People & Population

"Medicinal and aromatic plants in the Appalachian Mountains, which have stood for hundreds of millions of years and contributed to biodiversity across the region, are facing threats from poaching, climate change, and more. The multiple national parks dotting the region are often havens for these plants, though even the protections afforded by the parks cannot prevent all threats."

"Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scientific community to recognize fungi on the same level as plants and animals."

"New research shows the carbon absorbed by the Everglades is equal to 10 percent of the emissions coming from Florida roadways, but the watershed’s methane emissions complicate the picture."

"Crews on Tuesday began evaluating damage from a surprise downpour that sent floodwaters raging through a neighborhood near downtown Honolulu — the latest bout in a series of storms and flooding that have pummeled the state over the past two weeks."

"Ohio regulators have blocked yet another major solar project because of local pushback, even though a significant number of public comments opposing the array appear to be fabricated. It’s the latest blow to solar in a state that defers to local governments on renewable energy, but not on fossil fuels."

"In a scathing decision issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Maryland tossed out climate change lawsuits filed against fossil fuel companies by Baltimore, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, ruling the localities were stepping on the toes of the federal government."

"The Trump administration’s decision to lift restrictions on the sale of higher-ethanol fuel again this summer could help soften the blow of higher gas prices — but it’s not the big win the biofuels industry has been seeking."

"The Trump administration’s new wildfire agency is taking shape at the Interior Department, coalescing around a mission to prioritize swiftly putting out fires on public lands, even as some experts question that strategy."

"Iowa is among a few states where cancer diagnoses are on the rise. A new analysis from the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement and the Iowa Environmental Council says that environmental exposures are partially to blame."

"Four doses of an experimental vaccine to protect against Lyme disease reduced the number of tick-borne infections by more than 70 percent, according to Pfizer and Valneva, the pharmaceutical companies developing the shot." "If approved by regulators, it could become the only Lyme disease vaccine available for people — although it would not be the first."