EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Indigenous Peoples' Day

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, we’re exploring how Indigenous communities contribute to science, conservation, health research, and much more.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Jun-2026 08:16 ET (10-Jun-2026 12:16 GMT/UTC)

9-Mar-2026

Fatal police violence against Native Americans on reservations

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Fatal police violence against Indigenous peoples is disproportionately concentrated in and around reservations, according to a study.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

5-Mar-2026

Carbon markets risk penalizing First Nations stewardship

RMIT University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Experts say climate finance systems built on good intentions are backfiring because they fail to recognise the value of First Nations stewardship.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

5-Mar-2026

New study identifies key factors supporting indigenous well-being

University of Toronto
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study of more than 6,000 American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) adults shows that nearly one-third meet criteria for “healthy functioning,” a multidimensional measure capturing positive physical and mental health, life satisfaction, social support, and low stress.

3-Mar-2026

Modern twist on wildfire management methods found also to have a bonus feature that protects water supplies

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Indigenous peoples have used forest thinning to protect against wildfires for millennia. These traditional methods – including cultural burning – have often been neglected in modern times, which is thought to have contributed to wildfires in the US and elsewhere. Now, researchers have shown for the first time in a regional hotspot for wildfire risk and drought risk that forest thinning with modern tools has an additional benefit: it increases the snowpack in winter by 16 to 30%, thus recovering lost water and helping to safeguard its supply for natural and human needs.

Journal: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
Funder: Washington Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy

27-Feb-2026

New paper examines dementia inequities in Indigenous communities and the power of cultural resilience

University of Minnesota Medical School
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international collaboration, co-led by a University of Minnesota Medical School researcher, has published a new paper in Alzheimer’s & Dementia that opens in the same window synthesizing global evidence on the origins of dementia inequities in Indigenous communities and how community strengths can inform brain health research worldwide.

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Dementia Australia Research Foundation, Alzheimer's Association, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé

26-Feb-2026

From the Late Bronze Age to today - Old Irish Goat carries 3,000 years of Irish history

University College Dublin
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research reveals that the Old Irish Goat - Ireland's only indigenous breed - shares a 3,000-year genetic link with goats living during the Late Bronze Age. The findings suggest the critically endangered breed represents a continuous Irish lineage stretching back millennia.

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Science