Biodiversity

"Drought in the contiguous United States has reached record levels for this time of year, weather data shows. Meteorologists said it’s a bad sign for the upcoming wildfire season, food prices and western water issues."

"The Trump administration will pull its emergency levers to head off a major water and power crisis." "Interior said it will cut releases out of one of the river’s two main reservoirs, Lake Powell, to the minimum amount legally allowed — 6 million acre-feet — between now and October."

"The Potomac River, otherwise known as “the nation’s river,” has been named the most endangered river in the country, following a massive sewage spill earlier this year and the ongoing buildout of thirsty data centers across the watershed."

"Environmental groups sued the Trump administration on Monday to stop the British oil giant BP, which operated the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that exploded in 2010, from starting a new $5 billion drilling project in ultra-deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico."

"Some researchers hold that evolution hasn’t much altered humans in the past 10,000 years. A new analysis of ancient DNA indicates that natural selection continued to shape hundreds of genes."

"Florida’s fragile Everglades are not on track to meet a new water quality standard set to take effect next month, even after nearly 40 years of costly restoration work aimed at addressing pollution in the river of grass, according to a new report."

"In a quiet stretch of western Massachusetts stands a sycamore so old it was around when the Constitution was signed. It’s awe-inspiring, with branches bigger than the entire trunks of most trees. ... In the eastern United States, that rare sense of awe was once supplied in bulk by the American chestnut."

"On a busy tourist strip in Orlando, behind noisy bars and souvenir shops, 21 sloths in crates reached the end of a grueling international trip. Soon, they would all be dead."

"The ocean’s fastest and most formidable predators might also be the most physiologically vulnerable to warming waters, researchers warn." "The evolutionary edge that fueled great white shark dominance for millions of years could soon become its greatest downfall."