A beaver—New York’s state animal—is sighted in the Hudson River off New York City’s Upper West Side, only the second such sighting in 200 years. 

The USDA’s Wildlife Services program agrees to stop killing beavers in California in areas where the killing might harm endangered wildlife.  

The US Fish and Wildlife Service denies endangered species protection to the Arapahoe snowfly, brook floater, golden orb, Joshua tree, seaside alder, smooth pimpleback, tricolored blackbird, and yellow-banded bumblebee. 

The Trump administration significantly weakens the Endangered Species Act. 

Snow in the Arctic now contains “considerable quantities” of microplastics. Plastic fibers are also falling with rain in the Rocky Mountains.  

Lightning from rare Arctic thunderstorms strikes close to the North Pole. 

The many icebergs breaking off from Antarctica may slow climate change by cooling the Southern Ocean.

After a season in which 11 people die trying to summit Mt. Everest, Nepal moves to limit permits to experienced climbers. 

Melting snow and ice exposes more of the Matterhorn’s unstable shale, possibly making it too dangerous to climb. 

Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in buying Greenland.

Drinking bleach will not cure autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, or the flu, cautions the FDA. 

In China, electricity from solar photovoltaic installations achieves grid parity, meaning that it is cost-competitive with other power sources.

Brandon Lee, an environmental and Indigenous-rights activist native to San Francisco but working in the Philippines, is shot in what colleagues believe is an attempt to silence him. 

The State Department suspends an employee in its energy bureau for being an active white supremacist. 

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy flares to 75 times its normal brightness.