In August 2026 the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both on the Colorado River, hit their lowest levels since they first began to be filled in 1936 and 1963, respectively.

The federal government and the seven Colorado River basin states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Hydrogen, viewed by its advocates as a clean fuel and a solution to climate change, is having a “non moment,” but don’t ask anyone in the industry to say that on the record.

Years of market turmoil, federal funding cuts, canceled projects and industry pullback have made it clear: California’s grand vision for fleets of ...Read more

JJ Apodaca sent the drone up over the ridge because he had to see for himself.

It had been a month since the remnants of Hurricane Helene brought torrential rain to the mountains of Western North Carolina, and the only road into Hickory Nut Gorge was gone.

Apodaca climbed the next mountain over, launched the drone, and watched the screen as it...Read more

For more than three decades, researchers have been tracking ticks, mice, oak trees and other wildlife in a New York forest to better understand what makes Lyme disease more likely to spread.

Their latest findings challenge some long-held assumptions — including the idea that deer are a major driver of Lyme disease risk.

Researchers at the ...Read more

Across Michigan, companies are citing artificial intelligence as a driver behind workforce reductions — from a Grand Rapids insurance and fintech giant cutting thousands of jobs to a broader wave of technology sector layoffs nationally that experts say is only partly about AI itself.

Some experts and economists say AI as it exists today can ...Read more

From the air, the stretches of U.S. National Forest that hug the higher reaches of the American and Rubicon rivers in the Sierra do not look entirely pristine.

They are cut through with old roads and have been thinned in places by wildfires and logging. Timber slash piles dot at least one ridge, waiting for removal or burning.

But these areas ...Read more

When Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, he wanted it to become the world’s largest bookstore.

Now the company is reportedly buying books, slicing off their spines and scanning the pages for artificial intelligence training data before destroying the originals.

Amazon, which operates 19 facilities in Southern Nevada, scans and shreds ...Read more

California regulators have released a plan to change how the state governs the pumping of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a proposal that would give water agencies more leeway in how they comply with the rules.

The Delta is the central hub of California’s water system, providing water for nearly 30 million people and 4 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After nearly six years of debate and backlash, California’s Board of Forestry and Fire Protection voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt new landscaping requirements within five feet of homes — an area dubbed “Zone Zero” — for millions of Californians living in fire-prone areas.

The rules ban all plants within a foot of ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz spent much of his nearly eight years in office arguing that Minnesota’s most contentious environmental disputes should not be settled by decree.

On Tuesday, with his tenure nearing its end, Walz issued one.

“As far as my administration is concerned, the fight for the future of the Boundary Waters is over,” ...Read more

For the 230,000 people living in rural Doña Ana County, Oracle Corp.’s Project Jupiter data center has quickly become an inescapable part of life. Mailers hailing “A NEW DAY FOR NEW MEXICO” have been sent to homes, touting its economic benefits. Oracle and its partners have donated money to sponsor organizations like the Boys & Girls Club...Read more

One light bulb. That was what electrification brought to my grandmother Mag’s two-story farmhouse in Boydton, Virginia. No one wrote down the year the rural electric cooperative workers brought the wire to her house in the late 1940s.

Newspapers celebrated rural electrification for making people’s lives better: People could run ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

CHICAGO – Oscar Ortega likes to sit out on his porch in South Deering and watch cars go by. He did, at least, before the smell.

“When we moved here, my wife actually liked the scenery,” Ortega said. “It looks like a small-town scenery, you know, just a few houses, lots of trees. But then something just slapped us right in the face: the ...Read more

Whether you're navigating a long flight, recording your child’s soccer game or need a charge on the go, keeping your USB-powered devices charged is a constant. Fortunately, there are a lot of new, cool accessories to help you charge at home, work or play. Choosing the right one comes down to understanding capacity, charging speed and the ...Read more

A lot of my columns start with an email from a reader asking about something that’s happening to them, but today I’m reaching into my personal email.

I’ve been noticing an uptick in spam messages getting through to my inbox, which is unusual, because Google usually does a good job in filtering out the garbage before it gets to me.

The ...Read more

It sounds like an illusion from a Las Vegas magic show.

Watch as we pull water out of thin air.

But it’s not a trick. Las Vegas-based WAVR Technologies can actually turn air into water.

The deep tech startup that spun out of UNLV is commercializing atmospheric water harvesting systems that extract water directly from the air — even in ...Read more

Smart door locks are some of the most convenient gadgets I’ve ever installed at my house.

It doesn’t take long to get used to getting into your house without a key. Entering a passcode on a keypad or using an app on your phone to open the door is pretty slick.

Newer smart locks have incorporated biometrics, so you can use a fingerprint or ...Read more

When she went to sleep on July 27, 2022, McKayla wasn’t worried about the storm that was raging outside her trailer in southeastern Kentucky. Intense storms came frequently in summer. While the creek in front of her home would often rise, water never came close enough to be a concern.

But at 6:30 the next morning, one of her ...Read more

Demand for batteries has skyrocketed as electricity use across the U.S. swells, driven by data centers’ booming energy needs and increasing electrification. It’s also getting harder to get them connected to power grids.

Falling prices have made batteries more attractive. But after decades of stagnant investment, grids are racing to make the...Read more