In the 05/19/2026 edition:
News: The hantavirus outbreak is a stress test of health systems after the pandemic
By Observer Media on May 18, 2026 04:57 pm
Eleven cases and three deaths linked to a cruise ship outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus have triggered a familiar sense that another pandemic could be brewing.
News: What happened on the MV Hondius is a predictable consequence of how modern mobility intersects with ecological risk
By Down To Earth on May 18, 2026 04:54 pm
Public health systems are still built around the assumption that ecological risk and human mobility are separable. At a landfill in Ushuaia, they were not.
News: Tanzania integrates AI into national disaster management infrastructure to predict climate disasters
By iAfrica on May 18, 2026 04:53 pm
Public health systems are still built around the assumption that ecological risk and human mobility are separable. At a landfill in Ushuaia, they were not.
News: Indonesia says its giant sea wall will stop flooding. Is this climate adaptation or a costly folly?
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 18, 2026 04:53 pm
Indonesia plans to build a “giant sea wall”, more than 500 kilometres long, to defend Java’s north coast from rising sea levels.
News: Floods and finance: why climate change will become a more pressing economic problem for UK households
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 18, 2026 03:43 pm
New Orleans could be surrounded by sea water in a matter of decades according to new research.
News: How much will western wildfires worsen under warming?
By Eos – AGU on May 18, 2026 03:41 pm
New research suggests that wildfire potential can be modeled more accurately based on soil moisture than on vapor pressure deficit.
News: Japan’s ‘ibasho’ sense of belonging helps disaster survivors heal, study finds
By South China Morning Post on May 18, 2026 03:37 pm
Research into the 2011 earthquake and tsunami shows fostering social connection and purpose helps survivors rebuild and staves off dementia.
News: The global impact of losing U.S. sea level science
By Eos – AGU on May 18, 2026 03:35 pm
Cuts to climate science risk halting or even erasing decades of progress in global change research—just as risks from rising seas demand better data, informed decisionmaking, and faster action.
News: The Mediterranean sea is capable of generating hurricanes and climate change will make them worse
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 18, 2026 03:27 pm
Medicanes share important physical characteristics with tropical cyclones, but are not identical to them. Flooding from intense and widespread precipitation are their most dangerous hazard, often extending well beyond the cyclone’s centre
News: IU researcher helps solve mystery of clockwork-like earthquake system deep beneath the Pacific
By Indiana University on May 18, 2026 03:20 pm
Deep beneath the eastern Pacific Ocean about 1,000 miles off the coast of Ecuador, a fault line on the seafloor has been generating magnitude 6 earthquakes with almost clocklike regularity for at least three decades.
News: Role of climate change on infectious diseases
By American Society for Microbiology on May 18, 2026 03:07 pm
The authors call for expanded detection and attribution studies to better quantify how specific climate shifts drive health outcomes, and to translate those findings into actionable public health guidance.
News: Scientists identify hidden accelerant in Antarctic ice loss
By University of Maryland on May 18, 2026 11:54 am
A new UMD-led study shows that meltwater flowing off ice shelves changes the ocean in ways that drive even faster melting—and most global climate projections don’t even include it.
News: Nominations now open for the 2026 WIN DRR Leadership Awards
By United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Regional Office for Asia and Pacific on May 18, 2026 11:23 am
The nominations for the 2026 Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) Leadership Awards are now open.
News: As deadly heat waves rise, federal policy fails to cover air conditioning
By University of Pennsylvania on May 15, 2026 03:44 pm
Federal safety net covers heating but cooling is optional. That needs to change, an LDI fellow writes.
News: Climate change costs lives by breaking down social connection
By EurekAlert on May 15, 2026 03:41 pm
Climate change is a social crisis, disrupting connection, community and belonging
News: Future big droughts may be worse than we think – NZ’s past shows why
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 15, 2026 03:40 pm
For an agricultural nation like New Zealand, severe drought is one of the most ominous consequences of a warming planet.
News: Modeling particles reveals soil density impact on surface fault ruptures
By University of Michigan on May 15, 2026 03:39 pm
The discrete element method models tens of millions of distinct particles to help understand this rare earthquake hazard and inform resilient civil engineering design.
News: Working through the heat: How Bengaluru’s gig workers are bearing the cost of rising temperatures
By Down To Earth on May 15, 2026 03:38 pm
Gig workers are vulnerable to extreme heat because they spend most of the time outside and are exposed to severe heat conditions. This causes various health risks such as dehydration, headaches, heat stroke, heat rashes and exacerbate co-morbidities.
News: Heatwaves are now everyday disasters – governments need to do more to protect people
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 15, 2026 03:31 pm
Alongside early warning systems, public messaging and longer-term measures such as urban greening to reduce temperatures, governments need to do far more to help people stay cool when extreme temperatures hit.
News: Atlantic island narrowly escaped ‘stealthy’ eruption
By University College London (UCL) on May 15, 2026 03:22 pm
Thousands of earthquakes affecting Portugal’s São Jorge Island in the Azores in March 2022 were triggered by a vast sheet of magma (molten rock) rising from more than 20km below Earth’s surface and stalling just 1.6km beneath the island.
News: Summers are getting longer each year, and it isn’t all fun and games
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 15, 2026 03:12 pm
Do you have the sense that summers feel different than when you were younger? That they start earlier, arrive quickly and remain intense until the fall?
News: The solution to desert wildfire recovery could come from your salad bowl
By Arizona State University on May 15, 2026 03:05 pm
ASU researchers turn to fungi as a cost-effective, sustainable way to stabilize land after a fire.
News: New directions in mapping ice sheet fabrics and flow
By Eos – AGU on May 15, 2026 03:03 pm
Polarimetric radar advances enable scientists to measure orientations of crystals, bubbles, and other properties that affect the flow of glaciers and ice sheets—and their contributions to sea level.
News: Danger season is here again, with triple the danger for 2026
By Union of Concerned Scientists on May 15, 2026 02:47 pm
For the past five years, the Union of Concerned Scientists has been tracking the climate extremes of what we call “Danger Season”—the period between May and October when North America is hit hardest by extreme weather.
News: Property flood resilience still held back by evidence gaps, government-backed research warns
By Water Magazine on May 15, 2026 02:40 pm
Property flood resilience (PFR) measures could play a far greater role in helping communities adapt to rising flood risk across the UK, but major gaps in evidence, public understanding and long-term performance data continue to limit uptake.
News: What is El Niño? And why does it matter in a warming world?
By United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) on May 15, 2026 02:37 pm
El Niño is a natural climate pattern influencing global weather. Learn why it is increasingly important to understand in a warming world.
News: Humid heat: a growing health risk in a warming climate
By Climate Central on May 15, 2026 02:37 pm
The combination of extreme heat and humidity is dangerous and becoming more common in our warming climate.
News: Fire that scorched African mountain range was unprecedented in the last 12,000 years, research shows
By Brown University on May 15, 2026 02:34 pm
A study of ancient lake sediments reveals that a recent wildfire high in the Rwenzori Mountains was the first in 12 millennia, signaling a novel threat to Africa’s unique alpine ecosystems.
News: The long shadow of Maui’s wildfires
By Yale Climate Connections on May 15, 2026 02:33 pm
A therapist says many of his patients are still struggling with mental health consequences, three years after the disaster.
News: How AI Is changing climate science
By University of Virginia on May 15, 2026 02:32 pm
Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform climate science, not just by improving forecasts, but by helping researchers understand the physical forces shaping the planet’s future.
News: Study provides rule of thumb to estimate land sustainability in river deltas
By University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign on May 15, 2026 02:30 pm
A study found that a well-established relationship called Hack’s law can be used to simplify the design and construction of structures used to manage water flow and reduce flood risks along river deltas like the Po River Delta in Italy.
News: Indonesia may soon lose its last glaciers
By Columbia Climate School on May 15, 2026 02:25 pm
Scientists estimate that Indonesia will lose its two remaining glaciers by 2030—a warning for glaciers around the world.
News: Landslides are New Zealand’s most expensive natural hazard, and the costs are rising quickly
By Eos – AGU on May 15, 2026 02:14 pm
New evidence from the Natural Hazards Commission – Toka Tū Ake (NHC) shows that landslides are now New Zealand’s most costly natural hazard.
News: Building resilience in Europe and Central Asia: A smart investment for growth and jobs
By World Bank, the on May 15, 2026 02:09 pm
The data is clear: Investments in adaptation and resilience deliver high economic returns but remain insufficient and poorly targeted.
News: Hantavirus: A cruise ship, a deer mouse and the fictional line between human and animal health
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 15, 2026 02:03 pm
In February 2025, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa died. Her husband, the actor Gene Hackman, died a week later of heart disease. The pathogen that killed her was hantavirus, almost certainly picked up from deer mouse droppings on the property.
News: UNDRR & ARISE Japan joint symposium 2026 showcases how Japanese private sector and multistakeholder partners advance investment in resilience and translate science into practical action
By United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – Kobe Office on May 15, 2026 11:20 am
UNDRR & ARISE Japan joint symposium 2026 “Strengthening disaster risk reduction by advancing investment in resilience and translating science into Practical Action” as held in Tokyo with the presence of Mr. Kishore, Head of UNDRR, on 10 March 2026.
DRR Community Voices: AI in disaster risk reduction: Who is being left out?
By Kevin Blanchard on May 15, 2026 10:12 am
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is already being used to forecast hazards , map exposure and guide decisions about where assistance may be needed.
News: Special accreditation applications for UN Diplomatic Conference on Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters (PPED)
By United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on May 15, 2026 08:30 am
The United Nations General Assembly has launched negotiations on a new international convention on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters (PPED).
News: Hidden warm water beneath Antarctica could rapidly raise global sea levels
By SciTechDaily on May 14, 2026 02:54 pm
Hidden warm-water traps beneath Antarctica may be melting the continent’s ice far faster than scientists realized.
News: Eastern Africa is splitting apart, but not where we expected
By Eos – AGU on May 14, 2026 02:54 pm
The Turkana Rift Zone in Kenya entered a critical stage in continental breakup about 4 million years ago.
News: Visualizing climate extremes: Climate Jellyfish for Italy, the new high-resolution tool by CMCC
By Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) on May 14, 2026 02:52 pm
A new high-resolution visualization tool developed by CMCC reveals not only how Italy is warming, but also how climate variability and extremes are evolving across the country.
News: Low snow in Eurasia linked to wildfires in California
By Eos – AGU on May 14, 2026 02:52 pm
Scientists found that low autumn snow levels in western Eurasia are associated with dry, warm winters in California, increasing the Golden State’s wildfire risk.
News: Medieval Japanese poetry and buried trees help elucidate volatile space weather
By Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology on May 14, 2026 02:51 pm
Combining carbon-14 measurements taken at the highest level of precision with historical literature lays a new foundation for studying unpredictable and hazardous solar proton events.
News: Turning weather and climate data into early health action
By Development Asia on May 14, 2026 02:49 pm
Early warning is most effective when governance, data, and protocols align, helping health systems act earlier on climate-sensitive risks.
News: Study finds wetter storms mean drier conditions over time
By Dartmouth College on May 14, 2026 02:44 pm
The world’s rainfall is increasingly packed into bigger storms and longer dry spells.
News: Predicting typhoon intensity using ocean surface temperatures
By Kyoto University 京都大学 on May 14, 2026 02:42 pm
A new probabilistic model shows how climate change affects typhoon variance
News: Offshore winds identified as a culprit in coastal floods, research finds
By Florida International University on May 14, 2026 02:11 pm
In coastal flooding areas like Virginia Key and Key West, the Florida Current has a significant impact on sea level variability.
News: Volcanoes may have trapped Earth in a 56-million-year ice age
By Earth.com on May 14, 2026 01:54 pm
The volcanoes may have helped trigger the Sturtian ice age by removing huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
News: Weather data inequity in a flash flood hotspot
By Climate Central on May 14, 2026 01:46 pm
By improving their weather data, bolstering emergency response, and sharing resources, counties in Southwest Virginia can efficiently prepare for future floods.
News: As El Niño approaches, scientists predict fierce heatwaves, wildfires and floods
By Inside Climate News on May 14, 2026 01:40 pm
Emerging Pacific Ocean heat, combined with ongoing human-caused global warming, is a grim recipe for deadly climate extremes. Heat alone already kills more than 500,000 annually.
News: Surges of concentrated precipitation can lead to dryer landscapes
By Inside Climate News on May 14, 2026 01:35 pm
Snow and rain in the American West is concentrating at one of the highest rates in the world, researchers found, with implications for ecosystems, water management and this year’s El Niño.
News: Even quiet hurricane seasons can roar
By Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re) on May 14, 2026 01:29 pm
Atlantic hurricane season may not begin until June 1, but hurricane forecasting season is in full swing.
News: After the storm passes, inequities worsen
By Environmental and Energy Study Institute on May 14, 2026 01:09 pm
A 2020 analysis by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Advisory Council found that after natural disasters, wealthy residents accumulate more wealth while lower-income individuals fall deeper into poverty.
News: Labs: Innovative solutions to transform how countries prepare and pay for disasters
By Centre for Disaster Protection on May 14, 2026 01:02 pm
When a major disaster strikes, countries and organisations either have to raid their health, education and social spending budgets, take on more debt or rely on slow and unpredictable humanitarian aid.
News: Genome sequencing is rewriting the history of disease outbreaks – but without social context, it can tell only part of the story
By Conversation Media Group, the on May 13, 2026 05:04 pm
Genome sequencing has changed how disease detectives study outbreaks by allowing them to read a pathogen’s genes as a biological record of where it came from and how it spread.
News: Forest fires in Western Himalayas moving to higher altitudes, warns CSIR-IHBT study
By Tribune, the – India on May 13, 2026 05:04 pm
The region records nearly 1,300 forest fire incidents annually on average.
News: AI closes data gaps and shows how extreme weather emerges on Earth
By EurekAlert on May 13, 2026 05:02 pm
Researchers from the ETH have now introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that has learned these interactions and feedback autonomously and, compared to previous AI models, more precisely captures how air, land and water interact on Earth.
News: Preparing for the next pandemic, operationalizing global health security: from preparedness to action
By JSI Research & Training Institute on May 13, 2026 05:01 pm
Khadijah Ibrahim Nuhu, senior advisor for JSI, welcomes the delivery of 10,000 Mpox vaccines alongside partners at the Abuja, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Nigeria during the outbreak in 2024.
News: How climate change could help hantavirus find more hosts
By Grist Magazine on May 13, 2026 03:43 pm
Experts say extreme weather is boosting the odds that the pathogens carried by rodents will spill over into human populations.
News: Leptospirosis in Europe: climate change will raise the risk
By European Commission Joint Research Centre on May 13, 2026 03:35 pm
Warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are projected to increase incidence, expand spatial distribution and extend the transmission season.