A punishing heat wave is affecting hundreds of millions of people from India to Japan, with monthly and all-time temperature records falling repeatedly.
Why it matters: The heat, exacerbated at least in part by human-caused climate change, is proving relentless and fatal in many areas.
It's not every day you get to call a simple sashimi wrap groundbreaking science, but that was certainly true of my recent meal at an event hosted by the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA).
Why it matters:TUCCA last month presented the Boston area's first public tasting of cultivated seafood — in this case, lab-grown salmon filets from future-of-food startup Wildtype.
The pace at which America experiences extreme weather or climate disasters is increasing.
In the 1980s, there were an average of 82 days between billion-dollar disasters, defined as events causing at least $1 billion in damage, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit climate science research organization, using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
In 2023, it was just 12 days.
The big picture: Here's the silver lining — donations to help friends, neighbors and even strangers navigate these disasters and rebuild from them are also on the rise.
California utility PG&E said it's it's in talks to sell a minority stake in its power generation unit to KKR.
Why it matters: PG&E, which serves millions of California residents and businesses, needs capital to help finance its grid upgrade and wildfire prevention work, as it seeks to prevent a repeat of the 2019 Camp Fire that caused deaths and sent the company into bankruptcy.
Copper prices have been on a tear, converging with a broad rally in commodities, and flirting with their highest levels since 2022.
Why it matters: Copper's versatility in construction, electronics, transportation and now AI applications makes it a go-to for industrial purposes, and as a useful gauge of economic health that's coined it the nickname "Dr. Copper."
Vaulted Deep, a startup that injects carbon-rich organic wastes deep underground, just landed a major deal with corporate giants looking to jumpstart CO2 removal markets.
Why it matters: The agreement with Frontier, whose members include Meta and Alphabet, signals confidence in the scalability of Vaulted's tech.
Investment giant Brookfield Asset Management will develop 10.5 gigawatts of renewable energy between 2026 and 2030 to serve Microsoft's power needs, the companies announced today.
Why it matters: The plan for projects in the U.S. and Europe is mammoth by corporate procurement standards.
And it comes amid concern that rising data center power thirst for generative AI and other uses will prolong fossil fuel reliance.
Stunning stat: The deal is roughly eight times bigger than the largest single corporate power purchase agreement in history, they said.
The big picture: It involves wind, solar, and "new or impactful carbon free energy generation technologies."
