The FDA lifts a ban on imports of so-called Frankenfish, genetically modified salmon that grow all year and can reach market twice as fast as conventional salmon.

Sonar readings in the Hudson River reveal the presence of a 14-foot Atlantic sturgeon. 

Researchers discover a “nursery” for hammerhead sharks off the Galápagos Islands.  

During the Pacific Ocean’s “heat wave” of 2014 to 2016, a large number of tropical species moved north as far as Oregon. 

Investigators determine that arcing power lines owned by Southern California Edison ignited the deadly 2017 Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  

Even if the world cuts emissions in line with the Paris accord, a temperature rise in the Arctic of 3º to 5ºC is “locked in.”

Meltwater running off Greenland’s ice sheet now surpasses the calving of icebergs as the biggest contributor to sea level rise. The meltwater is often triggered by rainstorms, which now occur even during the Greenlandic winter.

By the end of the century, the threat to California’s economy from sea level rise will be an order of magnitude greater than that from catastrophic wildfires or earthquakes. 

A rare .87-inch deluge in Death Valley National Park creates an ephemeral 10-mile-long lake.

The UK cut its carbon emissions in 2018 for the sixth consecutive year, to a level that is the lowest since 1888. 

President Trump signs a massive public lands bill that adds 1.3 million acres of new wilderness and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Trump’s proposed federal budget would cut funding for the EPA by 31 percent. 

A Montana judge blocks a BLM project to burn or cut juniper trees on a 4,200-acre parcel to allow more cattle grazing.

A large public backlash causes the US Forest Service to back down on leasing 54,000 acres in the Ruby Mountains for oil and gas drilling.  

The north branch library in Sliverthorne, Colorado, closes when a moose decides to take a nap in a pile of snow blocking its front door.  

Endangered lemurs in Madagascar face a new threat: illegal sapphire mining. 

China proposes a ban on the use of pangolin parts in traditional medicine. 

Scientists discover a likely new species of orca off southern Chile. The Type D whales are “the largest undescribed animal left on the planet.”