Spotted lanternflies are appearing all over the East Coast. The invasive insects damage plants and trees. What should you do when you spot them?

The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

The volcano may have been primed to erupt before the magnitude 8.8 quake pushed it over the edge.

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Last year, we reported how extreme weather events may be dwindling the future of chocolate. Just last week, we saw an inkling of that: The Hershey Company announced it would significantly raise the cost of its candy in the face of historically high cocoa prices. So, we're revisiting host Emily Kwong's conversation with Yasmin Tayag, a food, health and science writer at The Atlantic. They get into the cocoa shortage: What's causing it, how it's linked to weather and poor farming conditions and what potential solutions exist. Plus, they enjoy a chocolate alternative taste test.

About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it.

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Several factors help determine whether a given earthquake will generate a dangerous tsunami, but the process is not yet fully understood.

(Image credit: Connie France)

A new study from Oxford University finds that a common European songbird sometimes divorces its partner between breeding seasons.

(Image credit: P. Pleul)

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, sending tsunami waves into Japan and Hawaii and across the Pacific.

(Image credit: AP)

Mermaids, giants and huge eyes look up from the waters near Talamone, Italy. It's one fisherman's way of protecting fishing grounds from the damage of trawling nets. Artists' sculptures are sunk to the bottom of the Mediterranean sea along with concrete blocks to break the nets of the trawlers that devastate marine life.

The Trump administration proposes eliminating a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. That would undermine the EPA's climate change regulations for power plants and cars.

(Image credit: Tierney L. Cross)

The Trump administration has effectively eliminated two rules designed to promote cleaner cars. Now, as the EPA suggests not considering carbon dioxide to be pollution, the last rule is poised to fall.

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Much of the country is deep in the middle of a heat wave right now. And every summer, Duane Stilwell's town in Arizona seems to get hotter. It has him worried — and he's not the only one. Since 1980, the average number of heat waves in the U.S has doubled and the average length of a heat wave season has increased from 40 days to 70. Future summers, experts say, will be even hotter. But why exactly is that happening, and what can people do to protect themselves from the heat?

This episode is part of Nature Quest, a monthly segment that answers listeners' questions about their local environment. If you have a question, send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org that includes it, your name and where you live. We might make it into our next Nature Quest episode!

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

(Image credit: Artur Debat)

The twilight zone of the ocean is a mysterious place. At 200-1000 meters below the surface, it's a tough place to study. That's why, during World War II, people reading sonograms from this zone were perplexed when it looked as if the ocean floor was moving up. Every day. And then back down again before dawn. In this latest installment of Sea Camp, we explore what this historical mystery has to do with the Earth's ability to cycle and store carbon in the ocean's watery depths.

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Interested in more ocean mysteries? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

We visit a nursery for corals off the Florida Keys. It's one of the largest in the world and meant to help replenish reefs that have suffered from high ocean temperatures.

Tree disputes between neighbors are common. So what happens when a tree is illegally removed from your property? And what recourse do you have?

(Image credit: Charlie Riedel)

Nations have a duty to act on climate change under international law — and if they don't, they could be held liable. That's the ruling of the top United Nations court.

Tree disputes between neighbors are very common. So what happens when a tree is illegally removed from your property? What are the legal limits on cutting down trees? Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Israel Piedra, a civil litigation lawyer in New Hampshire.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Christie Todd Whitman, former EPA administrator, about the future of the agency under President Trump.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with mycologist Aishwarya Veerabahu about the rapid spread of golden oyster mushrooms across North America. It's the subject of a new study authored by Veerabahu.

Studies show the populations of most North American shorebirds are declining. But the American oystercatcher found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is a success story.