed the vulnerability of conventional agriculture to fossil fuel dependence. That experience prompted Uy to establish an organic farm in 2006, both to demonstrate the viability of organic inputs and to build direct relationships between farmers, chefs…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Plastic pollution is causing severe problems worldwide. However, negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva last August did not result in the expected global plastics treaty. On 7 February 2026, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution will reconvene in Geneva to elect a new chairperson. In order to secure an agreement, the new chairperson must urgently reform INC procedures, argue researchers.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Mexican long-nosed bats have a taste for agave, their tongues designed to lap up the famous desert plant's nectar during nightly flights. It's not just a means of satisfying taste buds. It's a matter of fueling up for an arduous journey.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

It’s been more than half a century since the publication of Silent Spring by the scientist and creative writer Rachel Carson. The seminal volume caught the attention of U.S. presidents, artists and musicians, spurring the environmental movement and leading to the eventual ban of the toxic pesticide DDT. Joining the Mongabay Newscast is environmental writer and director of the creative writing program at Middlebury College, Megan Mayhew Bergman. She unpacks the impact of Carson’s work, which came under public attack from chemical companies seeking to discredit her, and how, eventually, the truth broke through. “We don’t change our minds usually based on data. We change our minds based on emotion, but historically, it’s been pretty taboo for scientists to include emotion in the way that they write. And I feel like Carson risked that here in a way that was really powerful.” Bergman explains the lessons she thinks writers or anyone advocating for the environment can learn from this book, and why it’s still so celebrated today. It comes down to Carson’s moral clarity about the impact of pesticides, bioaccumulation in human bodies and the environment, leading to long-term harm that persists today. The key to Carson’s success, Bergman says, is her ability to connect these deeply scientific problems with readers’ emotions and sense of morality — a skill she encourages more scientists to master. “I would always encourage humanists among us to go deeper in the science and scientists among us to go deeper in emotion.” But you don’t…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Imagine enjoying a tasty dinner alone at home—you may freely indulge without worrying about others. Now imagine sharing the same meal with friends or colleagues: depending on the social context, you may find yourself eating more carefully, adapting your food choices, restraining yourself or competing for portions, and following social norms in conversation and table manners. Social environments influence even the simplest decisions—not only in humans, but also elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Fish across Britain's seas face ever-smaller meals as warmer seas and commercial fishing squeeze ocean food webs, new research suggests. Research by the University of Essex and the UK Government's Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) found strains across warm and highly fished areas of the Northeast Atlantic, leaving predators such as cod, haddock and thorny skate with less energy from every meal.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago, offering rare good news about the effectiveness of chemical regulations, Harvard University researchers report in a new study. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed tissue samples from pilot whales collected in the Faroe Islands between 1986 and 2023. Researchers measured bulk organofluorine, a proxy for total PFAS contamination, as well as individual compounds in liver and muscle tissues. North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago. Photo by Charlie Jackson via Flikr (CC BY 2.0.) PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are synthetic chemicals used since the 1950s in products ranging from non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing to food packaging and firefighting foam. Legacy PFAS are older compounds that were used for decades but are generally no longer produced for industrial use. Their extreme stability has earned them the nickname “forever chemicals,” as they persist in the environment and accumulate in the tissues of living organisms. PFAS exposure has been linked to numerous health problems in humans and wildlife, including liver damage, immune system suppression, developmental problems, thyroid disease, and certain cancers. The chemicals bioaccumulate in the food chain, meaning concentrations increase at each level, with top predators like whales and humans facing the highest exposures. The new research revealed that organofluorine concentrations in pilot whale livers peaked…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Last autumn, a UK government report warned that climate-driven ecosystem collapse could lead to food shortages, mass migration, political extremism and even nuclear conflict. The report was never officially launched.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Aerial photography invites a level of uncertainty. The ground offers clues but rarely the full picture. Once the view lifts, certain patterns begin to register: peat-dark water cutting through forest, the abrupt change from canopy to cleared land, the geometry of river bends, or mountains rising in the distance. At times, the colors can be startling. On the ground, the air was thick and hot in the way the lowland tropics often are. The humidity meant I had to be careful with the gear, since lenses can fog quickly when moving from indoors to outdoors. Leaving the drone out, rather than tucked away in a bag, helps. Much of the process is waiting for light or finding the right angle. Clouds on the horizon can flatten everything, or they can break just enough. Weather in the distance may help a shot or force me to pack up early. I spend that time making adjustments, trying to catch a view I didn’t expect when I launched. I often encounter the most interesting views at dawn and dusk. There are boundaries too. Flying a drone does not grant permission to intrude. I keep clear of people, buildings, flight paths, and wildlife. The aim is straightforward: notice what’s there, and leave nothing changed. That approach shaped how I worked in Brunei last month, during a brief trip that allowed me a couple of days in the field. The images here were captured in the Temburong District, a quiet, forested corner of northern Borneo,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

A swarm of small earthquakes within the Karoo Basin in South Africa has revealed a critically stressed fault that could be perturbed by potential shale gas exploration in the area, according to a new report. The analysis by Benjamin Whitehead of the University of Cape Town and colleagues concludes that the Karoo microseismicity occurred along a buried fault that may extend through sedimentary layers to the crystalline bedrock, which would increase its vulnerability to stresses produced by shale gas exploration.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.