Vivian La, Grist Regional Reporter, Michigan/Interlochen Public Radio

FILE - This July 19, 2002, file photo, shows the Mackinac Bridge that spans the Straits of Mackinac from Mackinaw City, Mich. Michigan regulators have approved a $500 million plan to encase a portion of an oil pipeline that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes. The state Public Service Commission on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, approved the proposal for the tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

Energy & Environment

New research traces how ‘forever chemicals’ move through the Great Lakes and into people

The study used more than 40 years of data to map fluctuating PFAS levels across species in the region's food chain.

Energy & Environment

What over a century of ice data can tell us about the Great Lakes’ future

Vivian La, Grist Regional Reporter, Michigan/Interlochen Public Radio

Using historical temperature records from weather stations around the region, researchers improved their understanding of where ice might have formed and for how long it lasted — spanning the last 120 years.

Ice and snow on Lake Superior. March 2021.

Energy & Environment

How thick is the ice on the Great Lakes? Scientists want your help.

Vivian La, Grist Regional Reporter, Michigan/Interlochen Public Radio

Scientists in the Midwest are asking for help from the public this winter to measure ice thickness on the Great Lakes and other inland lakes in the region, which they plan to use to improve ice-forecasting models.