Something is amiss in Antarctica
The post The World’s Largest Penguin Colony Suffers Catastrophic Loss appeared first on Nautilus.
The Northern suburbs of Toledo, Ohio turned into a real life Don DeLillo novel overnight, after an explosion at a chemical facility sent plumes of industrial compounds billowing into the sky.
According to the local station WTOL11, the blast happened at a chemical distribution site in Ohio’s Lucas County on Tuesday night, prompting an immediate evacuation order for anybody living within one mile of the disaster zone. Those within three miles were given an order to shelter in place.
In a press conference on Wednesday, city emergency officials explained that the leaking chemical exhaust is glycidyl methacrylate, an industrial manufacturing chemical broadly suspected to be carcinogenic to humans.
Maps show numerous residential neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity, the closest being a trailer park just 0.25 miles as the crow flies from the site of the chemical explosion. The nearby Ottawa river, a tributary of Lake Erie, is situated under a half mile to the South.
Complicating matters for first responders and any broader evacuation order is the onset of a fog alert, which combined with the hazmat emergency has turned Toledo into America’s apocalypse zone du jour.
Images circulated by WTOL11 on Facebook show the cataclysmic scenes unfolding across the city, with commenters expressing confusion over whether the clouds of haze were caused by the airborne chemical leak, the fog, or a noxious mix of both.
“I can’t see out my window,” one Toledo resident wrote. “Should I and my dog leave?”
More on disasters: Giant Oil Tanker Runs Aground in Marine Nature Preserve, Spills Nonstop for Weeks
The post Random Ohio Town Turns Into Scene From ‘Silent Hill’ After Massive Chemical Leak appeared first on Futurism.
"We had to bring the salt marsh to the storm."
Apple’s Product Environmental Reports put the base Mac Studio, with M5 Max, 36GB memory and 512GB storage, at 314 kg of gross greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e). The base Mac mini, with M6, 16GB memory and 256GB storage, comes in at 30 kg, and the largest single line separating them is customer product use. Both reports […]
The post Mac Studio’s carbon footprint is 314 kg to Mac mini’s 30 kg, and use is the gap appeared first on The Mac Observer.
Apple’s Product Environmental Reports give Apple Watch Series 12 a carbon footprint of 10 kg of gross greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e), Apple Watch Ultra 4 13 kg and AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case 11 kg. All three reports carry a “date introduced” of September 9, 2026, and are based on U.S. configurations with packaging […]
The post Apple Watch Series 12 carbon footprint is 10 kg, Ultra 4 13 kg, AirPods 5 11 kg appeared first on The Mac Observer.
Apple’s Product Environmental Report for iPhone Duo gives the foldable a carbon footprint of 93 kg of gross greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) for the 256GB model. Apple’s report for iPhone 18 Pro puts the same storage tier at 63 kg, so the Duo starts 30 kg higher before any storage upgrade. Both reports carry a […]
The post iPhone Duo’s carbon footprint is 93 kg, 30 kg more than iPhone 18 Pro appeared first on The Mac Observer.
A radical rethink of honey bee biology challenges how scientists understand swarming and even beekeeping.In hot weather, trees “sweat” to cool down by releasing water from their leaves or needles and then replacing it with water from the soil. But during long periods of high temperatures, trees may release more water than they can replace. To strengthen forests against heat stress and other environmental hazards, scientists have suggested adding fungi to the soil.
Soil fungi living on tree roots are called ectomycorrhizal fungi. They help trees absorb water by expanding their root networks, and trees help the fungi by providing them with sugars for energy. This beneficial partnership is known as symbiosis. Scientists at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China tested whether symbiosis with ectomycorrhizal fungi could help the pine trees Pinus massoniana survive warmer temperatures.
For their experiment, the researchers grew pine seedlings with and without ectomycorrhizal fungi in a greenhouse under different temperature conditions. First, they grew fungi called Cenococcum geophilum for 45 days on a gel-like substance called agar. At the same time, they grew the pine seedlings for 30 days, then transferred them into pots with natural soil.
After 15 days in the pots, the researchers spread the gel-like agar containing the fungi over small 1 x 1 centimeter (cm) areas of the pine root tips to introduce the fungi to the seedlings, a process called inoculation. They assumed that the fungal network would expand from the starting area to colonize new root tips as the seedlings grew. The team’s inoculations included 6 different C. geophilum strains and 1 fungi-free control. To simulate heat stress, the researchers replicated each of the 7 inoculations at 25°C (77°F) and 35°C (95°F). They repeated each inoculation condition in 3 pots with 3 seedlings, for a total of 126 seedlings.
After 60 days, the researchers harvested the pine seedlings and used a microscope to count how many of their root tips had fungi. They divided the number of root tips with fungi by the total number of root tips to calculate a colonization rate. They considered seedlings with a colonization rate of 80% or higher to have successfully formed a symbiotic relationship with the fungi. Then, the researchers analyzed seedlings with an 80% colonization rate to investigate their symbiotic partnerships.
The team observed that pine seedlings grown under heat stress at 35°C were 24% to 59% smaller than those grown at 25°C, and their needles were yellow instead of a healthy green. However, the seedlings that formed a symbiotic relationship with the ectomycorrhizal fungi were greener and 80% heavier than the control seedlings.
Investigating the trees further, the team measured 3 chemical compounds related to plant stress, including malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, and nitric oxide. Plants release MDA when damaged, so high MDA levels mean a plant is struggling. In contrast, plants release proline and nitric oxide to repair cells or hold water, so high amounts of these compounds mean a plant is healing.
To measure MDA and proline levels in the pine needles, the researchers mixed them with different acids that change color depending on the sample’s MDA or proline content. To measure nitric oxide, the researchers mixed the needles with a protein that converts the compound into a chemical that changes color. They found that inoculated seedlings at 35°C had about 30% to 40% less MDA, 15% to 30% more proline, and 150% more nitric oxide in their roots than the control seedlings.
Finally, the researchers measured changes in gene activity in the inoculated pine seedlings. They identified active genes by analyzing RNA molecules from the pine seedling roots with a process called RNA sequencing or transcriptomics. They found that inoculating the seedlings with ectomycorrhizal fungi activated more genes related to root strength, water retention, cell defense, and general plant protection than were activated in the control seedlings.
By combining chemical analyses with growth measurements, the team concluded that a symbiotic partnership with the ectomycorrhizal fungi helped the pine seedlings survive heat stress. They demonstrated that through prolonged heat, inoculated seedlings maintained greener needles and lower levels of stress chemicals. They suggested that ectomycorrhizal fungi could be an ecological tool to help trees stay hydrated in a warming world. They recommended that future researchers conduct field trials with inoculated trees to translate these findings into forest management strategies.
The post Fungi help pine trees survive heat stress appeared first on Sciworthy.
In December 2015, 195 countries at the UN Climate Change Conference signed the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change. The treaty’s overarching goal was to keep the “temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
While unquestionably meant well, the agreement has quickly turned into little more than a footnote as global warming has stormed ahead. Scientists have long warned that we’re on a path to blaze past that foreboding threshold in a matter of years, possibly by 2030.
And now, according to the latest projections, that day is poised to come even sooner. In a new article in the journal Climate and Atmospheric Science, two researchers from the University of Kansas claim that a recent doubling in the rate of global warming means that we could blow past the Paris Agreement threshold as soon as 2028.
The researchers analyzed temperature records through last year and observed a “statistically significant doubling of the global warming rate” between 2011 and 2025, compared to the period between 1971 and 2025.
“Extrapolating this accelerated rate projects a crossing of the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2028, nearly a decade earlier than previous estimates,” they concluded. “These findings suggest a narrower window remains to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, underscoring the urgency for rapid and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”
Realistically, it’s hard to imagine that we won’t fail to stop the warming in time.
“However, the inertia of existing political, economic, and technological systems3 limits the pace at which such actions can be implemented, narrowing the remaining window for achieving the 1.5 degrees Celsius target,” the researchers concluded in their paper.
The United States, long among the biggest carbon polluters on the planet, has not only officially withdrawn from the Paris Agreement twice during Donald Trump’s terms as president, but his administration has actively reversed environmental laws while giving the fossil fuel industry free rein through deregulation.
It’s a sad state of affairs that the UN Environment Program appears to be painfully aware of. In a new Emissions Gap Report, published today, the body found that “new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over the course of this century.”
“Given the size of the cuts needed, the short time available to deliver them and a challenging political climate, a higher exceedance of 1.5°C will happen, very likely within the next decade,” the report reads.
Worse yet, we have the tools to make substantial cuts to greenhouse emissions — but we’re not using them due to a lack of incentives.
“The required low-carbon technologies to deliver big emission cuts are available,” the report concludes. “Wind and solar energy development is booming, lowering deployment costs.”
“This means the international community can accelerate climate action, should they choose to do so,” it continues. “However, delivering faster cuts requires would require navigating a challenging geopolitical environment, delivering a massive increase in support to developing countries, and redesigning the international financial architecture.”
More on climate change: Amid Terrifying Readings, Experts Fear El Niño Is About to Wreak Havoc
The post You Know That Terrifying Global Warning Threshold They’ve Been Worried About for a Decade? Climate Change Is Speeding Up So Much That Now We’re Due to Cross It In Just Over a Year appeared first on Futurism.
Environmental change is being measured in forests cleared, crops stressed and species pushed from their habitats. But the response is also being shaped by decisions about money, land and technology, and by people trying to protect both livelihoods and the places they depend on.
Brazil’s latest figures offer one of the clearest signs of progress: forest clearing in the Amazon fell to 3,335 square kilometers in the year ending July 31, 2026, 42% below the previous year and the lowest level since records began in 1988. The Cerrado also saw a decline. The drop comes ahead of a presidential run-off in which the rainforest’s future is a key issue. Whether the reduction lasts remains uncertain.
Elsewhere, the costs of adapting to environmental pressures are immediate. Drought has left England’s pumpkins smaller than usual, with growers warning the crop could be the worst on record. In Southern California, wildfires have damaged or destroyed six homes, while a firefighter suffered heat exhaustion. And in the UK, proposals to cut hundreds of millions of pounds from the heat pump grant scheme could affect support for households switching from gas, oil or LPG boilers.
These stories sit alongside questions about what governments choose to prioritize. US voters in battleground states want candidates to discuss climate change, but candidates have largely stayed quiet. In Britain, Chancellor John Healey has made a growth case for Heathrow’s proposed third runway, while the prime minister has not backed the project. The government is studying consultation responses. The choices are practical as well as political: how to cut emissions, where to direct public funds and whose concerns shape decisions.
On the ground, communities are building their own responses. In Sergipe, women shellfish gatherers are resisting mangrove degradation and fighting for access to the areas where they work. In coastal Indonesia, Wisye Sahambangung leads a women’s group restoring mangroves and creating economic opportunities. Their work connects habitat protection with income and access to natural resources.
Other reports show how easily conservation efforts can create new pressures. Researchers found fewer wild pollinators in areas with higher concentrations of honeybees, which were observed bumping into or chasing other pollinators from flowers. The finding complicates the idea that more beekeeping automatically helps pollinators. In western states, efforts to reduce wolf numbers raise questions about the animals’ social lives and their role in nature. Meanwhile, countries are falling short of pledged funding and ocean-protection goals ahead of the UN biodiversity conference, COP17.
Technology and spectacle bring their own questions. Starlink’s reported restrictions in Ukraine have prompted US senators to seek an investigation into who imposed them, while the service remains important to Ukraine’s wartime operations. At a different scale, Belfast Harbour is to test zero-emission transport and energy systems with £15m in funding.
The Exmoor Dark Skies Festival, with about 80 events planned, offers another way people encounter the natural world: through walks, astronomy sessions and moonlit swims. The weeks ahead will show whether policy commitments match the scale of environmental pressures, and whether local efforts can endure with the resources and access they need.
The post California Wildfires Damage Homes, Exmoor Dark Skies Festival Marks a Decade — Today’s Environmental Briefing for Sat, Oct 17 2026 first appeared on EnviroLink Network.
Polls show that Democrats and Republicans in battleground states want candidates to talk more about the climate crisis. Most Americans feel uneasy or alarmed about climate change and, in red and blue states alike, want to know how political leaders plan to address it. Yet candidates in midterm campaigns across the country have responded with near silence.
This year, people in the US have endured a record-hot summer and roughly $2,000 per household in additional energy and mortgage costs. The higher costs are linked to the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, with the fuel supply disrupted by Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran.
The post US Voters Want Climate Answers, but Candidates Stay Quiet first appeared on EnviroLink Network.
Colder oceans are full of animals that need to fatten up to survive, but a key source of lipids — a tiny, oil-stuffed critter called a copepod — is feeling the heat, affecting a vital food web
MARINE BIOLOGY Sea cucumbers play an important role in tropical marine ecosystems, recycling nutrients on the ocean floor and mixing sediment. Healthy populations can enhance coral health. A collaborative study between the...
The post Overfishing 100-year-old sea cucumbers first appeared on Science Illustrated.
It seems like Halloween decorations are getting more elaborate every year. Instead of a viral 12-foot skeleton, a digital creator in Alaska has turned to nature to find inspiration for his spooky embellishments.
In 2025, photographer and Homer resident Tim Hatfield was walking on a beach with his girlfriend. They noticed that some strands of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) had washed ashore. Bull kelp, sometimes referred to as “mermaid’s bladder,” is a fast-growing annual seaweed that grows along much of the coast of North America.
Hatfield’s girlfriend pointed out that one of the pieces of kelp looked like a face, and said that she’d seen them used as Halloween decorations before. Hatfield decided to give it a try himself, and returned to the beach after a big storm to bring some home. He then turned the bull kelp remains into eerie faces, added lights, and even fashioned one into an eyeball.
“The coolest thing about the kelp-o’-lanterns is that as they age, and it only takes a few days, they look creepier and almost look like real shrunken heads,” Hatfield tells Popular Science. “Then this year I kind of already went for the ones that looked weathered.”
This year’s kelp-o’-lantern includes a one-eyed ghoul with a creepy spider-looking thing sticking out of its mouth and a noose around its neck, and an eerie looking head with two seemingly blood-stained tongues. Last year, Hatfield set up his kelp-o’-lanterns at his girlfriend’s house in town. For this year, the spooky decorations are staked out at his place. Hatfield’s house sits at the top of a hill, so trick-or-treaters on the hunt for candy are going to have to undertake quite the hike to witness them.
“[Last year] we had a few friends who were just like, ‘What is going on here?’ Because there’s no way your mind’s going to understand what they’re made of at first, when you first see them,” Hatfield says. “It is safe to say this is probably an annual tradition.”
As spooky season is in full swing, remember to keep your fake spiderwebs away from the typical flightpaths of birds and bats, such as on a tree.
The post Spooooooky! Alaskan man makes terrifying ‘kelp-o’-lanterns’ appeared first on Popular Science.
When a new disease emerges, things can get a little weird. We start to clean groceries with antibacterial wipes, the sound of a sneeze can trigger our fight-or-flight response, and we generally become more cautious. Humans may not be the only primate species that change their behavior in the face of disease.
According to a study published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) that lived through a deadly outbreak in 2020 became noticeably more cautious about food that appeared contaminated, even though this disease was not spread by food or feces. This indicates that purposefully shifting behavior to avoid a pathogen can be shaped by our appearance and that disgust may have deep evolutionary roots. It also sheds light on the behavioral immune system—a collection of behaviors that help animals avoid an infection before the biological immune systems respond.
“We can show now, in non-human primates, that this is the same for them,” Federico Rossano, a study co-author and cognitive psychologist at the University of California San Diego, said in a statement. “Even with no knowledge of how disease is transmitted, being exposed to others getting sick and dying changes the likelihood of engaging in behaviors that potentially could lead to some form of sickness.”
In 2020, the staff at a primate sanctuary in southern Texas confirmed the presence of simian retrovirus Type II. This disease can cause AIDS-like immunodeficiency and is primarily transmitted through bites and scratches. It caused severe illness and death in some of the monkeys. The sanctuary staff separated the groups and implemented testing and quarantine measures in response to the outbreak. Since the groups live in separate enclosures, scientists then had the chance to compare animals with similar backgrounds that had experienced very different social and disease environments.
In total, three groups of monkeys experienced the outbreak while one had not. The team tested
55 macaques to see how they responded to a choice between food that was put on a clean wooden surface and food placed on a surface covered with real macaque feces. The food with the feces was sealed under a layer of clear epoxy, so that the monkeys could see the food and poop without risking infection.
In the group that had been exposed to the outbreak, some of the individuals had been infected while others had lived alongside sick monkeys without getting sick. This allowed the researchers to question if experiencing an outbreak without getting infected could change the macaque’s behavior. To test that further, the clean surface was replaced with a brightly colored kitchen sponge in some of the scenarios to see if the animals were just avoiding unfamiliar objects.
Previous studies found that macaques aren’t necessarily deterred by contamination—as long as the payoff is tempting. When presented with a favorite treat (such as a peanut) wild Japanese macaques would still eat food from a surface covered in feces, but will avoid it for food like grains of wheat.
The team found that macaques from groups that went through the outbreak were far less likely to eat the food from the contaminated surface. They ate from the fake contaminated surface in only 47 percent of trials. The monkeys that did not experience the outbreak ate from the potentially contaminated surface in 79 percent of trials.
The monkeys from outbreak-exposed groups also behaved similarly whether or not they themselves had been infected. According to the team, this suggests the behavioral change was associated with their experiencing living through the outbreak, instead of actually getting sick
“Groups have histories, and those histories show up in behavior,” added study co-author and UC San Diego cognitive psychologist Stephan Kaufhold. “Living through the disease outbreak appears to have made those monkey groups more cautious around food that looks contaminated.”
The virus was spread through blood or saliva from bites and scratches, and not through contaminated food. Interestingly, the macaques who saw their fellow primates get sick, were more reluctant to eat food placed on a surface that visually suggested contamination in some of the tests.
In addition to shedding light on how illness affects primate behavior, it also offers insight into the evolution of disgust. The team did not measure disgust directly, but found that monkey’s avoidance of potential sources of infection can change with their experience, similar to what humans do.
Human disgust is believed to play an important role in protecting us from pathogens. We recoil from the smell and sight of poop, spoiled food, and other potential sources of infection. Our sensitivity to those cues can also change depending on context.
Since primates are capable of social learning, the team believes that heightened pathogen avoidance could be learned from other members in the group and persist over time. Future studies could see if newly introduced animals adopt the behavior of a group that has already experienced an outbreak.
The post Monkeys also avoid germs after viral outbreaks appeared first on Popular Science.
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