Science & Earth

Residents in rural parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick report unreliable cell coverage that can hinder emergency help, while Build Nova Scotia says 17 towers have been upgraded and 10 more are expected by the end of 2026.

A recent article reports that union materials encourage Ontario elementary teachers to teach climate justice beyond conservation, and a seventh-grade guide links climate harms to colonial and capitalist systems and says impacts fall disproportionately on Black, Indigenous and people of colour.

Kew Gardens is relocating plants from the historic Palm House ahead of a planned five-year renovation that aims to make the Victorian glasshouse carbon-neutral. The work includes temporary 'decant' houses, specialist moving and propagation, and a physical rebuild scheduled to begin in 2027.

Okanagan Humane Society says it has taken in 42 dogs in the first two weeks of 2026 and reports its low-income spay and neuter program has reached its monthly capacity, which staff say is stretching shelter resources.

Researchers report 2025 was the second‑worst year for glacier loss in western Canada with about 30 gigatonnes of ice lost, and mountain guides say shrinking ice and changing conditions have altered routes and increased hazards.

New research estimates an Earth-analog at TRAPPIST-1e would receive about 0.9% of Earth's photosynthetically active radiation, and a simple scaling gives roughly 63 billion years for a Great Oxygenation Event; accounting for spectral and physiological factors reduces that estimate to about 1–5 billion years.

A recent commentary reports that global warming is likely to exceed the Paris Agreement goals and that Canada is assessed as a country with mixed outcomes — some new agricultural and shipping opportunities alongside increased climate-related risks and geopolitical pressures.

The Columbia Basin Trust is investing nearly $670,000 through its Climate Adapted Community Spaces Grants to support nine Basin projects that adapt parks, streetscapes and green spaces to changing climate conditions, including tree-canopy mapping and a tree-planting plan in the Village of Silverton.

A mass fruiting of native rimu trees has prompted increased breeding among New Zealand's roughly 236 kākāpōs, and officials expect more than 50 chicks to hatch.

Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said parts of the pro‑Trump media ecosystem, including some online hosts and outlets, are pulling back or criticizing recent developments, and hosts and platforms are responding in ways tied to audience and business considerations.

JWST's VENUS survey found two strongly lensed supernovae, SN Ares and SN Athena, whose multiple images will arrive years to decades apart and offer an independent timing experiment to inform measurements of the Hubble Constant.

A sick astronaut and three crewmates left the International Space Station early and splashed down near San Diego; officials say the astronaut is stable and was taken to a hospital for further checks.

NJIT researchers traced gamma rays from a September 10, 2017 X8.2 solar flare to a compact region in the corona and identified a previously unknown, very high-energy particle population linked to bremsstrahlung emission.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen combined advanced stellar models with ESA Gaia data to produce the first complete map of neutrino production across the Milky Way, finding the strongest signals near the galactic centre and from younger, massive stars.

Unseasonably warm weather has increased avalanche danger in parts of British Columbia, with Avalanche Canada listing high risk in some Interior ranges; forecasts show cooling may form a surface crust but elevated risk remains.

Four Crew-11 astronauts are returning early from the International Space Station because of a reported medical concern, and NASA says the affected astronaut is stable; three crewmembers will remain aboard while a replacement crew launch is being expedited.

Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas met with local advocates who urged a fuller review and public consultation on the proposed Burtch Road Extension through Munson Pond wetlands; several environmental permits remain outstanding and construction cannot proceed until they are resolved.

Environment Canada has issued a yellow snowfall warning for Toronto and nearby regions, forecasting 10 to 20 centimetres from Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon and a temperature drop with wind chills near −22°C on Thursday morning.

NASA announced an early return of Crew-11 from the International Space Station on Jan. 14 due to an unspecified medical issue, and said the crew member is in stable condition. Undocking is set for 5:05 PM EST with splashdown off the coast of California early Jan. 15, and NASA will carry the return live.

A new paper reports two temperate planets orbiting fully convective mid-type M dwarfs and proposes a broader “temperate” zone defined by instellation flux between 0.1 and 5 times Earth’s solar constant (about 136–6,805 W/m²).

Chiefs say Kashechewan is under a state of emergency with no safe drinking water and are calling for a faster evacuation; governments say they are prioritizing evacuation of vulnerable residents and have engaged a specialist to address the water systems.

A European robin was sighted on Rougemont Avenue in Montreal in early January, and media reports say this is the first recorded occurrence of the species in Canada; the sighting has drawn photographers and birdwatchers to the neighbourhood.

Researchers observed SN 2022esa, a rare type Ic-CSM supernova from a very massive star that produced a bright explosion while forming a black hole; its light showed a stable monthly periodicity that points to a binary progenitor.

A Market Intelligence Brief profiles five companies the publisher says are securing 2026 'choke points' across digital security, clinical therapeutics, defense technology, regenerative medicine, and critical metals, and discloses that the piece is a paid advertisement with commercial relationships noted.

Scientists inaugurated the first global repository for mountain ice cores at Concordia station, storing the first two Alpine samples from Mont Blanc and Grand Combin at about -52 C. The Ice Memory Foundation transported 1.7 tonnes of ice to the Antarctic snow cave after a refrigerated 50-day journey from Trieste.

A JGR Planets paper reports that simulations show more than half of methane released by lunar landers can end up in permanently shadowed regions, and the median transport time from pole to pole was about 32 Earth days.

Region of Waterloo staff told councillors a water capacity shortfall identified in December 2025 affects the Mannheim Service Area and has led the region to pause support for new servicing agreements; staff outlined short- and longer-term measures including repairs, optimization and a proposed 20 per cent supply buffer.

Researchers analyzed six archival ALMA thermal images from 2012 to probe the top few centimeters of Callisto's regolith and estimated a surface temperature near 133 K; the study refines regolith composition maps and indicates subsurface temperature variations.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have released an open‑source model and public dashboard that allocates construction‑sector greenhouse‑gas emissions budgets to 1,000 cities worldwide, using climate-model carbon budgets and city-level data; the paper describing the method appears in Nature Cities.

MindWalk announced it has identified monoclonal antibodies and intrabodies that bind a pathogenic form of TDP‑43 and said this validates its discovery platform; the company noted the findings are preliminary and reported in a preprint.