Of the three main types of heat-trapping greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — the biggest jump from 2020 to 2021 was in methane, whose concentrations in the air came in with the biggest year-on-year increase since regular measurements began four decades ago, WMO said.

More than 50 fencing cages erected to protect plantings of native shrubs have been systematically destroyed, leaving the plants vulnerable to grazing by deer. Within days, tender seedlines were eaten to nubs.

Chicagoans get to experience two seasons simultaneously this weekend: summer-like temperatures hitting the upper 70s and peak fall color.

Shedd researcher Karen Murchie has been singing the praises of suckers for years in service of drawing more attention to the overlooked fish. Now the broader scientific community is taking note. 

For the eighth year in a row, Chicago reigns supreme over Orkin’s Rattiest Cities list, but not everyone is convinced the city deserves the dubious distinction.

Meltwater carries dissolved road salt into streams and rivers, which can cause salinity to spike to deadly concentrations for freshwater fish and other wildlife. 

A mountain lion that ventured into Illinois has met with a tragic end, confirmed to have been struck and killed by a vehicle on I-88 in DeKalb County on Sunday, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has announced.

It wasn't exactly a winter wonderland, but the first snowflakes of the season were recorded Monday morning at O'Hare, according to the National Weather Service.

Recently, two researchers with Brookfield Zoo received prestigious awards for their work in the field. Their current work focuses on the impacts of major oil spills on marine life.

Some 50 miles south of Champaign-Urbana, a tree stump in the middle of otherwise tilled acreage has become the stuff of legends. And now it's the subject of a short documentary, "The Magic Stump."

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in Sackett v. EPA, which challenges the scope of the Clean Water Act and could have far-reaching implications for the nation's wetlands.

Chicago has long had a tortured relationship with recycling. City leaders have scrapped old programs and replaced them with new ones, but the result is the same  recycling rates in the single digits. 

Chicago bills itself as a world-class city, but when it comes to recycling, its performance has been less than first-rate. 

Florida, with nearly four dozen reported dead, was hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to make landfall in the United States. Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated amid limited cellphone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet.

With South Carolina’s coast under a hurricane warning, many left Charleston for higher ground and store owners used sandbags to ward off high water levels in an area prone to inundation.

Floodwaters rose waist-high near Orlando as one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States crossed the peninsula. Ian's tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 415 miles, drenching much of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast.