United States

Power plant polluting

New York to fine fossil fuel companies $75 billion under new climate law

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New York state will fine fossil fuel companies a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for damage caused to the climate under a bill Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law at the end of 2024.
New York state will fine fossil fuel companies $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for damage caused to the climate. The new law is intended to shift some of the recovery and adaptation costs of climate change from individual taxpayers to oil, gas, and coal companies. The money raised will be spent on mitigating the impacts of climate change, including adapting roads, transit, water and sewage systems, buildings and other infrastructure. Fossil fuel companies will be fined based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emitted between 2000 and 2018.

Depiction of intestines

“100% successful” cancer drug gets landmark U.S. FDA approval

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Hugely promising cancer drug dostarlimab is one step closer to being widely available, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted it Breakthrough Therapy Designation status. The drug, a programmed death receptor-1-blocking antibody, completely eradicated rectal cancer tumors without the need for surgery, radiation treatment, or chemotherapy. “Everyone on the clinical trial is doing great,” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center gastrointestinal oncologist Andrea Cercek said. “So far, 42 people have completed treatment, and all of them have no evidence of disease. Side effects were quite mild and well tolerated.”

Aerial view of river

250 miles of New Mexico’s rivers get toughest safeguards against pollution

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In a unanimous decision, New Mexico’s Water Quality Control Commission has voted to protect 250 miles of stream and river segments with the state’s highest water quality safeguards. This historic decision recognizes stretches of the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Cimarron, Pecos, and Jemez rivers as Outstanding National Resource Waters, ensuring that these lifelines remain uncontaminated by pollution. The 10-0 vote shields these critical ecosystems from degradation caused by pollutants, heavy metals, temperature changes, and other environmental threats.

Ovarian and Cervical Cancer Awareness. a Teal Ribbon

Cervical cancer deaths are plummeting among young U.S. women

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Every year, thousands of American women die of cervical cancer. However, from 1992 to 2015, the number of deaths due to cervical cancer among U.S. women under the age of 25 fell steadily from each three-year period to the next, dropping roughly 75% altogether over that span. The sharp decline in cervical cancer deaths is likely due, at least in part, to the widespread introduction of the HPV vaccine in 2006.

A Aerial Photo Of Fredericksburg Va on a clear fall day

Rappahannock Tribe first in U.S. to enshrine rights of nature into constitution

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The Rappahannock Tribe in Virginia has become the first tribal nation in the U.S. to adopt a tribal constitution that grants legal rights to a river, specifically protecting the Rappahannock River’s rights to exist, flourish, and maintain clean water. The provisions allows legal cases on behalf of the river itself, with a tribal court system planned for 2025 to enforce these rights. The Rappahannock’s actions are part of a rights-of-nature movement that includes Ecuador’s constitutional recognition of these rights in 2008 and New Zealand granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River in 2017.

MIT building

MIT will make tuition free for families earning less than $200,000 a year

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Families making under $100,000 will not have to pay housing, dining or other fees, and they’ll have an allowance for books and other personal expenses. Families who make Families of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) making under $100,000 will not have to pay housing, dining, or other fees, and they’ll have an allowance for books and other personal expenses. Families who make more than $200,000 a year can still receive need-based financial aid. Tuition for the 2024-2025 academic year at MIT is nearly $62,000. Housing, dining, and other fees can add up to another $24,000 annually, making it an enormous burden for families or forcing students to go into decades of debt.

Breakthrough genomic test identifies virtually any infection in one go

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Researchers at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have developed a single genomic test that can quickly detect virtually any kind of pathogen in a patient. This allows for much quicker diagnoses, enables targeted treatment to begin sooner, and could lower healthcare costs. Over the course of 7 years, researchers led by UCSF professor Charles Chiu tested 4,828 patients’ samples with its clinical mNGS method. The mNGS test accurately identified 86% of neurological infections.

Sea turtle swimming

Local groups drive creation of new Puerto Rico marine protected area

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The marine protected area (MPA), named Jardines Submarinos de Vega Baja y Manatí or the Vega Baja and Manatí Underwater Gardens, spans 77 square miles and is the culmination of a 16-year effort by ­­a coalition of local communities and NGOs. It’s comprised of several critically important ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass beds, and is home to more than a dozen threatened species, including the greater Caribbean manatee and several species of sea turtles.

Landmine

Groundbreaking laser tech enables faster, safer landmine detection

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Researchers at the University of Mississippi have come up with a faster, more efficient method for detecting landmines – millions of which pose a lethal threat to people in war-ravaged countries all over the world. That could spell a safer future for people who live in 70 current and former war-torn countries around the world that are riddled with an estimated 110 million active landmines. These explosives caused 2,793 deaths globally in 2017, and that number tragically rose to 4,710 in 2022.