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August 23, 2012 Ivan spent decades confined within a small department store display, until activists won the gorilla's transfer to a zoo. Anthropologist and ape observer Barbara J. King remembers Ivan and considers the intense impact — positive and negative — that human actions have on individual animals' lives.

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August 23, 2012 For the past century, the Forest Service has been sending photographers out to the same 13 points in Bitterroot National Forest in Montana every decade or so. The resulting photo series shows just how dynamic our forests really are.

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August 23, 2012 Huge wildfires are burning in the West — setting new records for damage this summer. These megafires are burning bigger and hotter than ever before. Scientists say climate change and a century-long policy of fire prevention — which inadvertently turned forests into giant tinderboxes — are to blame.

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• INTERACTIVE MAP: Fire Forecast
• PICTURE SHOW: Our Changing Forests

August 23, 2012 Astronomer Roger Angel completely revolutionized the large telescopes that scientists use to look at the stars. Now he wants to use his mirror technology to make solar energy cheaper and more efficient.

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August 23, 2012 Hurricane Andrew was small, but it made landfall as one of the most powerful ever to hit the United States. When the Category 5 hurricane crashed into the Miami area 20 years ago, it had a dramatic impact on South Florida and on hurricane-response systems.

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August 22, 2012 A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council finds that 40 percent of food in the U.S. today goes uneaten. But several grass-roots groups around the country are working to turn food waste into something useful.

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August 22, 2012 Ten years ago, a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island disintegrated and melted in the waters off Antarctica. Two other massive ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula had suffered similar fates a few years before. The events became poster children for the effects of global warming. But a new study finds that the story isn't quite so simple.

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August 22, 2012 This interactive map shows the likelihood of wildfires using data collected at automated weather stations in the continental United States. To view the map, visit npr.org/wildfires

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August 22, 2012 Bassem Samaan of Bethlehem, Pa., is on a quest to save rare varieties of figs often growing unnoticed, right under our noses in neighbors' backyards. He's donated some of his finds to a government-backed fruit tree preserve in California.

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August 21, 2012 WBURIn Boston, scientists are predicting that climate change will lead to dramatic sea level rise, and more frequent flooding, around the city. Officials are studying the potential impact on roads and sewers and are asking waterfront developers to plan for increased flooding.

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August 21, 2012 All the dry weather means there's less water flowing through the once mighty river into the Gulf of Mexico, and low outflow means saltwater from the Gulf is creeping in. Some Louisiana cities have already begun purchasing drinking water, and now New Orleans is at risk.

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August 21, 2012 The second law of thermodynamics is a kind of warning to cities and civilization. No matter how clever we are, disorder, waste and pollution will always follow from our work organizing societies into cities.

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August 21, 2012 People thought the hardy Jatropha tree was the answer to the food vs. fuel debate, until it wasn't. Financial hard times and a misunderstanding revealed this biofuel to be like all the rest — in need of good food and water.

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