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California is still at risk of flooding. Maybe rivers just need some space

To prevent flooding, communities often raise levees next to rivers higher and higher. Now, a new approach is about backing off, moving levees away from rivers to create floodplains.

Each year thousands of people from around the world tour the Gomantong Cave in Borneo. Although scientists have found a potentially dangerous virus in bats that roost in the cave, no one has ever gotten sick from a trip here.

The Next Pandemic Could Be Dripping On Your Head

Bats, birds and tourists love a good cave. And so do viruses. Scientists say this mixture could trigger a deadly outbreak.

As light pollution increases, West Texas works to protect the world's largest 'dark sky reserve'

While recent research shows the night sky is getting brighter every year across North America, the Big Bend area in Texas has fended off the light glow that washes out starry nights.

Scientists want to track the world's biodiversity using DNA in the air

Scientists have found a way to sample DNA out of the air on a large scale — making it possible to one day track the health and well being of all kinds of species around the world.

When Australia's black flying foxes are well-fed, they tend to be healthy. A lack of food stresses the bats — and stress causes them to shed, or release, viruses into the environment.

How do we halt the next pandemic? Be kind to critters like bats, says a new paper

A team of scientists argue that new vaccines and treatments wouldn't be critical if humans could figure out how to stop viruses from spilling over from animals in the first place.

Excy Guajardo blows a jaguar whistle, as a representation of the panther's roar in a Coahuiltecan creation story, along the San Antonio River.

Why Indigenous Americans are fighting for access to a sacred spot in Texas

A confrontation between religious freedom and public safety has reached the Supreme Court of Texas. The battle is over access to a site where Native Americans have been holding spiritual ceremonies for centuries.

Some of the most pristine ecosystems in the U.S. are losing protections

Some of the most pristine ecosystems in the U.S. are in the Pacific Ocean. They're federally protected, but now, the Trump administration is rolling back some of those protections.

.Whitewater

NPR's Jon Greenberg reports on the expected final report of the enate Whitewater committee. The committee's report is due tomorrow at midnight

Native Americans - Census

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the sharp increase in Americans reporting some Indian ancestry. In most of the states released by the Census Bureau so far, the number of people reporting they have a mix of Indian and some other ancestry is far out of proportion with those reporting they are Indian alone.

Peacekeepers

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked world governments to implement changes in U-N peacekeeping operations, as recommended by a report put together by an independent panel. The Secretary General established the panel last March after publication of two reports on the U-N's failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda and to protect residents of Srebrenica (sreh-breh-NEET-sah). The report calls for more efforts to prevent conflict and says peacekeepers must be allowed to defend themselves and their mandate. The report also calls for better peacemaking strategies.

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