Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02637-6

Developing countries are faced with trade-offs where multinational corporations could help local economic growth, but also cause more environmental damage than domestic counterparts. This research confirms such negative effects and discusses how better governance could reduce detrimental outcomes.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02638-5

The authors use 34 years of seed harvest data from Poland, covering over 40,000 observations and five common species, to understand the impacts of climate change on tree fecundity. They show reduced fecundity across all species, with hotter summers as the dominant driver.

Despite regional variability in climate, electricity sources, congestion, and the wide variation in individual driving patterns, electric vehicles generate less greenhouse gas emissions and do not cost more than comparable gas-powered vehicles for drivers and vehicle fleet owners in most parts of the United States, according to a new study by MIT researchers.

The team’s approach captures many key factors that contribute to regional and individual differences in the life-cycle emissions and ownership cost of electric vehicles, including meteorological data, the distance and duration of trips, and fuel prices.

To paint a fuller picture of emissions and costs than was previously available, the researchers sourced data from thousands of U.S. zip codes and drilled down to the level of individual drivers within those locations. Their study considers time-averaged fuel prices so as not to be overly influenced by fluctuations in prices at any one point in time. They finalized their analysis at the end of 2024 and early 2025.

Their results indicate that a person’s driving behaviors can matter as much as regional factors like the local electricity mix when it comes to the emissions savings of an electric vehicle, compared to a similar gas-powered vehicle. In most locations, a battery-electric vehicle reduces emissions between 40 and 60 percent, with larger impacts in urban areas. 

They also found that colder climates do not reduce overall emission benefits as much as some media reports assume.

The researchers utilized this detailed analysis to update a public tool they previously developed, carboncounter.com, which enables individuals to compare the life-cycle emissions and total ownership costs of nearly any car on the market. A new version of carboncounter.com is also being released today.

“There are a lot of statements being thrown around, like that electric vehicles don’t reduce emissions very much in cool climates, and we wanted to analyze these factors systematically and evaluate these statements against one another simultaneously. Rather than simply asking, ‘Are EVs better?’, this paper helps answer ‘better for whom, and under what conditions?’” says Marco Miotti PhD ’20, a senior researcher at ETH Zurich who completed this research while a graduate student in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. 

He is joined on the paper by senior author Jessika Trancik, a professor in IDSS. The research appears today in Environmental Research Letters.

A holistic approach

Many prior studies that compare emissions and costs of electric vehicles (EVs) to combustion-engine vehicles cover a few factors, like the amount of renewable energy in the grid and how gas prices impact affordability, Miotti says.

“To our knowledge, there have been few efforts so far that bring all these factors together. But if someone wants to buy a car and have a better understanding of the factors that affect emissions and costs, this holistic approach is important,” he adds.

The researchers focused on two types of EVs: battery-electric vehicles, which only operate on electricity, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which also have a combustion engine that works in tandem with the battery to optimize fuel savings.

The team expanded and improved a set of previously developed vehicle cost and emissions models to incorporate a wider variety of factors and data types.

For instance, they refined an existing model that estimates energy use and gas mileage so it could capture more nuances of local climate variability. 

“But the real effort was not just in extending these different models, but in bringing together all these different data and making them work with the models in a consistent manner,” Miotti says.

The team sourced data on a wide variety of factors for each U.S. zip code, such as typical drive cycles, the amount of traffic, local gas and electricity prices, makeup of the regional electricity mix, meteorological profiles, and more. They used statistical approaches to amalgamate different types of data. 

For example, the team used a probabilistic matching technique to combine data on how often people drive, which was drawn from nationwide travel surveys, with more detailed GPS data that includes factors like drivers’ acceleration patterns and the distance they usually drive on each day of the week.

The researchers designed their analysis to focus on the spatial picture of emissions and costs, based on U.S. zip codes, while simultaneously considering the impact of the size and features of each specific vehicle model.

“At the end of the day, it’s the vehicle and fleet owners who make decisions about vehicle purchases. So, we wanted to make sure to consider their wide-ranging individual perspectives rather than simply performing a region-by-region comparison,” says Trancik.

Lower emissions, comparable costs

In the end, their modeling framework revealed that all factors they analyzed matter about equally in determining emissions-reduction potential of EVs compared to internal combustion vehicles. 

EVs reduce emissions the most in areas with a cleaner electricity mix, denser traffic, higher annual travel distances, and a mild climate, in decreasing order of importance. In each area, emission reductions increase for drivers who drive more often, drive larger vehicles, and are more frequently stuck in traffic. 

In a colder area like North Dakota, fuel economy of battery-electric vehicles might be reduced by as much as 50 percent on a particularly frigid night, but the effect on annual emission benefits is minimal. 

“We even did a sensitivity study to see if the range is reduced in very cold climates, and we found that, even in the most unfavorable conditions, EVs still reduce emissions by a substantial amount,” Miotti says.

On the cost side, the models show that, in most places across the U.S., EVs are competitive with comparable combustion-engine vehicles in terms of lifetime ownership cost, even without clean vehicle tax credits. And in areas where electricity is relatively affordable, battery-electric vehicles tend to cost less than their plug-in hybrid or combustion-engine counterparts.

In the future, the researchers want to expand this analysis to include a temporal dimension, so the framework also considers how changes in vehicle, fuel, and electricity prices affect emissions and costs over time. 

“While we found that the electricity mix is a big driver of the spatial variation in emissions savings of EVs, the electricity grid is decarbonizing everywhere. As that happens, emissions savings across space will become more homogenous for EVs, but the differences across one driver to another will remain,” Miotti says.

They could also use the framework to explore regions outside the United States or incorporate data on hybrid-electric vehicles that cannot be plugged in.

This work was funded, in part, by the MIT Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability.

A crepe cake.

That’s how Camille Cunin describes the polymer-metal “sandwiches” that became a highlight of her doctoral thesis at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). Over close to five years, these composites were a key component of her research on bioelectronics — devices designed to interface with the human body.

Cunin completed her PhD in February — she’ll attend commencement in May — but traces her interest in bioelectronics to a formative summer internship at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston in 2019. There, she saw a patient with Parkinson’s disease struggle to swallow a tethered “capsule” intended to function as an exploratory gut probe. The device failed, and the gap between lab-based design and real life became all too apparent.

The incident validated the career path Cunin had already begun to pursue: to make usable products that have a positive impact on people’s lives. It’s a purpose that hasn’t gone unnoticed. “Some might be happy with a sketch of a concept and no actual demonstration, but Camille has a remarkable ability in that she wants to do materials science that can translate to real-world applications,” says her advisor, Aristide Gumyusenge.

Building blocks

The daughter of a psychologist and an engineer, Cunin grew up in Paris, encouraged by her parents to be curious about the world around her. LEGO blocks featured prominently in her childhood. When her father found some old lights in a box in the attic, 9-year-old Camille strung them to decorate her LEGO castle by creating a circuit, complete with a fuse.

Strong grades earned her a spot in France’s elite post-secondary preparatory classes for admission to the country’s prestigious grandes écoles. The intensive and competitive prep classes, however, left Cunin with a sour aftertaste — “for a while I hated science, because the environment was too competitive for me,” she says — and a bit rudderless in engineering school.

It was the research internship thousands of miles from home, at MGH — part of her master’s in engineering at École Centrale de Marseille in France — that rebooted her love of science. The open-ended nature of research appealed to her curiosity and helped her regain confidence in solving problems. She was delighted to be accepted at MIT DMSE for her doctoral studies. “In Boston, I thrived in collaborative environments, and it felt like anything was possible,” she says.

Stretching possibilities

Before starting at MIT, Cunin had a wealth of interdisciplinary experience, from internships and her graduate studies. Unsure about how to slot it all together, she was looking for an advisor at a time when Gumyusenge, Henry L. Doherty Career Development Professor in Ocean Utilization and assistant professor of materials science and engineering, was himself just establishing his lab at DMSE.

When Gumyusenge shared plans to work on projects to turn biological signals into electronic data, Cunin was excited to build on her prior research in biomedical devices. “Here was a chance to fine-tune the materials and to optimize the performance of bioelectronic devices. I really felt I could leverage my strengths in Aristide’s lab,” she remembers.

Gumyusenge proved a great fit, supporting Cunin’s broad research ambitions while helping her shape and integrate them into a coherent doctoral project. She tackled everything from developing and characterizing new materials to fabricating transistors and learning surgery to test the devices in animal models. The final dissertation focused on organic transistors, which boost body signals for easier detection in soft electronics.

Biological signals, like those from nerves in the body, are weak, and transistors amplify them so they can be measured. The challenge with developing bioelectronic devices is that traditional components are hard and rigid, while the human body is not. Devices must perform as needed and be soft and flexible to avoid irritating human tissue.

Another complication: Biological processes involve charged ions moving through fluids, while electronics rely on electrons moving through materials. Before transistors can amplify signals, they first have to convert biological signals into electronic ones for circuits to pick up.

Cunin’s transistor design needed to solve two major challenges: first, to facilitate the movement of electrons and ions in the “channel,” the hub of all signal activity, in soft, hydrated environments; and second, to be pliable enough to conform to the human body.

It was no easy task.

Elegant simplicity

Gumyusenge’s lab typically uses chemistry to modify material behavior, but Cunin took a different tack. Since polymers are soft, and metals are good conductors, she looked to the classic French pastry mille-feuille, which inspired the layered design: thin metal sheets sandwiched between layers of porous elastomer. The metal stretches with the elastomer and forms microcracks. Charges get trapped in the cracks but can still flow through the stack, while the elastomer’s strong adhesion keeps the layers together.

Her approach won Cunin high marks from her advisor. “Camille was working on a complex problem, but she found a way to simplify it with a straightforward approach,” Gumyusenge says.

Of course, even an elegant solution needs test drives. “The more crystalline the polymers are, the better the charges percolate and travel in the material,” Cunin points out, referring to how ordered the semiconducting polymers in the transistor channel are. But if they’re packed too tightly, ions don’t move freely, and the transistor channel can’t switch properly. The arrangement of the spaghetti-like polymer chains controls this balance, so Cunin studied the composites’ structure to optimize both ionic and electronic performance.

Professor Polina Anikeeva, who co-advised Cunin with Gumyusenge and calls her “unstoppable,” says her innovation in the lab was remarkable — but not surprising.

“She didn’t have to be pushed into trying something new,” says Anikeeva, head of DMSE. “I would have higher and higher expectations, and she would consistently meet those higher and higher expectations.”

That drive continues in industry. Cunin now works at the Cambridge-based neurotechnology startup Axoft — just minutes from her former lab at MIT — researching soft electrodes that can be implanted in the brain. The electrodes detect electrical signals that can shed light on the brain’s many functions. “By understanding the brain better, we can eventually develop therapies and treatments that improve patient outcomes,” Cunin says.

Creative outlets

During her time at MIT, Cunin also made time for activities outside the lab, driven by the same curiosity that fueled her research. Committed to sharing her love of materials science and engineering, she was a leading member of the Polymer Graduate Student Association and organized several editions of MIT Polymer Day, a one-day symposium connecting students, faculty, and industry to showcase cutting-edge polymer research.

She also pursued creative outlets. After learning to use 3D graphics software Blender, Cunin illustrated some of the journal covers featuring her work.

She is also a diehard salsa fan and teaches the dance style a couple of times a week. Salsa’s social and collaborative forms appeal to Cunin, who enjoys sharing her passion, experimenting with choreography, and helping fellow dancers improve. “Salsa is fast — I love the mental challenge it brings. I also like that it exposes you to different aspects of the community; it pushes you out of your bubble,” she says.

Gumyusenge appreciates that Cunin made time for other pursuits throughout the grueling demands of a doctoral degree. “She’d work 14 hours a day in the lab, but also go do some hiking and take a break. I love that — it’s something that other PhD students seem to forget sometimes,” he says.

That balance reflects her determination and resolve. “Camille has never been shy about facing challenging research problems,” he says. “She had a research vision and was dedicated to learning the lessons she needed to get it all done. I learned to not get in her way because when Camille told you she would learn how to do something, she would.”

The president nominated the man he fired as leader of the nation's disaster agency a year ago.

Last year, the Canadian government pushed Bill C-2, which would erode Canadian digital rights in the name of “border security.” The bill was so bad it didn’t even make it to committee because of the backlash from the privacy community. Now, the spring’s worst sequel, Bill C-22, aka The Lawful Access Act, is trying it again.

As with most sequels, Bill C-22 makes some tweaks to problematic elements, but largely retains the same problems. The bill forces digital services, which could include telecoms, messaging apps, and more, to record and retain metadata for a full year, and expands information sharing with foreign governments, including the United States. Metadata can reveal a lot about who you communicate with, where you go, and when you do so. Expanding the collection of metadata would require companies to store even more information about their users than they already do, providing an incentive for bad actors to access that information. 

Worst of all, Bill C-22 erodes the privacy of millions by providing a mechanism for the Minister of Public Safety to demand companies create a backdoor to their services to provide law enforcement access to data, as long as these mandates don’t introduce a “systemic vulnerability.” These widespread surveillance backdoors would likely facilitate even more data breaches than we see already. The bill also bans companies from even revealing the existence of these orders publicly.

The definitions of both “systemic vulnerabilities” and “encryption” are not clear enough in C-22, leaving wiggle room for the government to demand that companies circumvent encryption. And the overbroad definitions in the bill can include apps as well as operating systems. Canadian officials have made it clear they believe it’s possible to add surveillance without introducing systemic vulnerabilities, which is just not true. Surveillance of encrypted communications is fundamentally a systemic vulnerability.

This resembles what happened in the UK last year, when the government demanded that Apple implement this type of backdoor into its optional Advanced Data Protection feature, which then forced Apple to revoke the feature for its UK users instead of complying with the request. To this day, UK users still do not have access to this powerful, privacy-protective feature that provides stronger protections for data stored in iCloud. Both Meta and Apple are concerned that C-22 would give the Canadian governments similar powers, and both companies have come out against the bill. The U.S. House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees also sent a joint letter to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety highlighting the concern around backdoors into encrypted systems.

The dangers of these sorts of backdoors are not theoretical. In 2024, the Salt Typhoon hack took advantage of a system built by Internet Service Providers to give law enforcement access to user data. When you build these systems, hackers will come.

Canadians deserve strong privacy protections, transparency into how companies handle user data, and clear safeguards around encrypted data. Bill C-22 provides none of that, instead reaching further into the digital pockets of tech companies to build broad lawful access mechanisms.

Further reading

• Full text of C-22
• Canadian Civil Liberties Association statement and letter
• Open Media blog on C-22
• EFF’s blog on bill C-2

EFF, along with the national ACLU, the ACLU affiliates in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit urging the court to require a warrant for border searches of electronic devices under the Fourth Amendment, an argument EFF has been making in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade. The Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments on May 8. The Knight Institute at Columbia University and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press also filed a helpful brief focusing on the First Amendment implications of border searches of electronic devices.

The case, U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo, involves a U.S. citizen whose cell phone was manually searched after he arrived at Dulles airport near Washington, D.C., following a trip to Bolivia. He had been on the government’s radar prior to his international trip and had been flagged for secondary inspection. Border officers found child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his phone, and he was later arrested and criminally charged.

The district court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the images and other data obtained from the warrantless search of his cell phone. He was ultimately convicted of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors because he had used social media to entice minors to send him sexually explicit photos of themselves.

The number of warrantless device searches at the border and the significant invasion of privacy they represent is only increasing. In Fiscal Year 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducted 55,318 device searches, both manual (“basic”) and forensic (“advanced”).

A manual search involves a border officer tapping or mousing around a device. A forensic search involves connecting another device to the traveler’s device and using software to extract and analyze the data to create a detailed report the device owner’s activities and communications. However, both search methods are highly privacy-invasive, as border officers can access the same data that can reveal the most personal aspects of our lives, including political affiliations, religious beliefs and practices, sexual and romantic affinities, financial status, health conditions, and family and professional associations.

In our amicus brief, we argued that the Fourth Circuit should adopt the same legal standard for both manual and forensic searches, and that standard should be a warrant supported by probable cause and issued by a neutral judge. The highly personal nature of the information found on electronic devices is why there should not be different legal standards for different methods of search, and why a judge should determine whether the government has provided credible preliminary evidence that there’s a likelihood that further evidence will be found on the device indicating wrongdoing by the specific traveler.

Moreover, we argued that “the process of getting a warrant is not unduly burdensome,” and that “getting a warrant would not impede the efficient processing of travelers. If border officers have probable cause to search a device, they may retain it and let the traveler continue on their way, then get a search warrant. Or, where there is truly no time to go to a judge, the exigent circumstances exception may apply on a case-by-case basis.”

The Fourth Circuit in prior cases only considered forensic device searches at the border. In U.S. v. Kolsuz (2018), the court held that the forensic search of the defendant’s cell phone at the border “must be considered a nonroutine border search, requiring some measure of individualized suspicion” of a transnational offense, but the court declined to decide whether the standard is only reasonable suspicion or instead a probable cause warrant. Then in U.S. v. Aigbekaen (2019), the court held that a forensic device search at the border in support of a purely domestic law enforcement investigation requires a warrant. The court also reiterated the general Kolsuz rule for a forensic border-related device search: the “Government must have individualized suspicion of an offense that bears some nexus to the border search exception's purposes of protecting national security, collecting duties, blocking the entry of unwanted persons, or disrupting efforts to export or import contraband.” Now, manual searches are before the court.

In urging the Fourth Circuit to adopt a warrant standard for both manual and forensic device searches at the border, we argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s balancing test in Riley v. California (2014) should govern the analysis here. In that case, the Court weighed the government’s interests in warrantless and suspicionless access to cell phone data following an arrest, against an arrestee’s privacy interests in the depth and breadth of personal information stored on a cell phone. The Court concluded that the search-incident-to-arrest warrant exception does not apply, and that police need to get a warrant to search an arrestee’s phone.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized for a century a border search exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, allowing not only warrantless but also often suspicionless “routine” searches of luggage, vehicles, and other items crossing the border. The primary justification for the border search exception has been to find—in the items being searched—goods smuggled to avoid paying duties (i.e., taxes) and contraband such as drugs, weapons, and other prohibited items, thereby blocking their entry into the country.

But a traveler’s privacy interests in their suitcase and its contents are minimal compared to those in all the personal data on the person’s cell phone or laptop. And a travelers’ privacy interests in their electronic devices are at least the same as those considered in Riley. Modern devices, over a decade later, contain even more data that can reveal even more intimate details about our lives.

We hope that the Fourth Circuit will rise to the occasion and be the first circuit to fully protect travelers’ Fourth Amendment rights at the border.

When governments shut down spaces for dialogue, dissent, and collective organizing, the damage extends far beyond a single event. The abrupt cancellation of RightsCon 2026—the world’s largest annual global digital rights conference—is not just a logistical disruption for thousands of researchers, journalists, technologists, and activists—it is part of a growing global pattern of shrinking civic space and increasing hostility toward free expression and independent civil society.

Just days before the conference was set to begin and as participants had begun to arrive in Lusaka, organizers announced that RightsCon would no longer proceed in Zambia or online after mounting political pressure and demands that would have excluded vulnerable communities and constrained discussion. The U.N.’s World Press Freedom Day, which was set to take place just prior to the conference, was scaled down in light of the events, and its press freedom prize ceremony postponed to a later date.

RightsCon has long served as one of the few truly global convenings where civil society groups, grassroots organizers, technologists, and policymakers can meet on equal footing to confront some of the most urgent human rights challenges of the digital age—from censorship and surveillance to internet shutdowns, platform accountability, and the safety of marginalized communities online. EFF has had a presence at RightsCon since its inception in 2011, and had planned to meet with and learn from international partners and present our work during several sessions in Lusaka.

The cancellation is especially devastating because of what RightsCon represents. For many advocates—particularly those from the global majority—it is not merely another conference. It is a rare opportunity to build solidarity across borders, form lasting partnerships, learn from other regions’ experiences, secure funding and support for local work, and ensure that the people most impacted by digital repression have a seat at the table. Holding the event in southern Africa carried particular significance, promising to elevate regional voices and strengthen local digital rights networks.

What happened in Zambia sends a chilling message. According to organizers and multiple reports, the pressure surrounding the event included Chinese government demands to exclude Taiwanese participants and moderate discussions around politically sensitive topics. At a moment when governments around the world are increasingly restricting protest, targeting journalists, cutting funds for human rights work, banning young people from online communities, censoring speech, and criminalizing civil society activity, the cancellation of RightsCon reflects the broader erosion of democratic space online and offline.

Organizations from the digital rights community have spoken out forcefully against the government’s cancellation of the conference, making clear that these attacks on civic participation will not pass unnoticed. Access Now described the decision as evidence of “the far reach of transnational repression targeting civil society.” Index on Censorship’s response warned that the move represents a dangerous escalation in attempts to suppress open dialogue, while IFEX rightly described the cancellation as a blow not just to one conference, but to freedom of expression and assembly everywhere.

We are also heartened to see statements from members of the international community—including Tabani Moyo, who spoke about the impact on the southern African community, and Taiwanese participant Shin Yang, who emphasized the importance of preserving spaces where marginalized communities can safely organize and speak—underscoring that attempts to silence civil society only reinforce the importance of defending open, global spaces for organizing and debate.

Even as this cancellation represents a serious setback, it is important to remember that the digital rights community has always adapted under pressure. Around the world, advocates continue to organize in increasingly difficult environments, finding new ways to connect, collaborate, and resist censorship and repression. Upcoming events like the Global Gathering and FIFAfrica—both of which EFF plans to attend—will bring together members of the community to tackle tough issues. And in the meantime, groups from all over the world are working together to incorporate global perspectives into platform regulations, oppose age verification laws, protect against surveillance, and fight internet shutdowns, among many other efforts.

RightsCon itself emerged from a recognition that defending human rights in the digital age requires international solidarity—and that need has not disappeared.

The conversations that were supposed to happen in Lusaka will continue elsewhere: in community spaces, online gatherings, encrypted chats, and future convenings yet to come. Governments may close venues, restrict participation, or attempt to narrow the boundaries of acceptable speech, but they cannot erase the global movement working to defend a free and open internet.

RightsCon will not go on in Zambia, but we remain heartened and inspired by the strength of the global digital rights community, stand with them in solidarity, and look forward to seeing our allies at the next RightsCon and other upcoming events.

Turns out that LLMs are really good at hiding text messages in other text messages.

The plan to increase gas supply comes as the region's Democratic governors seek reelection, pledging to both green their states' economies and address high energy prices.

Controversial ideas were dropped from the final document about reshaping U.S. disaster policy.

The governors are combining a nuts-and-bolts focus on infrastructure with a catchy — and sometimes profane — slogan to attract voters.

The blazes have burned 170,000 acres, driven by severe drought and increased development in wooded areas.

State officials said the offshore wind project provided key benefits to New York.

In exchange for setting aside the requirement, summer camps agree to maintain “redundant internet connectivity” through other means, including through cellular or satellite technology.

An event is expected to develop from the middle of this year, impacting global temperature and rainfall patterns, according to officials.

The military alliance sees clean power as a logical replacement for fossil fuels.

The disembarkation was “proceeding normally” and all passengers on the MV Hondius were still asymptomatic, Spain’s health minister said.

Many threats, ranging from climate change to potential legislation on the horizon, are putting the forest at risk.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02646-5

City type specifies carbon cycle