Natural hazards have the potential to impact a majority of Americans every year. USGS science provides part of the foundation for emergency preparedness whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

Researchers at the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) contributed to a recent successful joint demonstration in Fort Worth, Texas, of an unmanned aircraft system by Bell Textron Inc. and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

An international team of scientists that includes a USDA Forest Service scientist based in New Hampshire used tree rings to document how “Arctic dimming,” the interference with sunlight caused by extreme pollution such as that at an industrial complex in northern Siberia, is killing trees and possibly affecting how trees respond to climate change.

Scripps Research chemist Matthew Disney, PhD, and colleagues have created drug-like compounds that, in human cell studies, bind and destroy the pandemic coronavirus’ so-called “frameshifting element” to stop the virus from replicating.

Millions of years ago, fire swept across the planet, fueled by an oxygen-rich atmosphere in which even wet forests burned, according to new research by CU Boulder scientists.

As many as 70% of very premature infants (born earlier than 32 weeks gestation) show signs of white matter abnormalities at birth. 

A new project has been launched to remove hormone-changing pollutants from the environment.

A Phase 1 trial of an investigational mRNA vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection has shown that the vaccine is well-tolerated and generates a strong immune response in older adults.

A study of more than a half-million people in India who were exposed to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 suggests that the virus’ continued spread is driven by only a small percentage of those who become infected.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s plastic waste washes up as far afield as Scotland, Spain and Portugal.