Air quality in the US is projected to backslide in the coming decades, landing back where it was in the mid-2000s as a result of climate change, according to a new report. The report comes with an online tool for users to zoom in on individual properties to see what kind of air quality residents might experience there in the future. It paints a picture of a changing landscape for regulators, who are going to have to adapt to evolving threats.
Technology
Climate change is erasing previous gains in air quality — fires are mostly to blame
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24710039/236691_Air_pollution_NYC_AKrales_0034.jpg?ssl=1 "Climate change is erasing previous gains in air quality — fires are mostly to blame")
“Air quality really highlights how the changing climate is being felt by individuals.”
A hotter planet sets the stage for more wildfire smoke and supercharges the chemical reactions that lead to smog. That means the game is changing when it comes to how to prevent pollution in the future. After decades of success reining in pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes, climate change is erasing some of those gains.
“Air quality really highlights how the changing climate is being felt by individuals,” says Jeremy Porter, lead author of the report published by the nonprofit research organization First Street Foundation. “Really bad floods and really bad wildfires are relatively rare, [although] we see them more and more often. But something like poor air quality, it doesn’t just affect the low houses on the street, it affects everybody in the community,” Porter says. First Street has previously released research and online tools for assessing flood, fire, and heat risks for individual properties.
The group’s latest work shows that around 10 percent of properties in the US (roughly 14.3 million) already have to cope with a week or more of days when air quality is considered “unhealthy” due to fine particle pollution, also called soot. Nearly half of those properties have it much worse, experiencing two weeks of unhealthy air quality days.
To suss that out, First Street looked back on data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s network of air quality sensors across the nation. Porter and his colleagues were then able to combine that data with First Street’s existing peer-reviewed fire and heat models to make predictions about the future.
First Street modeled air quality 30 years from now, the length of a typical mortgage. On its current trajectory, air quality in 2054 could revert back to how bad it was in 2004, according to First Street, “wiping away 20 years of air quality improvements.” An additional 1.7 million properties are expected to face 10 or more poor air quality days a year from both soot and smog — a 15 percent rise from today.
That upward trend reflects a “climate penalty,” the report says. Smog, or ground-level ozone, in technical terms, is produced through a photochemical reaction where nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds react with each other in sunlight. As a result, smog can be worse on hot, sunny days. Climate change is making heatwaves longer and more intense, and pollution is part of that problem.
Hot, arid conditions also prime the land to burn. Fire is the primary driver of worsening air with climate change, the report finds. It’s particularly egregious in the Western US, where the number of poor air quality days grew by as much as 477 percent between 2000 and 2021.
That figure is based on the EPA’s color-coded air quality index and counts the number of days in which the index value is at least considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups” — an orange day. Red days are “unhealthy,” purple are “very unhealthy,” and maroon is considered “hazardous.” Averaging the highest daily soot levels across the US, the researchers found that the average highest value has risen from orange to red since 2000.
That generally accounts for peak levels of particle pollution during specific events like wildfires. The health risks from sudden, brief periods of pollution are different than those linked to persistent exposures to pollution from living next to a busy freeway, for example. Health risks including problems related to respiratory and cardiovascular disease increase with chronic exposure.
“If you have, say, more fires but less pollution in the rest of the year, you’d see these acute effects increase, but they will be offset by decreases in chronic effects,” says Drew Shindell, a professor of earth science at Duke University who studies climate change and air quality but was not involved in the First Street report.
Shindell also points out that there’s still the opportunity to change the trajectories laid out in the report. Just like the Clean Air Act led to big improvements in air quality between the 1970s and 1990s, the US has the opportunity to act now. Cleaning up pollution is just going to have to look different than it used to for policymakers, both Shindell and Porter say.
“The job of somebody like an air quality regulator is changing because it used to be 100 percent of your attention would be on emissions from human activities — so you’d worry about power plants, and industry, and motor vehicles,” Shindell says. “We’ve done a good job of controlling many of these things. But we haven’t done a good job of controlling greenhouse gases.”
In other words, to get soot and smog under control, regulators will also have to prioritize slashing other pollutants — carbon dioxide and methane emissions that cause climate change. They’ll also have to think about things like forest management to better keep wildfires under control. That all links the local effects of air pollution to what’s going on in the wider world, on top of worrying about what your neighbors might be emitting. Last year, wildfires in Canada sent a plume of smoke down to the Northeastern US, causing New York City to briefly hold the title for worst air quality in the world.
To see historical data and forecasts for future air quality in your region, you can check out First Street’s online tool at RiskFactor.com. It uses First Street’s peer-reviewed models for forecasting flood, fire, heat, and now, air quality risk. It’ll show how a property ranks compared to others in the US when it comes to local air quality, which sources of pollution are nearby, and how many days of poor air quality in the area to expect now and in the future.
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Polymarket has been allowing people to bet on when the US would strike Iran next. Obviously, now that it’s actually happened and people have died, the prediction betting market is feeling some pressure. The site has been at the center of controversy before, including suspicions of insider trading on the Super Bowl halftime show and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a statement posted on its site, Polymarket defended its decision to allow betting on the potential start of a war, saying that it was an “invaluable” source of news and answers, before taking shots at traditional media and Elon Musk’s X. The statement reads:
…
Read the full story at The Verge.
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Google has officially discontinued its Dark Web Report feature, a free tool that once scanned known dark web breach dumps for personal information tied to a user’s Google account. The service delivered notifications when email addresses and other identifiers appeared in leaked datasets.
According to Google’s support page, the system ceased scanning for new dark web data Jan. 15, 2026, and the reporting function was removed entirely on Feb. 16, 2026, meaning users can no longer access the feature.
The company said the decision reflects a shift toward security tools it believes provide clearer guidance after exposure, rather than standalone scan alerts.
If you previously relied on the free dark web scan as an early warning signal for leaked data, this change removes one of your sources.
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Google officially ended its Dark Web Report tool, removing free breach alerts tied to user accounts. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
So what did users really lose?
Google’s Dark Web Report acted as a basic exposure scanner. It checked whether personal information linked to a Google account had surfaced in known breach collections circulating on the dark web.
When a match is found, users receive a notification identifying which type of data appeared in a leak. Depending on the data breach, that could include an email address, phone number, date of birth or other identifying details commonly harvested during large-scale hacks.
The report did not display stolen credentials or provide access to the leaked database itself. It also did not trace the origin of the compromise beyond referencing the breached service when available.
After an alert was issued, the next steps were left to the user. Google recommended actions such as changing passwords, enabling stronger authentication methods and reviewing account security settings. With the tool now removed, that automated breach check tied directly to a Google account is no longer available.
What you still have access to
Google directs users to its Security Checkup, a dashboard that scans your account for weak settings and unusual sign-in activity.
Its built-in Password Manager includes Password Checkup, which scans saved credentials against known breach databases and prompts you to change exposed passwords. Google also supports passkeys and two-factor verification to lock down account access.
The Results About You tool lets users search for personal information in Google Search and submit removal requests for certain publicly indexed details.
149 MILLION PASSWORDS EXPOSED IN MASSIVE CREDENTIAL LEAK
Without the automatic scan, users must now check for leaked data using other security tools. (iStock)
Alerts don’t always mean protection
Once personal information is compromised, it often ends up far beyond the breach itself. Stolen credentials and identity data are regularly trafficked on underground platforms where buyers can search for information tied to real people.
The BidenCash dark web marketplace was taken down by U.S. authorities in June 2025, and the Justice Department confirmed that the platform peddled stolen personal information and credit card data.
These illicit markets operate with a level of organization not unlike legitimate online stores. Search tools and bulk data sets are up for grabs and can be used to target any online account. This makes credential stuffing easier, where attackers test leaked passwords across multiple services in hopes of barreling into your account.
A breach alert tied to a dark web scan points to a leak at one moment in time; it does not follow whether that information has been sold to third parties or used in subsequent fraud attempts. For everyday users, this means that just knowing your data appeared in a leak doesn’t help much.
THINK YOUR NEW YEAR’S PRIVACY RESET WORKED? THINK AGAIN
Stolen personal information can circulate for years, making ongoing monitoring more important than a one-time alert. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Identity monitoring may be a better option
With Google’s scan gone, some people may consider dedicated identity protection services instead. Many of these services offer continuous monitoring of your personally identifiable information and send alerts about changes to your credit reports from all three major U.S. credit bureaus. That can include notifications about new inquiries, newly opened accounts and monthly credit score updates. Some plans also monitor a broader range of personal identifiers, such as driver’s license numbers, passport numbers and email addresses.
Beyond credit monitoring, certain services track linked bank, credit card and investment accounts for unusual activity. They may also monitor public records for changes to addresses or property titles and alert you if your information appears in those filings.
Many providers include identity theft insurance to help cover eligible out-of-pocket recovery costs. Coverage limits vary by plan and provider. Additional features often include spam call and message protection, a password manager, a virtual private network (VPN) and antivirus software.
No service can prevent every form of identity theft. However, ongoing monitoring and recovery support can make it easier to respond quickly if your information is misused.
See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Google’s decision to drop its Dark Web Report may seem small. But it removes a tool many users relied on. For some, those alerts were the first warning that their data appeared in a breach. That automatic scan is now gone. Google still offers Security Checkup, Password Checkup, passkeys and two-step verification. However, none of them actively scan dark web breach dumps for you. Stolen data does not disappear. Criminals copy, sell and reuse it. One alert shows a single moment. Ongoing identity theft monitoring helps you stay aware over time.
Now that Google has dropped its dark web monitoring feature, will you actively check your data exposure or assume someone else is watching it for you? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Xiaomi has just given a global launch to two of its latest flagship phones, the Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra, along with a Leica-branded Leitzphone edition of the Ultra. There’s no sign, however, of the 17 Pro, which launched in China with an additional display mounted next to the rear cameras.
The 17 and 17 Ultra will apparently be available soon in the UK, Europe, and select other markets. The 17 — pitched as a rival to the likes of the iPhone 17 and Samsung Galaxy S26 — will cost £899 / €999 (about $1,200), while the larger and more capable Ultra starts from £1,299 / €1,499 ($1,750). The limited-edition Leitzphone will be substantially more expensive at £1,699 / €1,999 ($2,300), though it includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, along with a few extra accessories.
The 17 is an extremely capable small-ish flagship, with a 6.3-inch OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and large 6,330mAh silicon-carbon battery (though sadly smaller than the 7,000mAh version launched in China). I won’t be writing a full review of the 17, but did spend a week using it as my main phone, and found that the battery cruised past the full-day mark, though wasn’t quite enough for two full days of my typical usage. That’s far better battery life than you’d find in similarly sized phones from Apple, Samsung, or Google.
The cameras impress too, with 50-megapixel sensors behind each of the four lenses, selfie included. Pound for pound, you won’t find many better camera systems in any phone this size.
1/10
The Ultra, unsurprisingly, takes things to another level. It’s much larger, with a 6.9-inch display, and weighs a hefty 218g. Despite that, the 6,000mAh is actually smaller, though I found it delivered pretty similar longevity.
The enormous camera is, as ever for Xiaomi’s Ultra phones, the highlight. There are 50-megapixel sensors for each of the main, ultrawide, and selfie cameras, with a large 1-inch-type sensor behind the primary lens. The periscope telephoto is even more impressive: 200-megapixel resolution, a large 1/1.4-inch sensor, and continuous optical zoom from 3.2x to 4.3x, the equivalent of 75-100mm. Xiaomi isn’t the first to pull off a true zoom phone — Sony’s Xperia 1 IV got there first in 2022 — but the telephoto camera here is far more capable than that phone’s, with natural bokeh and impressive performance even in low light.
The camera capabilities are supported by Xiaomi’s ongoing photography partner Leica, but it’s the pair’s Leitzphone that really emphasizes that. Slightly redesigned from the 17 Ultra Leica Edition that was released in China last December, this includes Leica branding across the hardware and software, a range of Leica filters and shooting styles, and a rotatable rear camera ring that can be used to control the zoom. It’s the first Leica Leitzphone produced by Xiaomi — after a trio of Japan-only Sharp models — and comes with additional branded accessories, including a case with a lens cap and a microfiber cleaning cloth.
Xiaomi has plenty of other announcements alongside the 17 series phones at MWC this year, including a super-slim magnetic power bank, the Pad 8 and Pad 8 Pro tablets, and a smart tag that supports both Google and Apple’s tech-tracking networks.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
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