Tuesday, January 14

ENVIRONMENT

Extremely Dry Vegetation, Fueling Fires In Southern California
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ENVIRONMENT, TOP FOUR

Extremely Dry Vegetation, Fueling Fires In Southern California

Southern California is extremely dry, and that’s fueling fires − maps show just how dry. Dry conditions across Southern California set the stage for a series of deadly wind-driven wildfires that burned thousands of homes and other structures in the Los Angeles area in early January 2025. Ming Pan, a hydrologist at the University of California-San Diego’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, tracks the state’s water supplies. He put Southern California’s dryness into perspective using charts and maps. How dry is Southern California right now? In early January, the soil moisture in much of Southern California was in the bottom 2% of historical records for that day in the region. That’s extremely low. On Jan. 8, 2025, the soil moisture content, as measured down to about...
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For Months After The Ohio Train Derailment Toxic Chemicals Lingered In Buildings
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ENVIRONMENT

For Months After The Ohio Train Derailment Toxic Chemicals Lingered In Buildings

Toxic chemicals from Ohio train derailment lingered in buildings for months – here’s what our investigation found in East Palestine. On Feb. 3, 2023, a train carrying chemicals jumped the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, rupturing railcars filled with hazardous materials and fueling chemical fires at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The disaster drew global attention as the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania urged evacuations for a mile around the site. Flames and smoke billowed from burning chemicals, and an acrid odor radiated from the derailment area as chemicals entered the air and spilled into a nearby creek. Three days later, at the urging of the rail company, Norfolk Southern, about 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride, a chemical that can be toxic to humans at high dos...
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Remember All Those Heat Domes — Jet Stream And Climate Change And What It Had To Do With The Hottest Summer On Record
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ENVIRONMENT, TOP FOUR

Remember All Those Heat Domes — Jet Stream And Climate Change And What It Had To Do With The Hottest Summer On Record

What the jet stream and climate change had to do with the hottest summer on record − remember all those heat domes? Summer 2024 was officially the Northern Hemisphere’s hottest on record. In the United States, fierce heat waves seemed to hit somewhere almost every day. Phoenix reached 100 degrees for more than 100 days straight. The 2024 Olympic Games started in the midst of a long-running heat wave in Europe that included the three hottest days on record globally, July 21-23. August was Earth’s hottest month in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 175-year record. Overall, the global average temperature was 2.74 degrees Fahrenheit (1.52 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average. That might seem small, but temperature increases associated with human-induced cli...
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To Maximize Their Sun exposure Sunflowers Make Small Moves — Physicists Can Model Them To Predict How They Grow
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ENVIRONMENT, TOP FOUR

To Maximize Their Sun exposure Sunflowers Make Small Moves — Physicists Can Model Them To Predict How They Grow

Sunflowers make small moves to maximize their Sun exposure − physicists can model them to predict how they grow. Most of us aren’t spending our days watching our houseplants grow. We see their signs of life only occasionally – a new leaf unfurled, a stem leaning toward the window. But in the summer of 1863, Charles Darwin lay ill in bed, with nothing to do but watch his plants so closely that he could detect their small movements to and fro. The tendrils from his cucumber plants swept in circles until they encountered a stick, which they proceeded to twine around. “I am getting very much amused by my tendrils,” he wrote. This amusement blossomed into a decadeslong fascination with the little-noticed world of plant movements. He compiled his detailed observations and experiments in a ...
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In America’s Climate And Economic Policies, Oil And Gas Communities Are A Blind Spot
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ENVIRONMENT

In America’s Climate And Economic Policies, Oil And Gas Communities Are A Blind Spot

Oil and gas communities are a blind spot in America’s climate and economic policies. On a recent visit to Rangely, a small town in northwest Colorado, my colleagues and I met with the administrators of a highly regarded community college to discuss the town’s economy. Leaving the scenic campus, we saw families driving into the mountains in off-road vehicles, a favorite activity for this outdoors-loving community. With a median household income above US$70,000 and a low cost of living, Rangely does not have the signs of a town in economic distress. But an existential risk looms over Rangely. The town is here because of an oil boom during World War II. Today, the oil and gas industry contributes over half of the county’s economic output. Rangely is not unique in the United States, which...
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Research Shows, Americans Love Nature But Don’t Feel Empowered To Protect It
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ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Research Shows, Americans Love Nature But Don’t Feel Empowered To Protect It

Americans love nature but don’t feel empowered to protect it, new research shows. Climate change has been in the news for more than 40 years. It’s typically covered as a scientific or political issue. However, social scientists like me have found that feelings and values are what drive people toward broad, collective change – not charts, graphs or images. Surveys confirm that the majority of Americans now believe that climate change is real. But many adults seem to feel too exhausted, defeated or powerless to do anything about it. I am leading a large multiyear research project funded by the National Science Foundation that examines how to tap into morals, ethics and spirituality to create enduring behavioral shifts on this issue. In the pilot study for this project, which has n...
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La Niña’s Smaller Cousin Atlantic Niña Could Affect Hurricane Season
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ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

La Niña’s Smaller Cousin Atlantic Niña Could Affect Hurricane Season

What is an Atlantic Niña? How La Niña’s smaller cousin could affect hurricane season. The North Atlantic Ocean has been running a fever for months, with surface temperatures at or near record highs. But cooling along the equator in both the Atlantic and eastern Pacific may finally be starting to bring some relief, particularly for vulnerable coral reef ecosystems. This cooling comes from two climate phenomena with similar names: La Niña, which forms in the tropical Pacific, and the less well-known Atlantic Niña. Both can affect the Atlantic hurricane season. While La Niña tends to bring conditions ideal for Atlantic hurricanes, the less powerful Atlantic Niña has the potential to reduce some of the hurricane risk. We’re ocean and atmospheric scientists who study this type of climate ...
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People And Wildlife Around The World Will Share More Living Spaces As Human Population Grows
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ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

People And Wildlife Around The World Will Share More Living Spaces As Human Population Grows

As human population grows, people and wildlife will share more living spaces around the world. Human-wildlife overlap is projected to increase across more than half of all lands around the globe by 2070. The main driver of these changes is human population growth. This is the central finding of our newly published study in the journal Science Advances. Our research suggests that as human population increases, humans and animals will share increasingly crowded landscapes. For example, as more people move into forests and agricultural regions, human-wildlife overlap will increase sharply. It also will increase in urban areas as people move to cities in search of jobs and opportunities. Animals are also moving, mainly in response to climate change, which is shifting their ranges. Acros...
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Water Farmers Use To Irrigate Crops And Livestock Can Be Contaminated By Wildfires Burning Farmland
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ENVIRONMENT

Water Farmers Use To Irrigate Crops And Livestock Can Be Contaminated By Wildfires Burning Farmland

Wildfires don’t just burn farmland − they can contaminate the water farmers use to irrigate crops and support livestock. A water pipe that was used to carry water to livestock crosses land burned in the Maui fires in August 2023. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND The wildfires that burned across Maui, Hawaii, in August 2023 became the deadliest conflagration in the United States in more than a century. While the harm to homes and tourism drew the most attention, agriculture was also heavily affected across the island, and the harm did not stop once the flames were out. In some cases, fires smoldered underground for weeks. Water systems were destroyed, and some were contaminated in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. Two weeks after the Maui fires began, the...
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Oceans Would Be Far Less Healthy Without Sharks
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ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Oceans Would Be Far Less Healthy Without Sharks

Oceans without sharks would be far less healthy – new research. There are more than 500 species of sharks in the world’s oceans, from the 7-inch dwarf lantern shark to whale sharks that can grow to over 35 feet long. They’re found from polar waters to the equator, at the water’s surface and miles deep, in the open ocean, along coasts and even in some coastal rivers. With such diversity, it’s no surprise that sharks serve many ecological functions. For example, the largest individuals of some big predatory species, such as tiger and white sharks, can have an oversized role in maintaining balances among species. They do this by feeding on prey and sometimes by just being present and scary enough that prey species change their habits and locations. In a newly published study, colleagues ...
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