5 Environmental Stories You Don't Want to Miss

By Dakin Hewlett

February 11, 2016

Plane Pollution

Photo by iStockphoto/kafl

ZIKA VIRUS: Scientists at the World Health Organization believe that warmer temperatures and higher precipitation brought on by climate change have helped the Zika virus spread and flourish.  

OBAMA REJECTED: The Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Obama’s effort to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants. 

GROUNDING PLANE POLLUTION: After six years of negotiations, the global aviation industry accepted the U.N. proposal to limit carbon dioxide emissions. This marks the first time that the industry has made a serious effort to address climate change. 

STAR POWER: Scientists at the Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany turned on their experimental nuclear fusion reactor on Monday and successfully created hydrogen plasma for the first time. If harnessed correctly, fusion can produce a clean source of energy that gives off no radioactive waste.

VIRGIN BIRTH: In nine months,  a female bamboo shark at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre is set to give birth to twins, despite no contact with male sharks. This type of conception, known as parthenogenesis, has only recently been discovered in shark species.