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NATURE: ‘Precocious’ early-career scientists with high citation counts proliferate
The number of ‘precocious’ scientists — those who become top-cited authors early in their careers — has surged in the past few years, according to an analysis of the publishing records of hundreds of thousands of scientists. Read more
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NATURE: Climate engineering faces hostility — here’s how scientists say it might move forwards
Climate engineering has long been seen as the rogue approach to global warming. Public opposition has stymied field experiments of this strategy, which aims to artificially cool the Earth. Dozens of countries have called for an end to the development of climate-engineering approaches. Critics say that such projects could have disastrous unintended consequences. Read more
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NATURE: Humanity’s noise is the natural world’s enemy
“Shhh!” This is the demand that eco-acoustics researcher Jérôme Sueur makes of humanity in his book, Natural History of Silence. The racket of technology — emanating from ships, aeroplanes, machinery and more — permeates even the remotest corners of the planet. Read more
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NATURE: DeepMind AI weather forecaster beats world-class system
Google DeepMind has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) model of its kind to predict the weather more accurately than the best system currently in use. The model generates forecasts up to 15 days in advance — and it does so in minutes, rather than the hours needed by today’s forecasting programs. Read more
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NATURE: Ferocity of Atlantic hurricanes surges as the ocean warms
Climate change sharply intensified almost 85% of hurricanes that hit the North Atlantic between 2019 and 2023, according to a modelling study1. The wind speed of those hurricanes rose by an average of nearly 30 kilometres per hour — enough to have pushed 30 storms up a level on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. Read more
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NATURE: US trust in scientists plunged during the pandemic — but it’s starting to recover
For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, trust in scientists has increased in the United States — but just slightly, according to a poll conducted around two weeks before the US presidential election. Read more
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NATURE: How to climate-proof crops: scientists say the secret’s in the dirt
Evidence is building that regenerative agriculture boosts soil health, which, in turn, could bolster food security. Read more
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NATURE: Do disruptive climate protests work? Real-time survey finally offers answers
Support for a moderate environmental group rose after a motorway closure, substantiating the ‘radical flank effect’. Read more
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NATURE: Mexican forest ‘relocated’ in attempt to save iconic monarch butterflies
A high-altitude planting could buffer the trees, and the migratory butterflies that roost in them, against the effects of climate change. Read more
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NATURE: Believe it or not, this lush landscape is Antarctica
Vegetation is spreading at an alarming rate in a region of the continent where temperatures are soaring. Read more
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NATURE: How a ‘billion oysters’ could protect the New York coastline from climate change
Advocates argue that restoring the oyster reefs that once armoured shorelines could help to buffer against extreme storms. Read more
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NATURE: Academics say flying to meetings harms the climate — but they carry on
A survey at one of the biggest UK research universities finds that staff often end up flying to meetings despite a preference to avoid air travel. Read more
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NATURE: How to change people’s minds about climate change: what the science says
Telling people about the consensus among scientists can help, study finds, but researchers think that personal conversations are needed, too. Read more
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NATURE: Science treasures from Microsoft mogul up for auction — and researchers are salivating
Spacesuits, historic computers and more from the estate of the late Paul Allen are going on sale. Read more
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NATURE: Extreme heat is a huge killer — these local approaches can keep people safe
Extreme heat is a serious public-health threat: on average, it kills more people in the United States than any other weather event, including hurricanes, floods and extreme cold. The effects of scorching temperatures are exacerbated in cities, where buildings and roads soak up warmth. As Earth’s warming climate intensifies the problem, scientists are investigating evidence-based… Read more
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NATURE: ‘Unacceptable’: a staggering 4.4 billion people lack safe drinking water, study finds
Approximately 4.4 billion people drink unsafe water — double the previous estimate — according to a study published today in Science. The finding, which suggests that more than half of the world’s population is without clean and accessible water, puts a spotlight on gaps in basic health data and raises questions about which estimate better reflects reality. Read more
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NATURE: Your microwave oven has its own microbiome
‘Extremophiles’ are organisms that can survive, and even thrive, in the harshest of environments, including inside scorching hydrothermal vents, sub-zero Antarctic ice and the crushing pressures of Earth’s crust. Now, they’ve been discovered in a more pedestrian setting: microwave ovens. Read more
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NATURE: ‘Ocean ranching’ has led to a pink-salmon boom — but there might be a catch
Salmon raised in captivity and released into rivers bound for the North Pacific are breeding with wild salmon, raising concerns among scientists about the fishes’ future. A new study published this month on pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in Alaska predicts that such interbreeding will increase the size of the species’ population but decrease its diversity.… Read more
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NATURE: First map of an ice shelf’s bottom reveals mysterious melt patterns
The first detailed map of the underside of an ice shelf reveals melted areas that have an unexpected shape: teardrops1. The data, published today in Science Advances, could help researchers to better understand how ice is affected when scoured by ocean currents and might lead to more accurate predictions of sea-level rise. Read more
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NATURE: NASA cancels $450-million mission to drill for ice on the Moon — surprising researchers
NASA has terminated an ambitious mission intended to map ice and then drill into it at the Moon’s south pole. The space agency announced the cancellation of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on 17 July, citing budget woes and several delays in the construction of the rover and its lander that have led to… Read more
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EOS: Reactive Barriers Could Keep Nitrate out of the Atlantic
About 74% of residents in Long Island, N.Y., discharge wastewater into septic tanks and cesspools instead of into a sewer, alllowing nitrate to seep into the region’s coastal aquifer. A mulch-filled trench dug along the coastline, called a permeable reactive barrier (PRB), can neutralize up to 100% of the nitrate before it reaches the ocean. Read more
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KQED: The Untapped Potential of Rooftop Solar on Nonresidential Buildings
As California races to meet its clean energy goals, the rooftops of large commercial and public buildings like colleges and hospitals may offer untapped potential for solar power in disadvantaged communities, where experts said residential solar adoption is slowest. Stanford University researchers found that installing solar on nonresidential buildings in these communities, where most residents are… Read more
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KQED: California has a theory on why brown pelicans are starving and dying
Emaciated brown pelicans are washing up on California shores in the hundreds. State officials and researchers aren’t sure why, but they think it could be weather-related. The state’s working hypothesis is that this situation, similar to what happened in 2022 when nearly 800 starving pelicans were rescued, was likely caused by late spring storms hitting… Read more
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KQED: California Regulators Consider Adding $24 Fixed Fee to Utility Bills
Starting late next year, you might see a new flat charge of up to $24.15 on your monthly electric bill. That’s if the California Public Utilities Commission votes in favor of proposed changes to how Californians pay for power at a meeting Thursday. Read more
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KQED: ‘Perfect Day’ for a (Partial) Eclipse: Here’s What the Bay Area Saw
Just after 10:30 a.m. Monday, the sky began to darken. For those lucky enough to be in the narrow path for the first total solar eclipse over the U.S. in seven years, the sky filled with stars and planets as shadows sharpened all around. Read more
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LOOKOUT: Through paintings, local artist Taylor Seamount reimagines Santa Cruz as an eco-utopia
When most people walk through expansive parking lots or fields of invasive grass, they see familiar American landscapes. Not Santa Cruz painter Taylor Seamount. They see a dystopian reality spreading out before them, filling them with “day-ruining existential dread.” To combat this feeling, Seamount has turned to an environmental art movement called solar punk. In… Read more
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EOS: Flash Floods May Support One of the World’s Rarest Fish
Devils Hole pupfish, living within a single pool in Death Valley National Park, have clung to their existence under the watchful eyes of ecologists and public agencies. Numbers of the uniquely isolated and critically endangered species have ebbed and flowed with shifting conditions and nearby development. Now, researchers have identified a new factor that could… Read more
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THE MERCURY NEWS: Eucalyptus are one of the state’s most controversial trees. A Monterey Bay reserve may be a model for how to replace them.
Returning eucalyptus-choked landscapes to their original glory is a long and arduous process. It involves coaxing the barren earth back to life and dealing with thousands of tons of highly flammable wood. At the Elkhorn Slough Reserve — home to a vast array of birds, marine mammals, amphibians and fish — thirsty eucalyptus trees leave… Read more
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SCIENCE: New class of ‘ozone-safe’ refrigerants may have unexpected downside
In 2013, a new class of chemical refrigerants—used to cool everything from homes to freezers—replaced the ones that were destroying the ozone layer. But a study published this week finds that some of the new compounds, known as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), can create fluoroform, a gas that has a global warming potential 14,800 times worse than… Read more
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LOOKOUT: Rare harlequin duck spotted in Santa Cruz sparks frenzy among birdwatchers
Throngs of birdwatchers have gathered at the Santa Cruz Harbor to catch a glimpse of a harlequin duck, which is rarely spotted this far south, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Read more
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MONGABAY: Do tree-planting projects on grasslands increase fire risk?
Global tree-planting initiatives, aimed at storing carbon from the atmosphere, could include plantations in fire-prone African savannas. 58% of tree plantations grown in South African grasslands between 1980 and 2019 burned, polluting water and releasing carbon dioxide back into the air. As efforts to plant trees for carbon storage in Africa expand, researchers suggest cutting… Read more
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LOOKOUT: Rare plant spotted for first time in Santa Cruz County reveals hidden ecosystem reborn in fire
A hobby naturalist walking in the Santa Cruz Mountains discovered a patch of what turned out to be Humboldt County milkvetch, a rare plant that had never been spotted south of Mendocino County. Scientists believe the plant — known as a fire-follower because it often appears after a great disturbance to the landscape — actually… Read more
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LOOKOUT: Ms. Blue is coming down — what happened to Seymour Center’s iconic whale skeleton and what’s next
After taking a beating from the elements at UC Santa Cruz’s coastal campus, the structure supporting the blue whale skeleton affectionately known as Ms. Blue has been deemed unsafe. But fear not, says Seymour Marine Discovery Center director Jonathan Hicken — the bones are staying, and the center wants input on the next chapter of… Read more
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LOOKOUT: How some Pajaro Valley farms are being tapped to help solve California’s water crisis
Can agriculture, long considered a drain on the state’s water resources, help solve California’s water crisis? In the Pajaro Valley, some farmers are being paid to return stormwater to the ground. The effort is part of a joint project among local agencies, landowners and UC Santa Cruz to install groundwater recharge basins on some local… Read more
ALIX SOLIMAN 