First Pass

13 stories from 6 sources

Climate risks dominate as science tracks cascading disruption

Day’s Recap

Supporting Articles

Observations indicate that a major component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has weakened across a broad region for nearly two decades. A continued slowdown could alter weather, rainfall, storms, winter conditions, and coastal sea levels around the Atlantic.

1:09 AMScienceDaily

Scientists warn that an exceptionally strong El Nino could produce severe global impacts between June and February, with countries in the Global South facing the greatest risks. The projected death toll reflects the potential effects of extreme heat, flooding, drought, disease, and food insecurity.

12:29 PMAl Jazeera

Scientists estimate that a severe El Nino could cause more than 450,000 deaths, with the greatest losses concentrated in poorer countries. Those countries already face food insecurity and elevated energy costs.

6:44 AMAl Jazeera

Evidence from 3,100 years of ocean sediments suggests that the Cascadia subduction zone and northern San Andreas fault have sometimes ruptured within minutes or hours of each other, including around the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. The findings indicate that major earthquakes could affect multiple West Coast regions almost simultaneously.

9:07 PMScienceDaily

Anthropic says its AI system Claude autonomously identified a new enzyme system resembling the molecular machinery behind CRISPR gene editing. The result comes from the company's new wet lab and is being presented as an early test of AI's ability to generate biological discoveries.

2:00 PMThe Verge

Other Developments

A curated list of other prominent stories from this day.

Neutron and X-ray imaging of a broken rib from Scotty, the largest known T. rex skeleton, revealed a fossilized network of blood vessels formed during bone healing. The finding provides unusually detailed evidence of how a dinosaur repaired severe injury 66 million years ago.

10:20 PMScienceDaily

Hurricane Polo has rapidly intensified into a rare category 5 storm off Mexico's coast. US hurricane officials described the speed of intensification as extraordinary.

1:58 PMBBC

The largest combined analysis of bat genomes and fossils suggests that bats first emerged in Europe about 65 million years ago. It also indicates that echolocation evolved early in bat history.

11:00 AMThe New York Times

Some tropical Clusia trees use CAM photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide at night, keeping their pores closed during hot daylight hours and conserving water. Comparing three species showed that this adaptation evolved through different combinations of ancient genome duplications and later genetic changes, producing strong, stress-triggered, and hybrid forms.

8:05 AMScienceDaily

The Arctic sea ice melt season is now about 40 days longer than in 1979, but its expansion unexpectedly leveled off around 2010. Researchers suggest changing clouds and increasingly thin ice may explain the pause, while warning that continued warming could produce another rapid shift.

7:39 AMScienceDaily

Astronomers have identified the first stellar stream from a globular cluster outside the Milky Way. Because these faint trails record how gravity stretches and disrupts star systems, they could provide a new way to map dark matter in distant galaxies.

7:23 AMScienceDaily

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