Smog Police: New Beijing Force Created To Tackle Air Pollution
This comes after a month of particularly severe air quality that left the capital and dozens of other Chinese cities blanketed in thick, brown smog.
Environment
Bears That Inspired 'Adorable' Korean Paralympic Mascot Live In Caged Captivity
The 2018 Paralympic mascot is the Asiatic black bear, a symbol of Korean folklore. But behind the caricature, South Korea has a troubled relationship with the bears, farming them for their bile.
Iconic Sequoia 'Tunnel Tree' Brought Down By California Storm
The Pioneer Cabin Tree in Calaveras Big Trees State Park was one of California's few remaining tunneled-through sequoias. It was hollowed out more than a century ago.
'What Doesn't Kill Us' ... Invites Practical Medical Benefits
Author Scott Carney talks about his new book, "What Doesn't Kill Us." Looking at case studies, Carney investigates how the body uses its environment to build resistance to normally extreme conditions.
Would You Eat This Fish? A Shark Called Dogfish Makes A Tasty Taco
About 90 percent of the fish Americans eat is imported, yet fish caught off our shores is often exported. New efforts are promoting locally caught fish, especially ones we've never appreciated before.
Scientists Work To Bring Back Once-Thriving American Chestnut Tree
The American chestnut tree used to make up a quarter of the forests in the eastern U.S., but disease decimated these trees in the last century. Now there's an effort to restore the American chestnut.
A Really Big Crack In An Antarctic Ice Shelf Just Got Bigger
If the rift gets long enough, Antarctica will lose a chunk of ice the size of Delaware.
Climate Scientist Pens Open Letter To President-Elect Trump
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Ben Santer, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, about his open letter to Donald Trump on climate change.
Fishing Rule Aims To Do For All Marine Mammals What It Did For The Dolphin
Foreign fisheries exporting seafood to the U.S. will now have to meet the same standards for protecting whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals as American fisheries do.
A Big Fish Sells For Over Half A Million — But Other Big Questions Persist
For the sixth year in a row, Kiyoshi Kimura won a massive Pacific bluefin tuna at Tsukiji market's famed New Year auction. Conservationists are worried about the species' dwindling population.