In the hottest place on Earth, one plant doesn’t just survive — it grows faster.

In this episode of The Environmental Review Podcast, we speak with Karine Prado, Research Specialist at Michigan State University’s Plant Resilience Institute, about a desert plant that rewrites what we thought was biologically possible.Honey sweet, native to Death Valley, can rapidly reconfigure its cells, genes, and photosynthetic machinery to thrive in temperatures above 120°F.

Karine explains how this plant adapts in real time, what happens inside its cells under extreme heat, and how studying nature’s toughest survivors could help future crops withstand climate-driven heatwaves.

For years, we’ve been told that Earth is plunging into a sixth mass extinction — that species are disappearing faster than ever before. But what if that story is more complicated than we think?

In this episode of The Environmental Review Podcast, we’re joined by Kristen Saban and Professor John Wiens from the University of Arizona to unpack a surprising new study that challenges one of the most widely accepted narratives in conservation science. By analysing 500 years of extinction data across nearly two million species, their research suggests that extinction rates actually peaked around a century ago and have declined since — even though biodiversity loss remains a serious global threat.

We discuss what past extinctions can — and can’t — tell us about the future, why islands and continents face very different risks, and how conservation efforts may be quietly working.

Today’s episode is about breaking something scientists once thought was unbreakable. Teflon — the plastic in non-stick pans and industrial coatings — is famous for being chemically indestructible. But a new study suggests that assumption might be wrong. I’m joined by two researchers who turned that myth upside down:

• Dr. Dominik Kubicki, who used advanced spectroscopy to prove the chemistry is truly clean

• Dr. Roly Armstrong, who led the project on breaking down Teflon using mechanical energy instead of heat

Welcome back to The Environmental Review Podcast. I’m today’s episode, we’re diving into one of the biggest questions facing the future of clean energy: Where will all the lithium come from? To help us unpack this pressing question, I’m joined by Dr. Alissa Kendall — a leading voice in environmental engineering and sustainability. She’s the Ray B. Krone Endowed Professor at University of California, Davis and has spent her career exploring how we can build greener, smarter systems for the planet. Her latest research, published in Nature Sustainability, explores how battery recycling could transform the electric vehicle supply chain and reduce our reliance on lithium mining.

Today, we’re diving into one of the most iconic and critically endangered species in the world: the axolotl.

These amphibians, native only to Mexico’s Lake Xochimilco, are facing increasing threats from pollution, habitat loss, and climate change. But today, we’ll be exploring an innovative and hopeful approach: combining restored native wetlands and artificial habitats to help bring axolotls back from the brink.

To help us unpack this, I’m joined by Dr. Alejandra Ramos, an ecologist and conservation scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico whose research bridges restoration ecology, amphibian behavior, and environmental sustainability. Her latest paper, published in PLOS ONE, explores how captive-bred axolotls respond to different wetland habitats — and what that means for the future of species reintroduction programs.

Welcome back to The Environmental Review Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re diving into a fascinating intersection of fluid dynamics, biomimicry, and robotic design. New research from the University of Michigan introduces a golf-ball-inspired prototype with dynamically adjustable dimples that can drastically reduce drag and even steer itself—no fins, no rudders, just smart surface control. To unpack the science behind this innovation, we’re joined by Dr. Anchal Sareen, assistant professor of naval architecture and mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, and lead author of two new studies published in Flow and Physics of Fluids.

Today, I’m joined by Dr. Andrea Loayza, a leading Chilean ecologist and Associate Professor at the University of La Serena. Her research focuses on plant–animal interactions, seed dispersal, and biodiversity in arid ecosystems. From desert rodents to extinct megafauna, her work uncovers how life adapts in some of Earth’s harshest environments.

Welcome to the environmental review, where we bring environmental research and policy to light. Today we’re joined by one of the most respected voices in forest and fire ecology—Dr. Hugh D. Safford. With decades of experience leading research across the Sierra Nevada and beyond, Dr. Safford has shaped how we understand wildfire, climate change, and the role of traditional ecological knowledge in land stewardship. He’s the Chief Scientist at Vibrant Planet, a former US Forest Service regional ecologist, and a professor at Uni cali Davis. Whether he’s restoring resilient forests or hiking high-altitude mountains, his work bridges science, policy, and people.

Today’s episode is all about rain — but not the kind that ruins your beach day. Instead, we’re looking at how raindrops themselves could become tiny power plants.

A 2025 study from the National University of Singapore, published in ACS Central Science, has shown that water droplets can be used to generate clean, renewable electricity using a brand-new method. It's called plug flow, and it might just change how we think about everyday rain.

I’m your host, and today we’re talking about a new study that brings together two things we all encounter daily—air pollution and city lights—and links them to something unexpected and alarming: thyroid cancer in children.

This study, titled “Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer,” was just published in Environmental Health Perspectives on April 7, 2025. It’s led by Dr. Nicole Deziel of Yale University, along with a large team of researchers from Yale, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, and the American Cancer Society (Deziel et al., 2025).

Their work investigates how exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and artificial light at night—during the earliest stages of life—might raise the risk of thyroid cancer in children and teens.

Let’s dive into what this means, how the study was done, and what we can all do in response.

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Nicole C. Deziel, Rong Wang, Joshua L. Warren, Catherine Dinauer, Jennifer Ogilvie, Cassandra J. Clark, Charlie Zhong, Joseph L. Wiemels, Libby Morimoto, Catherine Metayer, Xiaomei Ma. Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2025; DOI: 10.1289/EHP14849