Tests in Key West show sediment stirred up by cruise ships, which can harm marine life, routinely exceed federal standards. Key West has responded by suspending the tests.

(Image credit: Handan Khanna)

On their second job ever, Collette Yee and her partner were assigned a difficult job: locate transient whale poop in the ocean before it sinks. Luckily, Collette was partnered with Jack, a blue healer mix trained to sniff out cryptic odors from things that conservation biologists have trouble collecting on their own. Producer Berly McCoy reports on Jack and the growing field of dog detection conservation that helps science by sniffing out everything from invasive crabs to diseased plants to endangered species.

Interested in more biotech stories? Let us know by dropping a line to shortwave@npr.org.

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Batteries are everywhere. They're in our phones, our remote controls, smart-watches, electric cars and so much more. They could also be the solution to a problem that renewable energy companies have faced for years: How to store the mass amounts of energy they produce for later use. Some companies are using batteries to make renewable energy accessible 24/7. Today, we dig into how the technology is rapidly progressing with Cooper Katz McKim, a producer from fellow NPR podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Listen to The Indicator's three-part battery series.

Have questions about the future of technology? Contact us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Mardi Gras can make a lot of trash, adding up to millions of pounds each year. Now, some parades in New Orleans are cutting down on their environmental footprint by banning plastic beads.

The plant, formally known as Ovicula biradiata, is especially notable for being the simultaneous discovery of a new species and genus. It was found with help from the community science app iNaturalist.

(Image credit: D. Manley)

Northeast Michigan held one of the shortest fishing seasons ever — 17 minutes. Hundreds of people gathered and raced against the clock in an effort to catch a lake sturgeon, or "dinosaur" fish.

President Trump's calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland have sparked alarm and outrage.

Denmark, which is responsible for Greenland's security, recently announced that it would further boost its defense spending.

And a recent poll found 85 percent of Greenlanders are opposed to being part of the United States.

Parliamentary candidate Naaja Nathanielsen is one of them.

It isn't clear whether Trump's ambitions for Greenland will take. But some politicians in the territory are taking his calls for acquisition more seriously than ever before.

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President Biden promised billions in funds to farmers and others to not take water from the Colorado River. President Trump is halting some of those funds, leaving questions about the river's future.

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

More than 2,000 people could be displaced by the construction of the Río Indio dam. The Panama Canal Authority says the dam solves a long-term water shortage problem.

(Image credit: Tomas Ayuso for NPR)

Hawaiian crows are extinct in the wild and are found nowhere else on Earth. Now, a small group, safeguarded in captivity, has been released in the forests of Maui.

(Image credit: DLNR)

Firings at the U.S. Forest Service will interrupt land management work that will leave the U.S. more exposed to damaging wildfires, among other impacts, according to employees at the agency.

What happens when a team of scientists and local Awajún guides go on a 38-day trip into the Alto Mayo region of Peru? Over 2000 species are identified, of course! Tucked in this lush landscape where the Amazon basin meets the Andes mountains, were 27 species of animals previously unknown to science. It makes us wonder, what else is out there that the scientific community hasn't seen? And who already knows about it?

Check out photos of all the critters we mentioned — and more!

Other ecosystems or critters you think would make a good episode? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!

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The reasons for the beachings are unclear. Reasons could include disorientation caused by loud noises, illness, old age, injury, fleeing predators and severe weather.

(Image credit: Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania)

Courts have ordered the Trump administration to lift its freeze on federal funding, but lots of CLIMATE-related spending is still paused. In Colorado, the freeze has hit affected many projects.

Students at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon are trying to bring more attention to one of the world's smaller and often overlooked plants with this year's seventh annual Moss Appreciation Week. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on February 14, 2025.)

In Colorado, the federal funding freeze has hit projects from a brownfield cleanup in Pueblo to "once in a lifetime" funding for solar projects in Native communities.

Moss Appreciation Week is packed with events both scientific... and also silly. Moss walks, moss talks, moss movies, crafting moss-themed Valentines, and a "gastropod derby" with snails and slugs (for whom moss is a nice moist microclimate).

(Image credit: Nina Johnson)

Students at Lewis & Clark College are trying to bring more attention to one of the world's smaller and more humble plants with this year's seventh annual Moss Appreciation Week.

Students at Lewis & Clark College are trying to bring more attention to one of the world's smaller and more humble plants with this year's seventh annual Moss Appreciation Week.

The beauty of bouquets comes with a cost to the cloud forests of Colombia, the largest exporter of flowers and foliage to the United States.

(Image credit: Ivan Valencia)