The Caribbean has been unusually warm. That’s not a good thing.

Will the recent trend toward a harsher climate continue?

In the tropical Caribbean Sea region, it’s typically warm and humid on land but rarely endlessly hot — relatively stable water temperatures promote conditions that don’t often change drastically day-to-day or even month-to-month.

But that climate norm has been turned on its head over the past two years, with record-breaking heat that ramped up in the spring of 2023 and has continued unabated since; conditions fueled by human-caused climate change. Many places including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and others in the archipelago set heat records in 2023 only to see them overturned last year.

An unusually powerful and resilient marine heat wave contributed to keeping the region toasty. But it wasn’t the only factor.

Chlamydia could make koalas extinct. Can a vaccine save them in time?

On the table, unconscious and stretched out on a pillow, Joe Mangy looks deceptively peaceful. The koala's watery, red-rimmed eyes are the only sign of the disease at war with his body.

Tubes snarl out of a mask covering his face as a vet tech listens to his chest with a stethoscope. He is not healing as well as they had hoped.

Cal Academy Adds Over 100 New Species to the Library of Life in 2024

New species of sea slug, Bermudella lahainensis. 

Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences have unveiled a list of all the new animal, plant and fungi species that they added to the Library of Life in 2024.

The new species include a pygmy pipehorse camouflaged in sponges found off the coast of South Africa, an edible and endangered Oaxacan dahlia that looks like a succulent, and 136 other fishes, leaf bugs, worms, sea slugs, spiders, ghost sharks and more.

These discoveries expand our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity. Below, KQED has compiled a list of some of the most eye-catching of the new plants and critters.

Arctic tundra now emits planet-warming pollution, 2024 federal report finds

The Arctic tundra is warming up and that's causing long-frozen ground to melt as well as an increase in wildfires. The region is "now emitting more carbon that it stores, which will worsen climate change impacts," explained NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad in a statement.

Arctic tundra, which has stored carbon for thousands of years, has now become a source of planet-warming pollution. As wildfires increase and hotter temperatures melt long-frozen ground, the region is releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.