Axios

State Department officials won't participate in next week's meeting of the top UN climate science panel, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

Why it matters: A U.S. absence from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting in Hangzhou, China, would leave the country out of conversations for the group's next influential reports.

Zoo Atlanta officials say they've started talks with China to bring back giant pandas to the city.

Driving the news: Zoo officials announced Wednesday that they were "engaging in dialogue" with China and would begin preliminary design work on a giant panda complex to prepare for the big ole goofy creatures' future — but yet to be determined — return.

Cuts hit the National Science Foundation on Tuesday, the latest in a string of terminations at top U.S. science agencies that conduct or support climate research.

Why it matters: Fears are growing within the scientific community that arbitrary firings of government scientists will set back U.S. leadership in a slew of fields.