Green & indigenous News

An ecosystem is not a still life. Even where everything looks stable—a woodland, a lake, the soil—the internal "bookkeeping" keeps changing: how many individuals belong to which species, and for how long. Some populations expand, others crash. That dynamism is part of what we call biodiversity, but it also carries risk: when numbers are very low, chance events and short spells of unfavorable conditions can increase the likelihood that a species disappears locally.

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In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma that viruses lack protein synthesis machinery, and blurs the line between cellular life and viruses.

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Mangroves have become a favored solution in climate and conservation circles. They absorb carbon, blunt storm surge and support fisheries. Funding has followed. Yet outcomes often lag ambition. In parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America, research suggests that roughly 70% of restoration projects struggle to establish healthy forests. Seedlings die. Sites flood incorrectly. Community interest fades. The problem is not enthusiasm. It is execution. Much restoration is driven by small, community-based groups with deep local knowledge but limited access to capital, technical advice or long-term support. Catherine Lovelock, a mangrove ecologist at the University of Queensland, points out that success depends as much on social and economic conditions as on planting techniques. Mangroves, she notes, thrive only when tides inundate them for a few hours at a time. Too much water or too little can doom a site. Just as important are land tenure, livelihoods and incentives to protect restored areas once planting ends. A growing set of nonprofits is positioning itself as an intermediary between funders and communities. One example is Seatrees, which does not run projects directly but backs local partners with funding, scientific guidance, monitoring support and communications. Over the past five years, it has supported mangrove work in places as varied as Kenya, Mexico, Indonesia and Florida, Mongabay’s Marina Martinez reports. The approach is selective. Seatrees looks for groups that already have experience and local legitimacy but face capacity gaps. Projects must have permission to operate and clear buy-in from communities and Indigenous stakeholders. In…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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For more than a century, Mendelian genetics has shaped how we think about inheritance: one gene, one trait. It is a model that still echoes through textbooks—and one that is increasingly reaching its limits. In a perspective article published in the journal Genetics, an international group of leading geneticists and evolutionary biologists, including Detlef Weigel, Director of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and Luisa Pallares, Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory in Tübingen, calls for a fundamental shift in focus: away from searching for isolated, clearly defined gene effects and towards experimental approaches that treat genetic complexity not as noise, but as the starting point.

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February 18, 2026 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced proposed rules Tuesday that would speed up line speeds at poultry and pork production facilities.

Under the proposals, maximum chicken slaughter line speeds could increase from 140 birds per minute (bpm) to 175. It would also allow turkey processing lines to increase from 55 bpm to 60. The agency also proposed removing the maximum line speed limit for pork processing, and to cut requirements on annual worker safety reports.

In a press release, the administration argues these changes remove “outdated” bottlenecks and will help lower food prices for consumers. But animal welfare and public health groups argue increased line speeds increase the risk of worker injuries and food contamination.

Before introducing these proposals, the USDA under the first Trump administration had granted waivers to select pork and poultry producers to increase line speeds to the newly suggested limits. In March, the Trump administration extended these waivers and indicated they would pursue permanent rulemaking.

The proposed rule is now open to public comment for 60 days. (Link to this post.)

The post Proposed USDA Rules Would Increase Line Speeds at Meatpacking Plants appeared first on Civil Eats.

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Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like a crazy plan. But if it's crazy and it works, then it's not crazy.

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A novel method to manipulate the inner structure of cells connects several scientific fields and could represent a significant step in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Travis Craddock, a professor of biology at the University of Waterloo and Canada Research Chair in Quantum Neurobiology, led the research team that is the first to use weak magnetic fields and isotopes to change the structure of cells.

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A Purdue University digital forestry team has created a computational tool to obtain and analyze urban tree inventories on public and private lands with record-breaking speed at an unprecedented scale. The team accomplished the feat by developing a novel AI-enhanced visual computing method that accurately determines the locations of trees in over 330 U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more. The method so far has individually identified 280 million urban trees.

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Kalle Benallie
ICT

During Shelley Buck’s run for Minnesota House of Representatives, she learned she’s resilient. But it’s something she already assumed from the resiliency of Native people.

“I learned that I’m able to go into a new and different situation like moving to the area and being relatively new to people who have been here for 20 plus years, “ Buck said. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the support I’ve had. It’s exciting, but it’s also a huge responsibility. I know that. I’m excited for the challenge.”

Buck, Dakota, ran unopposed for District 47A as Democratic Farmer Labor Party. She was seated on Feb. 17.

She is filling the vacated seat from Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger who won a special election for the District 47 Senate seat.

“As a Dakota woman, living in my homelands, now representing my homelands, at the state level, it’s really important to have that Dakota perspective and that Dakota view up there at the Capitol helping to make those decisions,” she said.

Buck is not unfamiliar in being in leadership positions. She served 12 years on the Prairie Island Tribal Council, including six years as president. She is also president of a Dakota-led organization called Owámniyomni Okhódayapi which is working to transform five acres of land at Owámniyomni or St. Anthony Falls into a place of restoration, education, healing and connection.

“It’s not an easy job and I’m having to work with the federal and local, the city community, the city leaders on that level. 
So it’s also giving me that perspective of working with the federal government, through the Army Corps of Engineers and then the city of Minneapolis,” Buck said.

Buck also said there needs to be more Native representation in politics, especially those who understand tribal politics.

“It’s important to have representation from a member of a Dakota tribe here in Minnesota, that’s federally recognized here in Minnesota. We don’t have that and I’m not sure that we’ve ever had that in Minnesota,” she said.

Some of her goals are based on the federal administration like ICE activity in the state. She said she watched someone be taken by ICE in court for a minor infraction case.

“It’s so inhumane. If the federal government’s not going to do anything to stop this, then it’s up to the state to take care of our people and to do what we can to try to get ICE out of this state,” Buck said.

Buck is also committed to uphold tribal sovereignty.

“Treaties are the most supreme law of the land. So I will most definitely be doing whatever I can to support and make sure and ensure that tribal sovereignty stays as strong, if not stronger. I also think for the state level, states have their own sovereignty too,” she said.

As of 2026, the Minnesota House has even representations between the DFL and Republican parties. The Democratic Farmer Labor Party has a majority by one in the State Senate.

“I know when I was in tribal leadership, we had to work with both parties on our issues, our bills that we took to the legislature. So I’ve done that before. I know how to do that. I don’t have to agree with another person’s viewpoints on everything to be able to come to an agreement on a common common issue,” Buck said.

Four other Indigenous women are in Minnesota political leadership: Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, Rep. Heather Keeler, Rep. Liish Kozlowski and State Senator Mary Kunesh.

“I just want to help people. I have what it takes to do the job. I do what’s right or do what I feel is right, which is based off of evidence and what I feel is just basic human decency. I’m not afraid to say what needs to be said,” Buck said.

The post Former tribal president heads to Minnesota House appeared first on ICT.

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A new study from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics reveals a surprising insight into the operation of the ancestral brain: the visual cortex of turtles is capable of detecting unexpected visual stimuli in a way that is independent of their position on the retina, a property that, until now, was thought to exist only in the highly developed cortices of mammals, including humans. In light of these findings, the research team assesses that advanced brain mechanisms previously thought to be unique to mammals were already present hundreds of millions of years ago.

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Living cells are highly organized, yet they are not assembled using rigid blueprints or by following a predetermined plan. Instead, order emerges on its own from countless interactions between molecules that are constantly moving and rearranging. One of the most striking examples of this emerging order is the left-right asymmetry.

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The Antarctic ice sheet does not behave as one single tipping element, but as a set of interacting basins with different critical thresholds. This is the finding of a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (MPI-GEA). With today's warming, about 40% of the ice stored in West Antarctica may already be committed to long-term loss, while parts of East Antarctica could cross thresholds at moderate levels of warming between 2 to 3°C compared to pre-industrial levels, contributing significantly to global long-term sea-level rise.

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About 56 million years ago, Europe and North America began pulling apart to form what became the ever-expanding North Atlantic Ocean. Vast amounts of molten rock from Earth's mantle reached the ocean floor as the crust stretched and thinned, creating a volcanic, rifted margin between Norway and Greenland, a marine feature that has intrigued scientists for decades.

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When Brazil approved the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric complex on the Xingu River, in Pará state, the megaproject promised to profoundly change the national and local energy landscapes, creating a large offer of clean energy to power industries, illuminate homes and bring development to isolated communities that historically had little to no access to power. However, nearly a decade after the operations of the fourth-largest hydropower facility in the world began in 2016, the reality is starkly different. Vulnerable communities that highly depended on fishing have been severely economically affected, and many riverside families remain disconnected from the grid or pay some of the highest electricity bills in the country. A study published in 2024 by researchers from the State University of Campinas in Brazil and Michigan State University in the U.S., funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), identified in a household survey covering 500 families in Altamira, Pará, that a vast majority of these families (86.8%) suffered a negative impact on electricity prices after the construction of Belo Monte. The research shows that not only did the “energy progress” promised in the past never materialize, but also that tariffs soared while communities living in the shadow of the Amazon’s largest dam still face blackouts and prohibitive costs. General view of the solar energy system after installation in the Porto Rico community. Image courtesy of Renato Chalu. Lower-income families in small communities in the Amazon region were hit the hardest, not only paying more for electricity,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In the whole history of Earth's climate, few events are as extreme as those that geologists call "Snowball Earth."

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HOJA BLANCO, Ecuador — Some parts of the rainforest in northwestern Ecuador used to be so dense and impenetrable that only a few hundred people were believed to live there. Even when loggers moved into the area in the 1980s and 1990s, setting up the first roads, it would take hours to travel only a few miles. It’s one of the rainiest regions on the planet, and the terrain rises sharply into the western Andes before dropping off into rivers and valleys. Because it was so inaccessible, the area remained one of the most biodiverse on the planet, with thousands of endemic plant species and hundreds of birds and amphibians. But in recent decades, much of that biodiversity has been lost. The region, known as the Chocó, has experienced historic deforestation, with only around 3% of its lower-elevation forest — below 900 meters (3,000 feet) — still remaining. In one area of the Chocó, in Esmeraldas province, the rise in deforestation coincided with the arrival of timber companies like Endesa-Botrosa, which built some of the first roads while logging the forest. Even when the companies reduced their work in the area a few years ago, deforestation continued to pose a major threat — largely because the companies left behind roads that people want to extend, conservation groups in the area say. Today, many of the roads that used to take hours to navigate are relatively clean and patched up, allowing people from other parts of the country to move in.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Scientists have identified a further 12 dog breeds as being at risk of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome—a condition that can cause serious breathing problems—including the Pekingese, Shih Tzu, Boston terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, Cavalier King Charles spaniel, chihuahua and boxer.

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The most high-risk conditions for fires are increasingly happening across countries at the same time, making resulting wildfires even more challenging to tackle, new research reveals.

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February 17, 2026 – Officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a final guidance document on Friday that advises drug companies to set “duration limits” for livestock antibiotics in animal feed, without legally obligating them to do so.

The duration limit—the maximum length of time a drug should be given—covers medically important antibiotics, which are those used for livestock that are also important in human medicine.

When such antibiotics are used for long periods, the risk of bacteria developing resistance to those antibiotics increases. As bacteria develop resistance to more drugs, treating human illnesses becomes harder.

In a notice announcing the final guidance, officials said it is “intended to mitigate development of antimicrobial resistance for these antimicrobial drugs.”

But public health advocates said the new policy represents a step backward. They note that the agency did not include an upper limit for all drugs, nor did it require companies to consider how duration limits might contribute to increasing antibiotic resistance that could harm humans. The news comes just weeks after FDA data revealed a 2024 spike in sales of medically important drugs for use in cattle, pigs, and poultry.

“While FDA claims the guidance is to mitigate antibiotic resistance, it allows drug makers to set durations solely based on animal health needs determined by the drug makers,” Steve Roach, the Safe and Healthy Food Program director at Food Animal Concerns Trust, said in a statement. “FDA could have chosen to set a limit consistent with its mission to protect human health as it has in the past, but decided not to.”

As part of a larger plan to encourage the responsible use of medically important antibiotics in agriculture, the FDA has been working for years to push manufacturers to create duration limits for older drugs. But more than a quarter of the drugs still don’t have them.

In 2023, the agency published a draft of the guidance, drawing pushback from public health advocates and members of Congress. The agency received more than 4,500 comments on the proposal, the vast majority of which were from advocates and individuals who “requested that FDA limit all durations of use to no more than 21 days,” according to the FDA.

Comments submitted by industry associations, drug companies, and veterinary organizations included concerns about timelines, clear wording in labeling, and that data used be “of high quality and transparent.”

According to the FDA, “all comments were considered as the guidance was finalized.”

The guidance issued last week includes no suggested timelines. Instead, it gives companies leeway to set both a “typical” and “maximum” duration based on multiple factors related to disease risk and how the drug is being used. The agency asks companies to submit their proposed duration limits along with scientific justification, to be approved for drug labels within the next three years.

It also suggests companies include precautionary statements, such as,“Feed this drug only to the number of animals necessary to treat, control, or prevent the indicated disease in accordance with the approved conditions of use.” None of the recommendations are legally binding. (Link to this post.)

The post FDA Finalizes Controversial Guidelines for Livestock Antibiotics appeared first on Civil Eats.

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New research shows a single year of warmer-than-average Arctic temperatures can cause malnutrition in Arctic seals, intensifying risks to Inuit food security and northern ecosystems already under pressure from environmental toxins, warn Simon Fraser University researchers.

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For his Engineering Doctorate (EngD) program, ITC researcher Rodrigoandrés Morales developed a so-called digital twin: a digital model that analyzes and predicts the groundwater level in Enschede. With these predictions, the system can respond in time to imminent flooding or desiccation. Morales is the first person within the Faculty of ITC to complete an EngD at the University of Twente.

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When scientists want to study aging and how to slow it down, they often turn to microscopic worms or lab mice among other models. The former are too different from humans, while the latter are expensive and take too long to study. But there's a new model in town that can potentially help us wind the clock back, and that is the silkworm (Bombyx mori).

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Last Updated on February 18, 2026 Across Canada, thousands of lakes, rivers, mountains, and communities still bear names that were imposed during colonization. These names obscured Indigenous languages, laws, and relationships that had defined those places for generations. What was lost was not just vocabulary, but entire ways of understanding. Today, Indigenous communities are engaging […]

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After weeks of relentless rain and flooding, and even more forecast, 2025's droughts and hosepipe bans feel like ancient history. But they shouldn't.

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For anyone who relies on coffee to start their day, coffee wilt disease may be the most important disease you've never heard of. This fungal disease has repeatedly reshaped the global coffee supply over the past century, with consequences that reach from African farms to cafe counters worldwide.

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