Urbanization News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

HIV Is Surging in Over-50s—But Campaigns Still Target the Young

June 21, 2025 — HIV is surging among adults over 50 in sub-Saharan Africa, yet prevention and treatment campaigns still focus mainly on the young. New research reveals older adults face comparable or higher infection rates but remain largely invisible in HIV ...

Cluck Once, and the River Shakes: Inside the Amazon’s Giant Snake Saga

June 16, 2025 — A lifelong fascination with nature and fieldwork led this researcher to the world of ethnobiology a field where ecology, culture, and community come together. Investigating how local people relate to species like the anaconda, their work blends ...

Clean Energy, Dirty Secrets: Inside the Corruption Plaguing California’s Solar Market

June 11, 2025 — California s solar energy boom is often hailed as a green success story but a new study reveals a murkier reality beneath the sunlit panels. Researchers uncover seven distinct forms of corruption ...

Collaboration Can Unlock Australia's Energy Transition Without Sacrificing Natural Capital

June 3, 2025 — Australia can reach net-zero emissions and still protect its natural treasures but only if everyone works together. New research from Princeton and The University of Queensland shows that the country ...

Coastal Flooding More Frequent Than Previously Thought

June 2, 2025 — Flooding in coastal communities is happening far more often than previously thought, according to a new study. The study also found major flaws with the widely used approach of using marine water level data to capture instances of ...

Researchers Use Deep Learning to Predict Flooding This Hurricane Season

June 2, 2025 — Researchers have developed a deep learning model called LSTM-SAM that predicts extreme water levels from tropical cyclones more efficiently and accurately, especially in data-scarce coastal regions, to offer a faster, low-cost tool for flood ...

The EU Should Allow Gene Editing to Make Organic Farming More Sustainable, Researchers Say

May 30, 2025 — To achieve the European Green Deal's goal of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed without pre-market authorization in organic as ...

Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows

May 30, 2025 — A new study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders, and other amphibians migrating across ...

Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk

May 30, 2025 — A study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito ...

Involving Communities in Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Challenges Leads to Greater Innovation, Study Shows

May 29, 2025 — Involving communities in nature-based solutions to tackle urban climate and environmental challenges leads to innovation and multiple benefits, a study ...

A Cheap and Easy Potential Solution for Lowering Carbon Emissions in Maritime Shipping

May 29, 2025 — Reducing travel speeds and using an intelligent queuing system at busy ports can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oceangoing container vessels by 16-24%, according to researchers. Not only ...

A Sweeping Study of 7,000 Years of Monuments in South Arabia

May 28, 2025 — New research brings together 7,000 years of history in South Arabia to show how ancient pastoralists changed placement and construction of monuments over time in the face of environmental and cultural ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:39pm EDT

Southeast Asia Could Prevent Up to 36,000 Ozone-Related Early Deaths a Year by 2050 With Stricter Air Pollution Controls

May 24, 2025 — A study has found that implementing robust air pollution control measures could mean Southeast Asian countries prevent as many as 36,000 ...

Coastal Squeeze Is Bad for Biodiversity, and for Us, Experts Say

May 24, 2025 — Worldwide, coastal areas are squeezed between a rising sea level on one end and human structures on the other. The distance between a sandy coastline and the first human structures averages less than ...

Breakthrough AI Model Could Transform How We Prepare for Natural Disasters

May 22, 2025 — From deadly floods in Europe to intensifying tropical cyclones around the world, the climate crisis has made timely and precise forecasting more essential than ever. Yet traditional forecasting ...

How to Use AI to Listen to the 'Heartbeat' of a City

May 21, 2025 — Researchers took a fresh approach to urban research by using artificial intelligence to explore the emotional side of city life. Their goal was to better understand the link between a city's physical ...

Thousands of Animal Species Threatened by Climate Change

May 20, 2025 — A novel analysis suggests more than 3,500 animal species are threatened by climate change and also sheds light on huge gaps in fully understanding the risk to the animal ...

With Evolutionary AI, Scientists Find Hidden Keys for Better Land Use

May 19, 2025 — A new AI decision making tool effectively balances various complex trade-offs to recommend ways of maximizing carbon storage, minimizing economic disruptions and helping improve the environment and ...

Human Activity Reduces Plant Diversity Hundreds of Kilometers Away

May 16, 2025 — Natural ecosystems comprise groups of species capable of living in the specific conditions of a biological system. However, if we visit a specific natural area, we will not find all the species ...

Tech Meets Tornado Recovery

May 14, 2025 — Traditional methods of assessing damage after a disaster can take weeks or even months, delaying emergency response, insurance claims and long-term rebuilding efforts. New research might change that. ...

How We Think About Protecting Data

May 14, 2025 — A new game-based experiment sheds light on the tradeoffs people are willing to make about data ...

Metals and Hormone-Disrupting Substances Pose Real Threat to Sustainable Agriculture and Water Management in Europe

May 9, 2025 — Metals and hormone-disrupting substances such as estrogens present a genuine risk to the sustainability of agriculture and water management in ...

Studies Point to Redlining as a 'Perfect Storm' for Breast Cancer

May 9, 2025 — New research indicates that while the residential segregation policy was outlawed decades ago, it still impacts women's health ...

A Small Bicycle Handlebar Sensor Can Help Map a Region's Riskiest Bike Routes

May 9, 2025 — Researchers have developed a system, called ProxiCycle, that logs when a passing car comes too close to a cyclist (four feet or less). A small, inexpensive sensor plugs into bicycle handlebars and ...

Researchers Develop Practical Solution to Reduce Emissions and Improve Air Quality from Brick Manufacturing in Bangladesh

May 8, 2025 — A new study analyzes the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that showed that brick kiln owners in Bangladesh are willing and able to implement cleaner and more efficient business ...

Nature Visits Can Improve Well-Being Disparities Among Urban Dwellers

May 8, 2025 — How relatedness-to-nature is linked to well-being is determined by district-level socioeconomic status. A new analysis is based on survey results from two major Japanese metropolitan ...

New Study Tracks Air Pollution and CO2 Emissions Across Thousands of Cities Worldwide

May 7, 2025 — In a sweeping new study of more than 13,000 urban areas worldwide, researchers have mapped air pollution levels and carbon dioxide emissions, providing comprehensive global analysis of urban ...

Sustainability Often Used as a Buzzword in Agricultural Genomics

May 6, 2025 — Claims about sustainability are increasing in agricultural genomics research, but the term is often not well-defined, leading to potential concerns about the impact and credibility of the research, ...

Exposure to Extreme Heat and Cold Temperature Is Leading to Additional Preventable Deaths, New 19-Year Study Suggests

May 1, 2025 — Urgent action must be taken to reduce the ever-rising number of people killed by extreme temperatures in India, say the authors of a new 19-year study which found that 20,000 people died from ...

International Experts Lead Calls to Embed Nature in City Infrastructure for Better Health and Climate Resilience

Apr. 30, 2025 — Trees, parks, wetlands and green roofs can no longer be seen as a 'nice-to-have' aesthetic enhancement but a vital component for creating climate-resilient, healthier and more equitable ...

Missed School Is an Overlooked Consequence of Tropical Cyclones, Warming Planet

Apr. 29, 2025 — New research finds that tropical cyclones reduce years of schooling for children in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in areas unaccustomed to frequent storms. Girls are ...

Greasing the Wheels of the Energy Transition to Address Climate Change and Fossil Fuels Phase out

Apr. 29, 2025 — The global energy system may be faced with an inescapable trade-off between urgently addressing climate change versus avoiding an energy shortfall, according to a new energy scenario ...

How to Break Through Climate Apathy

Apr. 24, 2025 — A new study finds that presenting the same continuous climate data, such as incremental changes in temperature, in binary form -- such as whether a lake did or did not freeze in the winter -- ...

Skeletal Evidence of Roman Gladiator Bitten by Lion in Combat

Apr. 23, 2025 — Bite marks found on a skeleton discovered in a Roman cemetery in York have revealed the first archaeological evidence of gladiatorial combat between a human and a ...

Paying Fishers to Release Endangered Catches Can Aid Conservation, but Only If Done Right

Apr. 23, 2025 — A new study has revealed that an incentive program increased live releases of endangered species caught as bycatch. However, unexpectedly, the overall positive impact was reduced by some vessels ...

What If Mother Earth Could Sue for Mistreatment?

Apr. 21, 2025 — The study highlights the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature, which views nature as a rights-bearing entity, not merely an object of regulation and subjugation by extractive industries. ...

Coastal Management Model Plays the Long Game Against the Rising Tides

Apr. 21, 2025 — To protect against rising sea levels in a warming world, coastal cities typically follow a standard playbook with various protective infrastructure options. For example, a seawall could be designed ...

How Safe Is the Air to Breathe? 50 Million People in the US Do Not Know

Apr. 21, 2025 — Across the United States, 58% of counties have no active air-quality monitoring sites, according to a new study. Rural counties, especially those in the Midwest and South, are less likely to have ...

Faster Way to Solve Complex Planning Problems

Apr. 16, 2025 — Researchers developed a machine-learning-guided technique to solve complex, long-horizon planning problems more efficiently than some traditional approaches, while arriving at an optimal solution ...

Study Finds Dramatic Boost in Air Quality from Electrifying Railways

Apr. 16, 2025 — Switching from diesel to electric trains dramatically improved the air quality aboard the San Francisco Bay Area's Caltrain commuter rail line, reducing riders' exposure to the carcinogen ...

Emotions and Levels of Threat Affect Communities' Resilience During Extreme Events

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers use mathematical modeling to probe whether cohesive communities are more resilient to extreme events, finding that emotional intensity and levels of stress play a big ...

Wealth Inequality's Deep Roots in Human Prehistory

Apr. 14, 2025 — Wealth inequality began shaping human societies more than 10,000 years ago, long before the rise of ancient empires or the invention of writing. That's according to a new study that challenges ...