Excessively hot or cold temperatures in commercial aircraft may affect the health and safety of passengers and flight attendants. A new National Academies report surveys the evidence on the influence of cabin temperature and humidity on safety and recommends strategies to improve monitoring and risk management.

While data collected by modern instruments can provide information on decades of Earth’s extreme events, paleoenvironmental data found in natural archives such as ice cores and tree rings can extend that record by hundreds, thousands, or millions of years into the past. Drawing on a new National Academies report, this interactive webpage offers an introduction to different paleoenvironmental archives and how they are being used to develop a deeper understanding of disasters in the past and plan for a more resilient future.