Photographer Jon McCormack has found himself repelling into Arctic ice caves in Svalbard, Norway, diving into the frigid waters off the coast of British Columbia and hanging out of helicopter doors above southern Kenya all in search of his next great picture.
But despite many grand adventures, it was an unlikely set of photos he took just a mile from his home that propelled him on a years-long endeavor to photograph nature from a new perspective.
Tap the link in @cnn 's bio for more.
📸: Jon McCormack
A fast-moving wildfire in the Texas Panhandle forced evacuations on Thursday as it burned through structures, including a railroad bridge, causing it to partially collapse.
Fire crews started to contain the blaze, but more dangerous fire weather is expected into the weekend.
The stunning colors on this cloud aren't a rainbow, but a rare phenomenon.
Sign up for the CNN Weather newsletter for expert coverage and the stories behind the weather – so you always know more than just the number. Comment "Newsletter" and we'll send you a link to get it.
For decades, it seemed Antarctica might be insulated from the kind of rapid ice melting unfolding in the Arctic. But in 2015, that changed when the sea ice fringing this vast, icy continent stopped expanding and began to decline dramatically. Now, scientists say they have figured out why this happened — and their findings spell deep trouble for a region whose fate affects us all.
Antarctic sea ice has been on a steep downward trend for nearly a decade. It reached a record low in 2022 and again in 2023, when it dropped to just 691,000 square miles, equivalent to an area of missing ice larger than Greenland compared to average levels. This year saw a higher amount of sea ice at the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer, but it was still at its 16th lowest level in nearly five decades of record keeping.
Scientists have been working for years to understand what is driving the precipitous decline in sea ice and whether it is a sign Antarctica is entering a new state.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📸: University of Southampton
The Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to delay the buildout of wind energy, this time focusing on land-based wind projects, according to a clean energy trade group.
Citing national security risks to US military readiness, the Pentagon is slow-walking the reviews of 165 land-based wind projects, according to the American Clean Power Association, the leading group representing wind and solar developers.
The Pentagon, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, has historically reviewed large wind projects, ensuring towering turbines don't mess with radar or flight paths. Typically, those reviews have been resolved quickly, but standard times started stretching longer starting around August 2025, the association said. Some reviews of individual projects have now gone over six months, according to a letter ACP wrote to the Pentagon asking about the delays, which was shared with CNN.
The Pentagon is "actively evaluating land-based wind energy projects to ensure they do not impair national security or military operations, in accordance with statutory and regulatory requirements," a spokesperson for the agency said.
Tap the link in bio for more.
📸 : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Mexico City is sinking at such an alarming rate that it's visible from space. Imagery from a powerful NASA radar system is revealing subsidence rates of more than 0.5 inches a month — making the city one of the planet's fasting-sinking capitals.
The sprawling metropolis, one of the world's biggest cities, stretches out across a high-altitude lake and sits atop an ancient aquifer, which provides around 60% of drinking water for the city's 22 million residents.
Over the years, this aquifer has been so over-pumped that it's caused the land above it to subside. Over-extraction has also contributed to a chronic water crisis that has left Mexico City facing a potential day zero, where taps run dry.
The city's rapid sinking has been exacerbated by relentless urban development, with new infrastructure adding extra weight on top of the clay-rich soil.
New imagery from the NISAR satellite, a project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization, reveals the extent of the problem in startling detail.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📸: Hector Vivas/Getty Images; Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a significant source of airborne microplastics and nanoplastics, but there are many other places where tiny plastic particles can be whipped up into the skies, including from landfills, roadside litter and car tires.
A team of scientists from China and the US have studied the makeup and behavior of these plastics, and found they are contributing to global heating, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.
They wanted to know whether particles scattered sunlight back into space — meaning they would have a cooling influence on the planet — or whether they absorbed sunlight, which would have a warming impact.
Previous research has suggested microplastics' contribution to global warming was negligible, but analyses have often assumed particles were clear, the report scientists said. What they found was a rainbow of colors.
Tap the link in bio for more.
📸 : Peter Dazeley/Getty Images, The Ocean Cleanup
A hydrothermal eruption in Yellowstone National Park on April 29th may be the largest to take place since July 2024, according to The United States Geological Survey.
The moringa tree, known as the "miracle tree," is one of the most nutrient-dense plants on the planet and is prized for its healing qualities. It also has another huge benefit, according to new research: it's excellent at removing microplastics from water.
Microplastics are tiny fragments that can be as small as 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer) and are a pernicious part of the plastic pollution crisis.
They have been found everywhere, from deep oceans to towering mountains. They contaminate our food and water — a 2024 study found microplastics in 83% of tap water tested around the world — and have made their way into our bodies, including our brains, reproductive organs and cardiovascular systems. Scientists are still trying to unravel their impacts on human health, but animal research has linked them to reproductive problems and hormone disruption.
For their study, the researchers focused specifically on PVC microplastics, as these are among the most hazardous and are prevalent in drinking water, Adriano Gonçalves dos Reis, a study author and a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology of São Paulo State University.
They tested microplastics with a mean size of 18.8 micrometers — about a quarter of the thickness of the average human hair — and found the seed extracts were 98.5% effective at removing them from tap water when used in filtration systems.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📸: NurPhoto/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Six of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies are on track to make almost $3,000 in profits every single second this year, according to a new report, as households across the world grapple with soaring energy prices and inflation, which are driving a cost-of-living crisis.
Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and TotalEnergies will make $2,967 a second in profits in 2026, an analysis from the non-profit Oxfam International has found. It marks an increase of nearly $37 million a day compared to their 2025 profits.
Tap the link in bio for more.
📸 : Ron Buskirk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
