"African and Commonwealth nations called Tuesday for a swift implementation of a landmark treaty protecting the high seas, warning that despite record commitments to marine conservation, much of the world’s ocean protection still exists only on paper."

"If protected, researchers say these coral strongholds may help repopulate more degraded reefs across the Central Pacific."

"The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state."

"Few public universities get more federal research funding than the University of Washington."

"In late April, heavy machinery began moving into the Pishë Poro-Narta protected landscape on Albania’s Adriatic coast without permits or public notice. Bulldozers and excavators felled coastal pine trees, flattened sand dunes, and cut new roads through previously untouched habitat." "The incursion was the realization of a luxury resort development backed by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law."

"Several newspapers across farming states have run strikingly similar opinion columns over the past month that take issue with a California law requiring farmers to provide hogs, calves and chickens with enough room to turn around, lie down and stretch."

"The Trump administration struck down prohibitions on commercial fishing Thursday across more than 500,000 square miles of marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean, as environmental groups vowed to challenge the action in federal court." "The president has now signed orders to eliminate commercial fishing bans in all five national marine monuments."

"A hidden circulatory system pulses just beneath the planet’s surface. There, embedded in the soil, are dense networks of microorganisms known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi attach themselves to the roots of plants, sending long, thin filaments out through the soil. These ferry water and nutrients to plants and whisk away carbon, helping to keep vast quantities of it out of the atmosphere."

“You can hear and smell Meg Webster’s latest exhibition before you see it. Walking up the stairs of Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea, there’s a chorus of birds chirps. Then comes the smell: a dusky, dense scent reminiscent of wet earth. Finally, you walk into the main space and encounter “Thicket,” the show’s titular artwork, a beckoning spiral made of local branches, leaves and flowers."

“Some remains found in Diamantina fracture zone date back more than 5m years and reveal species and ecosystems unknown to science.”