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Articles on Adaptation

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A wildfire during hot, dry conditions in August 2023 destroyed Lahaina, Hawaii, and devastated Maui’s tourism industry – the heart of its economy. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Why the Fed should treat climate change’s $150B economic toll like other national crises it’s helped fight

Fed Chair Jerome Powell bristles at talk of managing climate change, but the damage it is doing the US economy is hard to ignore, as the latest National Climate Assessment shows.
Temperature sensitivity makes western fence lizards vulnerable to climate change. Greg Shine/BLM

Climate change is already forcing lizards, insects and other species to evolve – and most can’t keep up

From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.
Lake surrounding a mining site in Northern Québec. (Maxime Thomas)

The invisible effects of human activity on nature

Human activities can affect plants and have consequences for the human populations that consume them.
Street flooding has become more common in parts of Honolulu. Eugene Tanner / AFP via Getty Images

More than two dozen cities and states are suing Big Oil over climate change – they just got a boost from the US Supreme Court

Honolulu, Baltimore, Charleston, S.C. and several other cities harmed by rising seas and extreme weather are suing the oil industry. At stake is who pays for the staggering costs of climate change.
Trees are rooted to the ground — but they move into new areas as the wind carries their seeds or seedlings are planted. (Shutterstock)

How to move without legs or wings: Helping trees migrate to new regions

The rapidly changing climate presents many challenges for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Assisting the migration of trees is a tool to address these challenges.
A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain. akinbostanci/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Cognitive flexibility is essential to navigating a changing world – new research in mice shows how your brain learns new rules

Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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