News & Announcements
Working to Solve our Most Challenging Environmental Problems
DRI’s research calls on the expertise and methods of scientists from multiple scientific disciplines. More than 600 highly-skilled scientists, engineers, technicians, students, and staff work collaboratively within and across three research divisions, focused on understanding and answering critical science questions about global climate change, water quality and availability, air quality, the sustainability of desert lands, life in extreme environments, education, and more.
Weather Whiplash is Amplifying Wildfire Risk
While fires engulfed large swaths of southern California in early January, destroying more than 16,000 structures, taking at least 29 lives, and choking the air with smoke, a new study about weather whiplash was released. Co-authored by DRI’s Christine Albano, the research examined how a warming climate is creating an atmosphere more prone to extreme weather. Now, Albano and her co-authors have released a new report that applies the knowledge gained from January’s study to the recent fires, analyzing the broader climatic context that contributed to the unprecedented infernos.
New Study Traces Indigenous Population Shifts in North America Before Europeans
DRI’s Erick Robinson, Associate Research Professor of Climate and Archaeology, co-authored a new study that provides insight into North America’s Indigenous communities prior to European contact. The research found that although Indigenous populations varied regionally, the continent saw a population peak around 1150 A.D. before experiencing declines, likely stemming from drought, disease, emigration and warfare. A brief recovery around 1500 A.D. was followed by a sharp decrease upon the arrival of Europeans.
Floods, Droughts, Then Fires: Hydroclimate Whiplash is Speeding up Globally
DRI’s Christine Albano co-authored a new study that examines how a warming climate is creating an atmosphere more prone to extreme weather. This “hydroclimate whiplash” is evident in California’s recent weather, with winters filled with repeated atmospheric river storms driving the plant growth that the dry summers then parched, providing plentiful fuel for explosive wildfires.
New Climate Projections Released for Tribal Lands
Earth’s climate future is often discussed in terms of degrees of warming, but for farmers and ranchers, temperature is not the only metric that matters. Other variables such as the number of frost-free days, timing of first snowfall, or changes in spring and summer precipitation are critical to planning future planting, growing, irrigating, and harvesting activities. To help Native agricultural producers prepare for the changes to come, Native Climate has compiled detailed local climate projections for 633 tribally controlled areas in the United States, including Alaska Native Villages and State Designated Tribal Areas, and climate divisions for the State of Hawai‘i.
DRI Launches Statewide Science Storytelling Series
DRI announces the launch of a series of community-based events in Las Vegas and Reno that celebrate how science shapes our lives, fuels creativity, and deepens our understanding of the world by underscoring the transformative power of curiosity and knowledge. Curiosity Lab by DRI will feature DRI scientists and other guests to address some of the world’s most urgent concerns while also telling the tale of what it means to live in Nevada on the front lines of a changing climate.
Ice Patches on Beartooth Plateau Reveal How Ancient Landscape Differed From Today’s
DRI scientists Joe McConnell and Nathan Chellman co-authored a new study that examines a 6,000-year-old forest preserved in a Rocky Mountain ice patch. The research, which was led by the USGS and Montana State University, used the fossil wood to develop tree-ring based temperature estimates of the mid-Holocene period. The study can provide insight into the future elevational movement of forests under climate change, the scientists say.
Reno-Sparks Heat Mapping Project Releases Detailed Urban Heat Data
The summer 2024 data collection effort provides community members, legislators, and scientists with detailed maps of the region’s urban heat island. The campaign took place on August 10th, a clear and hot day for our region. The measurements and maps produced from the campaign reveal a great deal of variability across the nearly 200 square miles of our study area and between the early morning, mid-afternoon, and early evening time periods of the study.
Lead Pollution Likely Caused Widespread IQ Declines in Ancient Rome, New Study Finds
Lead exposure is responsible for a range of human health impacts, with even relatively low levels impacting the cognitive development of children. DRI scientists have previously used atmospheric pollution records preserved in Arctic ice cores to identify periods of lead pollution throughout the Roman Empire, and now new research expands on this finding to identify how this pollution may have affected the European population.
New Research Solves 200 Year Volcanic Mystery
DRI scientists Joe McConnell and Nathan Chellman are co-authors on a new study that sheds light on a historical mystery that has plagued historians and scientists alike for nearly two centuries. Using Arctic ice core records, the team identified the volcano responsible for an enormous eruption in 1831 that caused global cooling of around 1°C, leading to crop failures and famines around the world.
Regional, Racial, and Economic Disparities in Cancer Risk from Air Pollution Exposure Persist, But Improving, New Research Suggests
Researchers from DRI and UNR teamed up for this new study, published October in Environmental Science & Technology. Using sociodemographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and public health and air pollution information from the EPA between 2011 and 2019, the study identified higher estimated cancer risk tied to air toxics in urban communities, those with lower incomes, and those with higher proportions of racial minorities.
Native Climate Reporter Team Presents, Listens, and Learns at Indigenous Climate Conference in Alaska
Along Alaska’s western coastline, 400 miles from the nearest road system, villagers from the Indigenous community of Newtok were scheduled for permanent evacuation in mid-October due to the irreversible threat of rising seas. The story, recounted by Newtok resident Della Carl in September at the National Indigenous Climate Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, embedded itself deep in the hearts and minds of each member of the audience, making it clear not just that sea level rise is happening, but why it matters. Such is the power of a well-told story.
DRI Recruiting Fallon Community Members for Free Well Water Quality Testing
DRI scientists are recruiting fifteen Fallon residents with private wells to participate in a water quality study. All fifteen study participants will receive free water quality results, and a subset of the well owners will receive water filtration systems. The research will be used to identify the spatial extent and potential sources of contaminants such as pesticides, microplastics, and flame retardants and quantify the efficacy of treatment systems to reduce concentrations in drinking water.