Justine Calma

Without it, scientists wouldn’t have discovered four new emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica. Satellites were able to spot their guano from orbit — dark spots against the white ice. It’s a bit of good news after record low sea ice led to a “catastrophic breeding failure” in 2022. The penguins need stable sea ice to breed, which is harder to come by in a warming world. One of the colonies spotted from space might even be breeding site thought to have been lost that the penguins have actually re-established.

The OpenAI CEO said during an event in Davos this week that “We still don’t appreciate the energy needs of this technology,” which is expected to consume an enormous amount of electricity as it matures. “There’s no way to get there without a breakthrough. We need [nuclear] fusion or we need like radically cheaper solar plus storage or something at massive scale,” Altman said.

It expanded a tax credit today that can shave up to 30 percent off the cost of an EV charger in low-income communities and rural areas. The Departments of Transportation and Energy also announced $325 million in investments this week to fix broken EV chargers, train a workforce to expand the network of chargers across the US, and fund R&D for EV technologies.

To crack down on greenwashing, members of the European Parliament adopted a new law that bans “generic environmental claims and other misleading product information.” That includes vague labels like “environmentally friendly,” “natural,” “biodegradable,” “climate neutral,” and “eco” if companies can’t show proof of their environmental benefits. It also stops brands from fooling customers with schemes to offset greenhouse gas emissions, which don’t actually reduce pollution.