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Newfound 'fire amoeba from the Cascades' sets record for the hottest temperature complex life can survive at
The newly-described amoeba Incendiamoeba cascadensis can survive at a sweltering 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
Call it a win: boredom but no temper tantrums in Burnham’s first face-to-face with America’s King Baby
Meeting at the UN in New York, the UK prime minister showed signs he can handle trash-talking President Trump
NASA-Funded Research Finds Complex Life Defying Record Heat
NASA-supported scientists have discovered an organism that lives at extreme temperatures previously thought impossible for complex life. High temperatures can
This 'fire amoeba' pushes the limit of what's possible for complex life
Scientists have found a species they've named the fire amoeba, which is capable of reproducing at 145°F and continuing to move up to temperatures of 147°F — a record for complex eukaryotic life.
This Is An Amoeba Reproducing At 63°C, The Highest Temperature Ever Recorded For A Complex Cell
The appropriately named fire amoeba can live its entire life at a temperature hot enough to cook an egg.
City fielding tenants for historic Tempe National Bank, Tempe Hardware Building on Mill Avenue
The century-old Tempe National Bank building and the Tempe Hardware Building will soon be home to new businesses as the city fields offers for tenants to lease the spaces on Mill Avenue.
More than 12,000 power transformers could face flood risk as warming rises
SCE plans temperature monitors for underground circuits, while the report urges agencies, utilities and communities to use climate data in planning.
Business owner: Virginia already wrote the data-center heat law. Now make it a condition.
Every data center is a furnace. Nearly all the electricity that goes in comes out as heat, and the newest liquid-cooled halls put it out as warm water, exactly the temperature a greenhouse wants in…
Mixed mycorrhizal forests foster a richer diversity of understory herbs
In temperate forests, canopy trees shape understory herb diversity through the fungal partnerships they make
A 66-million-year-old tooth reveals T. rex was nearly as warm as a human
Chemical clues preserved inside fossilized T. rex teeth reveal that the dinosaur maintained a body temperature of about 97 degrees Fahrenheit, almost identical to humans. The finding provides direct evidence that the giant predator was warm-blooded, helping explain how it stayed active and survived in chilly environments as far north as Alaska.
The Big Holes in Wearable Heart Rate Variability And Readiness Scores
On September 9th, Apple announced it was revamping its Apple Watch Health Sensing System, rolling out a Readiness score (0 to 10), and increasing the frequency of heart rate variability (HRV) outputs 24-fold. This can be viewed as upping its competition with various other consumer wearable sensors. These “readiness scores” as a composite of multiple metrics, with heart rate variability (HRV) being front and center for most. The majority of Americans are now using wearable sensors, which equates to well over 100 million adults. HRV and Readiness scores are increasingly being marketed as a measurement of autonomic nervous system health, a digital marker for future disease, a clock for biological age, and a holistic metric to promote healthspan and even longevity. (Apple also introduced a new longevity tab and “Health Age”.) None of this has been proven. In this edition of Ground Truths I am going to review what we know about heart rate variability and readiness scores. Heart Rate Variability HRV is the variation in normal heart cycle timing. The variability of the heart rate, the barely perceptible millisecond changes in time between consecutive heart beats (see R-R intervals in the Figure below, left panel), is due to interplay between the sympathetic and parasympathetic (vagal nerve) inputs. Distinct from heart rate, individuals with the same heart rate can have very different HRVs. It is a rough reflection of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, inadequate to say whether a person’s ANS function is abnormal. For more than three decades, heart rate variability (HRV) has been measured and several studies have found an association of low HRV and clinical outcomes, particularly a link with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. There have also been less well established links of low HRV to risk of early cognitive impairment, dementia, mental illness, Type 2 diabetes and substance abuse. An important reminder is that HRV is a surrogate marker without any established cause-and-effect relationship. If you increase your HRV, that doesn’t mean it will improve health outcomes. In fact, there is no hard evidence for that. All that work linking to health outcomes was done with electrocardiogram (ECG) derived HRV. Now, in the era of consumer wearables, this is getting assessed differently, by optical pulse (yes, the lights you see) plethysmography (PPG) or what is called pulse rate variability (PRV). They are not the same, as shown below (right panel) and only concordant when the delay between the ECG and pulse is kept constant, which basically means at rest. I should mention there’s also what I will call MPV, a mattress mechanical movement sensor, a derived heart rate variability, that companies like Eight Sleep use, even further away from directly measuring HRV. HRV has not one uniform measurement but many different types of quantification, such as RMSSD, the magnitude of difference between successive R-R intervals of normal sinus beats (N-N) or SDNN, the standard deviation of NN intervals, both in milliseconds. SDNN is one of the so-called frequency domain HRVs (others are LF, HF, LF/HF). Different wearable sensors use different metics; Apple has relied on SDNN and nearly all of the others use RMSSD, which is generally considered the more accurate metric. There’s also the different length of time measured, such as for a matter of minutes, all day, or an overnight’s sleep. Short measurements are especially problematic since they don’t capture enough of respiratory modulation and other factors that influence HRV. Share Ground Truths How well does HRV correlate with PRV? There are very limited studies, especially independently done. One that is commonly cited was conducted by Air Force researchers in only 13 healthy adults assessing Oura ring 3 and 4, Whoop 4.0, and Garmin Fenix 6 and showed a correlation coefficient of 0.88 to 0.97 and a mean absolute percentage error from 6 to 10%. The correlation is not a perfect 1.0, but there’s at least a fairly high level of correlation. HRV is supposed to increase during the night due to takeover of the parasympathetic nervous system, and higher during deep sleep. A recent example of my 1 week, all day “HRV,” and one during sleep is shown below. As you can see, the N of 1 data are inconsistent for the same days from different sensors (Oura, AppleWatch, Fitbit Air, and Eight Sleep) by patterns, absolute numbers, and comparison with prior days and weeks. The largest study in over 8 million Fitbit users (the old version, not Google Fitbit Air, introduced in May 2026) gives you a sense of the effect of age, sex, and the 2 different main HRV (here PRV) metrics, with RMSSD on the left and SDRR (=SDNN) on the right below. That study, from data collected in 2018, is a major outlier, since all the more recent ones are tiny with respect to sample size. Many of the companies have not had independent evaluation of their HRV, such as Eight Sleep, but have published a low standard error on their website. There are some other published studies on the correlation between HRV and PRV, but they are all small and only in healthy adults. A scoping review emphasized the lack of study in underrepresented individuals, including the aged, people of color (which affects the PPG signal), and individuals who are underweight or obese. Add the typical adult age 60 plus with one or more chronic diseases. For example, one study in over 900 adults found poor correlation of HRV and PRV, non-uniformly underestimated across many chronic diseases (cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, respiratory, and others), concluding PRV is “an invalid surrogate for HRV.” A recent systematic review of 43 studies comparing HRV and PRV found reasonable pooled absolute standardized error (HRV as gold standard) but only 10 of the studies provided quantitative synthesis in ideal conditions. Their main conclusion was similarly cautious: “PPG-derived HRV [PRV] should not be regarded as universally interchangeable with ECG-derived HRV across all devices, populations, and recording contexts.” Factors Affecting HRV and PRV That gets me to the long list of factors that affect HRV (and PRV) besides the device, the type of measurement (RMSSD, SDNN or others), the person’s signal, the sensor site, the duration of data capture, if weighting by sleep stage is used, how artifact is processed and corrected. And this list is not complete!: Oura puts out data from their community of users (who input data) on what affects their overnight HRV. The factors currently provided are: no alcohol (increase 8%), melatonin (increase 2%, float tank (increase 2%), wine (decrease 4%), and party (decrease 14%) in overnight HRV. Must be some big parties! Subscribe What is a PRV measurement good for? It has been falsely characterized as an index of “autonomic balance” and a specific indicator of stress. A 2018 review of the studies available for HRV and its relationship to stress, not using any of the current wearables, found that stress can lower HRV. But so can many other factors. The non-specificity of the signal, indexed to the table above, is striking. Evidence from a UK Biobank study of over 46,000 participants with actual HRV looked at genetically predicted HRV, a genetic risk score, that failed to show the expected HRV-mortality link, indicating that _HRV is likely not causa_l, but rather a reflection of person’s physiologic state. A review of consumer wearable HRV data from 5 longitudinal studies showed that nighttime PRV was not associated with perceived stress, and surprisingly higher HRV, in the largest cohort (N=717 participants), was correlated with higher stress. An Oura ring cohort of 525 first-year college students found a link between overnight PRV and perceived stress, but that was also seen with resting heart rate, sleep, and respiratory rate. Several very small studies have examined the relationship of HRV and athletic injuries or guiding training with mixed, and predominantly negative results. HRV biofeedback training with paced breathing had no significant effect on reducing stress or raising HRV, as demonstrated with sham controlled trials. When HRV for multiple days showed a decline in conjunction with body temperature, the Oura ring published data for prediction of Covid. The WHOOP company sponsored an observational study, published in 2026, of 30,000 users for 72 weeks, without a control group, that reported reduced alcohol intake (5.8 % points) by self-report. That doesn’t tell us much, and particularly about the merits of HRV for behavioral change. If you use the same device and conditions as longitudinal trends for multiple (at least 2-3) weeks that may be the one way to get something useful from the measurements. Data for overnight sleep with minimal motion and using RMSSD is the best proxy for real HRV. The reason to look at trends rather than any given night is that it more likely represents something, even though you won’t know with certainty what the “it” is. Keep in mind there are no data, no peer-reviewed evidence, to show that HRV fluctuation in-person has any correlation with health outcomes. Share Readiness Scores These are proprietary scores that integrate different metrics for each of the wearables: no algorithms have been disclosed. They are unvalidated against health outcomes. In a review of 14 composite health scores of readiness and recovery, HRV contributed 86% to the scores, followed by reading heart rate (79%), physical activity and sleep duration (both at 71%). That review noted the substantial variability in measurement protools and lack of standardization. Sleep staging is notoriously inconsistent and inaccurate by these sensors, which adds further to the HRV uncertainties for what the scores, which use sleep stage data, mean. Only resting heart rate has been shown consistently across devices to be extremely accurate. I’ve made a Table to summarize what we know about which metrics are included, the scores, any peer-reviewed studies that compared the readiness score with health outcomes, and the corresponding (if any, NA-not available) citation. You will note that some companies do not use the term “readiness," such as WHOOP for recovery, and Garmin, which has 2 different scores, one of which is Body Battery. Eight Sleep uses the term “Fitness Score.” They all include HRV; Apple includes a new metric they call “Recovery HRV” which among other components uses 7-days of sleep, but it is unclear what this means or how it is differentiated from other scores (there are clearly no data for outcomes). We have no knowledge of how the different components are weighted or whether any of these scores are better than resting heart rate, HRV alone, physical activity, or any other single metric. Since none of these are standardized, they are not interchangeable, so if you get a 90 for Oura that has no relationship to a 90 on a Google Fitbit Air. Notably, the company can update its algorithm for readiness score at any point without notification to device users. Without any useful evidence of actionability for these scores or established relationship with health outcomes, it is hard to make a case for their value. At the Apple recent announcement they showed their Readiness score (0-10) on the watch (Figure below) but there are no published data on this score, not even on their website. It’s available only on their new Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4 [of course, ;-)]. That exemplifies the problems with these scores, lack of data and evidence for being meaningful to promote health. Perhaps the best study (which isn’t saying much) is the WHOOP Recovery for golfer performance, because it did correlate with an objective outcome, even though there was no control group and the authors were all from the company. Among the 389 pro golfers, an absolute 10-per cent point increase in Recovery score was associated with about 0.5 fewer strokes per round. But that’s hardly a health outcome! WHOOP is also conducting a study in over 2,700 runners to see if their recovery score will be linked to less injuries and improved performance, but that is not yet published and has no control group or randomization. Putting This in Context For two decades I’ve been enthusiastic about the potential for digital health and particularly wearable biosensors. Over the years, we’ve seen some great progress for their ability to promote physical activity and accurately detect atrial fibrillation (the first FDA cleared deep learning AI for consumers). That work was the subject of rigorous research. But there are holes in the data and evidence for other metrics. One notable one is the “VO2 max” story that I wrote about earlier this year. At that time many subscribers asked me to cover heart rate variability, which I finally got to here. When I dived into the research and publication for HRV and readiness scores, I expected to find at least some that were of high quality and demonstrated their utility by linkage to health outcomes. To my surprise, I found none. The wearable sensor measurements for HRV (PRV) are, for the most part, accurate, but that validation work has only been done in small studies of healthy adults and does not take into account the long list of factors, from the device, software side, and the user side, that affect HRV measurements. Moreover, this metric chiefly relies on optical sensing and, as we have learned for heart rate PPG sensing, may be less accurate in people of color. Keep in mind that all of the health outcome association evidence comes from ECG-derived HRV; none are from wearable sensor data. I will repeat the key point: there's no peer-reviewed evidence to show that in-person HRV fluctuation—or efforts to raise your HRV— has any correlation with health outcomes. For those of you who look at your HRV on awakening, or even 2+ week trends of it being low, I hope this context helps to relieve any anxiety. Yes, low HRV (not PRV) has been shown to increase risk of some diseases as summarized above. But efforts to raise your HRV—a surrogate metric— has not been established for improving any health outcomes. HRV does not have any evidence of causality (the genetic evidence actually goes against this possibility). In this summary, I have not included data for other wearable sensors such as Polar, Samsung, Withings, Suunto, Amazfit, Coros, Ultrahuman, or additional mattress sensors. These are beyond my first-hand experience, and as far as I know from my in-depth review none have any peer-reviewed published data that differ from the 6 sensors I’ve reviewed here. From the points I’ve gone over above, we’re not ready for readiness scores. Besides being proprietary, they are predominantly based on metrics that have their own issues. It’s compounding the problem, like building a house without a solid foundation that has never undergone a rigorous inspection, and then selling it. Like I mentioned for PRV, you can look at trends over weeks rather than any single day, to get a handle, but even that may not be helpful. There’s simply no evidence that these scores meaningfully relate to health outcomes. I’d emphasize they might, but that requires doing prospective or randomized studies to prove it. None exist. There’s great promise for HRV/PRV utility_. For example**,**_ Prof Maiken Nedergaard, who discovered the brain glymphatics that are essential in eliminating metabolic waste products from the brain during sleep, has posited that HRV could be a non-invasive marker for neuromodulator oscillations, brain-body regulatory circuits, and brain clearance. That would be extremely useful, but like everything else on HRV and readiness scores it requires solid research and validation. The lay media isn’t helping much to get the story straight. Earlier this year The Economist published a piece entitled “The most useful indicator of your overall health” which ordained HRV as an “accumulated stress score.” That’s akin to the false assertion about VO2max: “V02 max is the singular most powerful marker for longevity.” As I’ve summarized here, that is not established. The fact is that so many things can lower HRV, including physical exercise (especially an intense workout), reduced sleep quality, stress, the list above, no less the device, signal, and software. Whatever fluctuations observed have not been correlated with any health outcome. Sadly, “datamaxxers” are widely using HRV and readiness scores that have never been validated to mean anything. We already know that for some people using the sensors for sleep metrics, it can induce “orthosomnia,” an obsession to get high sleep quality, with associated high levels of anxiety. In an experiment done by a company to promote sleep quality for its employees, “For those employees who did use the trackers, many reported feeling perfectly rested until their tracker told them they had had a terrible night. Others were told that they had slept like a baby when they had actually been lying awake worrying about the quality of their sleep. “ The same problem can result from preoccupation with HRV or readiness scores, with anxiety that would lead to further reduction in both. It you are using a wearable like >100 million American adults, it’s OK to look at these data, but contextualized with the major caveats reviewed here. If you are one to require evidence that HRV or readiness scores are linked to health outcomes, you may not even want to look. The companies make it hard to turn them off! Let me end with the companies that make and sell wearables. Apple’s doubling down on HRV (24-fold more reporting and heart rate very 5 seconds) and introduction of a Readiness score tells us that consumers have bought into these metrics and they are joining the club. However, all of this is occurring with a backdrop of tens millions of users, claims about the data that are not backed up by adequate evidence, marketing way out in front of whatever limited data exists, and not being transparent about their readiness score algorithms. The companies can well afford to do the research that is needed to connect these metrics with health outcomes show, once and for all, that increasing HRV or using readiness scores promotes our health. If they believed and invested in the products they are selling, we’d not be in this position of not knowing. That’s essentially where we are with HRV and readiness scores. Perhaps someday this will change and we’ll have good reason to embrace them. NB: I wrote this post. No AI. I have no conflicts of interest with any of its content. Loading... Ground Truths has 215,000 subscribers from every US state and 214 countries. There are over 300,000 followers of Ground Truths so more than 90,000 folks who can easily convert to be free subscribers. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. If you’re not a subscriber, please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths The proceeds from all voluntary paid subscriptions go to support our summer internship program. It enabled us to accept and support a record number of 62 summer interns that joined us in 2026! These are high school, college and medical students selected from thousands of applicants. We couldn’t do this expanded program without the funds coming in through Ground Truths. Thank you!
As Europe warms, Italy sees West Nile virus spread
Italian health authorities see evidence that rising temperatures and longer warm seasons are helping mosquitoes spread West Nile virus across a wider area, during more months of the year.
High-resolution dataset tracks health impacts of urban heat stress
Heat stress is a leading cause of weather-related deaths and can be especially dangerous in cities where phenomena like urban heat islands drive temperatures higher than surrounding rural areas.
Can windows cool buildings without electricity?
Thermochromic smart windows can automatically adjust solar and thermal radiation in response to temperature, offering a passive route to reduce building energy demand and improve indoor comfort. A new review published in Science Bulletin examines why these windows have not yet achieved large-scale application, despite rapid materials progress. The authors identify key challenges in spectral regulation, switching temperature, response speed, durability, scalable fabrication, glazing integration, lifecycle impacts, and building control. They argue that future development should shift from isolated material optimization toward deployment-oriented design and system-integrated adaptive building envelopes.
Lake Powell Drops to Record-Low Levels
Snow drought and unusually warm temperatures in the Colorado Basin in 2026 helped drive down reservoir water storage in the U.S. West.
T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds
Using fossilized teeth, scientists have finally taken the T. rex's temperature — and it wasn't too different from our own.
Opinion: Mr. Mayor, don’t use Jewish Chicagoans as political foils
Your office carries a special responsibility to lower the temperature, not raise it, write two leaders of the Jewish United Fund.
The T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds
Using fossilized teeth, scientists have finally taken the T. rex’s temperature — and it wasn’t too different from our own.
The T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds
Using fossilized teeth, scientists have finally taken the T. rex’s temperature — and it wasn’t too different from our own.
Tempe sports grill, casual Scottsdale spot hit with health code violations
A popular Tempe sports grill and a causal Scottsdale eatery were among restaurants hit with health code violations in this week's Dirty Dining report.
Summer Goes Out With a Heat Dome
Temperature records toppled across the central and southern U.S. as the autumnal equinox approached.
Breathing through the haze: Indonesia confronts a wildfire health crisis
A 'super-El Niño' driving up temperatures and punishing droughts is fanning Indonesia's most intense wildfires in over a decade.
What Does the Science of Climate Change Really Look Like?
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on how the Right should think about environmental and climate policy. Read Chris Barnard on Reclaiming Environmental Policy from the Left. More than a decade ago, the world’s governments negotiated and signed the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. In the following years, climate had immense cultural power. Greta Thunberg emerged. Fortune 500 companies established net-zero plans. The U.S. got the Inflation Reduction Act. Then the pendulum swung back. President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, speaking of green energy as a “scam” and carbon footprints as a “hoax” and on all matters of international policy emphasizing bilateral engagement and power over globalism and cooperation. The technology companies that had been at the forefront of net-zero pledges and green leadership discovered the importance of all-of-the-above power to their visions for artificial intelligence and began quietly postponing or removing their targets. On the left side of the political spectrum, rising concerns about inflation and cost pushed climate lower down in the stated priorities of voters and stump speeches of politicians. The moment is ripe for a reset on the politics of climate change and for conservatives especially to chart a course that acknowledges and addresses the real challenges in plausible ways. So what should we think about climate change as we enter a post-peak climate era? If it is neither an apocalypse nor a hoax, what will hold up as a durable view of climate change? And how does it project onto the concerns and priorities of the right-of-center’s emerging coalition? New to Commonplace_? Subscribe below to get the magazine in your inbox._ Subscribe A Solid Foundation As the politics and economics of climate careened over the past ten years, the physics carried on regardless. In 2015, the year the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted, the world emitted 41.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. By 2025, emissions had risen only 2.4%, to 42.2 gigatonnes, because falling emissions from land use offset increasing emissions from fossil fuels. But slow growth in annual emissions is not rapid decline, let alone net-zero, so carbon dioxide kept accumulating in the atmosphere, going from 399 to 426 parts per million. Global temperature kept rising too, from about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the 1850–1900 average in 2015, to 1.4 degrees above it in 2025. None of this should surprise anyone. Even most prominent skeptics, like the authors of the 2025 report commissioned by the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, accept the basic physics. Carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere at industrial volumes accumulates and traps heat that would otherwise escape to space. That heat warms the upper ocean and increases temperatures at the surface. Increased ocean heat and melting of land ice cause sea levels to rise. Changes in the climate become noticeable to us as subtle shifts in temperature and precipitation, seasons arriving early or late, changes in the surrounding ecosystem, and weather extremes. The much more meaningful debate is not about whether these things are happening, but about what it all means for human societies. (While it is a proxy measure of overall risk, no one experiences global surface temperature.) This debate invokes at least three interesting questions: how much today’s warming is showing up in regional climate trends, how much more warming we should anticipate, and how extreme weather events can be understood in the context of climate change. Recent scientific advances give us new insights into each of these, but there is still much to learn. This is the context in which the next generation of conservative leaders will be the first to deal with significant climate change as a fact, not a forecast. It will be with them for their entire careers. Our evolving scientific picture of climate change will come from weather and climate records stretching further into the past, new kinds of observations in the present, better modeling tools for the future, and simply more time to observe the emergence of climate signals and their tangible effects on ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world. The policy landscape will be shaped by not only the impacts of changes in the climate, but also by the ways in which societies respond and by the emergence of new technologies for both altering the trajectory of emissions and adapting to new climate realities. Global climate records now show the fingerprints of warming in different phenomena around much of the world. The IPCC, in its most recent assessment report, documents warming trends over all land regions, even as natural variability adds substantial variance to local trends. And the highest temperature extremes have become more intense and frequent, almost everywhere, since the 1950s. Scientists are highly confident that these changes are attributable to human influence. But confidence in detecting trends and attributing them to human influence degrades across heavy precipitation events; drought trends are heterogeneous and not attributable to human activity with great confidence. For hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms there is even less confidence in trends or their relationship to climate change. In general, a fair summary of the evidence is that for well-observed phenomena, like surface temperature or heavy rainfall, with a clear relationship to warming, our multidecadal observations are consistent with human influence overcoming natural variability over long time periods and extremes increasing. For regions that are sampled more sparsely, or phenomena with a higher noise-to-signal ratio, we will need to observe them longer to understand the magnitude of the climate signal or improve dynamical understanding using models and observations together. But for Climate For those who can’t wait, we also have new techniques that attempt to understand the role climate change has in influencing particular extreme events. When the climate is changing and disaster strikes, it is natural to ask whether that disaster was somehow “caused” by climate change. For scientists and policymakers acting in good faith, answering that question helps develop a more accurate picture of the problem, how it may be getting worse, and what preparations we should be making to respond to it. It may, at some point, give some weight to how liability is assigned by courts or adaptation funding is distributed by society. But how we ask this question is extremely important. It is easy to get the analysis wrong by discounting the role that meteorology plays. As meteorologist Theodore Shepherd explained in a clear 2016 review of climate attribution methods, “if a weather or climate event is truly extreme in the present climate, then perforce it requires unusual meteorological conditions, which means that climate change is at most a contributing factor.” Share Scientists have two ways to probe climate as a contributing factor, both of which have entered media coverage of extreme weather events. One asks a probabilistic question: How much more likely is a particular event (e.g., a temperature record over a particular area) amid global warming? The answer involves using historical records and computer simulations to estimate the likelihood of such an event in both a changed and a preindustrial climate. The findings are less about the specific event, and more about events of that nature. The other question is: How has the changed climate affected the specific event in question? Here, scientists try to understand what a similar event would have looked like in the preindustrial climate. This is sometimes called the storyline approach, where the story is the specific meteorological details of the event. These methods offer ways to test the intuition of scientists about real weather extremes. In late June and early July of 2021, a persistent high-pressure ridge, or heat dome, set up over the Pacific Northwest and an extraordinary heat wave affected the area from Oregon to British Columbia. For six days, it shattered temperature records across the region and hundreds died from heat-related causes, in an area where such high, and persistently high, temperatures were well outside of experience and many live without air conditioning. Scientists have studied its connection to climate change using multiple approaches. This specific event was created by a rare combination of meteorological factors, a strong high-pressure ridge created the conditions for extreme heat, which occurred on top of higher average temperatures in the region from global warming. Probabilistic analyses showed that climate change increased the likelihood of such an event by at least 8-fold to more than 100-fold. One standout example found that such an event had effectively zero probability of occurring in the preindustrial climate. The enormous range in these assessments reflects how hard it is to estimate probabilities of events at the tail of the historical record. Estimates of the effect on the temperature of the event are more clustered. A recent review paper documents how multiple methodologies have found a positive influence, roughly 1-2 degrees Celsius of an anomaly that exceeded 15 degrees, of climate change on the temperature magnitude of the event. Multiple studies have investigated and found some positive influence of climate change in other extreme events. Attribution studies found climate likely increased the heavy rainfall that accompanied Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and surrounding regions in 2024. The extensive fires that struck Los Angeles in 2025 illustrate how the causal chain can become messy, though. Studies do detect a positive influence of climate on the event’s likelihood, but while climate change likely contributed to underlying aridity, it would not have played a role in the heavy winds or land practices that preceded disaster. These event attribution studies will become more common for extreme, or damaging, weather events. They can be produced quickly, and often are reported before peer review. As the Pacific Northwest heatwave example shows, when multiple methods converge on a positive attribution, the finding should probably carry some weight even if you have to be careful about accepting the results from a single study. I expect that as climate change proceeds and the climate thus departs further from a preindustrial counterfactual, the influence will become more detectable across a variety of extreme events and more easily identified. This will be used to cast blame, but can also be used to inform how communities and society adapt to ongoing change. We May Still Be Surprised One positive development, insofar as less climate change is better, has been that our central estimates for future climate change should probably be revised downward. Mostly, that is because the high-end warmings that scientists regularly analyzed about ten to 20 years ago, driven by high emissions throughout the twenty-first century, now appear to be somewhere between unlikely and impossible. At one time, the upper end of mainstream climate projections extended well into 4 to 6 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of this century, which, models suggest, would have wrought enormous real-world damage. Current energy and policy trends now point toward 2.5 or 3 degrees. Damages and risks are commonly modeled as increasing steeply with more warming, so this is already a better-than-previously-expected outcome for the climate (which is independent of the physical response to emissions). But we should maintain a wide range for plausible outcomes and prepare for the possibility of being surprised. Emissions trajectories are subject to deep uncertainty, the physical climate response is still developing, and whatever change occurs in the climate will then be mediated through unpredictable economic, social, and political institutions. Over the past decade, the pace of warming surprised some keen observers and appeared to accelerate, though not yet outside the range of expectation provided by climate models. The reasons for that apparent acceleration are being actively studied (as was the apparent pause in warming from 1998 to 2012), but no single driver has emerged. Some blame it on the El Niño, variability which would have no bearing on climate. Some think it is a result of factories in East Asia and global shipping fleets cutting aerosol emissions, which in the strongest version of the argument would indicate higher climate sensitivity to carbon-dioxide emissions. Others are more measured, not yet ready to draw solid conclusions as to whether climate projections require revision. We will have to see. Long-Term Thinking Climate change asks us to think over long time scales. But the pace of human-driven warming is compressing a large global change into a century. Changing weather patterns and extreme events are already causing adjustment costs and damages and will do more. Adaptation will help, but it is not free. For some communities, these costs will erode livelihoods and well-being, and may force migration. Are we prepared for large-scale managed retreats in the United States? Thankfully, American wealth, geographical diversity, and moderate climates may leave us better prepared than many around the world. But wealthy countries can still suffer serious disruption from narrowly concentrated costs, even if they appear entirely manageable in aggregate. Readers of Commonplace are familiar with the challenges of rapidly adapting to economic forces. The displacement that came from the China Shock is barely perceptible in aggregate GDP and employment data, but it affected millions of people and those people were far less mobile than economic models tended to assume. Deindustrialization rippled through the nation with enormous effects for not only our economic vitality, but also our national security. The forces surrounding climate change may not be so different; the world gets richer and must accept some diffuse costs. Those may be modest overall, but cause all manner of unpredictable effects with which policymakers must cope. In the case of the China Shock, our faith in a growing pie served us poorly. We’ll need to do better on climate. Leave a comment
T. rexes were as warm-blooded as elephants, study finds
Scientists have long discussed whether and which dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Now, researchers say they have used chemistry to take the temperature of two T. rexes. Here's what they found.
Fossil tooth analysis confirms Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded
By using fossil teeth, scientists measured T. rex’s body temperature for the first time. They found evidence of an active, warm-blooded predator.
The T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds
A new study has found that the T.
Scientists finally figured out the temperature of T. rex's blood — and it was as hot as ours
Tooth analysis has revealed that the king of the dinosaurs was as warm-blooded as a human or an elephant
Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded, new study confirms
The King of the Dinosaurs had an internal temperature similar to you.
Scientists finally know the body temperature of the Tyrannosaurus rex
Using a fossil-based thermometer on the dinosaur's teeth, researchers have revealed that the animal's body temperature was comparable to a human's.
Scientists discover how to decode weather on faraway, deep-space worlds
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a powerful way to unravel the changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, “SIMP 0136”, previously linked with Northern Lights-like phenomena, is largely shaped by just two dominant processes: changes in temperature and the vertical structure of its clouds.
Tempe business owners find success despite fewer people drinking alcohol
Data shows that less Americans are drinking alcohol each passing year. Despite this, local business owners are confident that the bar and restaurant industry can still thrive.
Robots and AI find a hidden reaction inside 135-year-old chemistry
Chemical reactions are often written as simple equations: starting materials go in, and a product comes out. In reality, the samesubstrates can follow many different pathways depending on their concentrations, temperature, catalysts, and other conditions. Exploring all of these possibilities by hand is practically impossible. Now, advances in laboratory automation and chemical artificial intelligence are allowing researchers to systematically map this vast “reaction hyperspace”—and uncover chemistry that may have remained hidden even in reactions studied for more than a century. To address this question, scientists led by Prof. Bartosz A. GRZYBOWSKI, Director of the Center for Algorithmic and Robotized Synthesis within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) used an automated robotic platform to explore 960 different sets of conditions for the Biginelli reaction, a classic multicomponent reaction first reported in 1891.
'That could push them over the edge': How climate change could fuel impulsive behavior
In this exclusive video, we explore how climate change and rising temperatures can affect mental health.
Expanding Tick and Itch Season Supports Momentum in Elanco Innovation, Meeting Pet Owner Demand for Health and Wellness Care
/PRNewswire/ -- As the calendar turns to fall, Americans expect a seasonal reprieve from ticks and allergies. However, with warming temperatures and expanded...
Swedish elections on a knife-edge
A ‘razor-thin’ victory for the centre-left is forecast but not certain, in a result that tests the temperature of European politics
Forget lunar metropolises: Water limits could cap moon's population, scientists say
Grand lunar ambitions may need to be tempered.
Scientists Turn Common Plastic Waste Into Fuel Using Heated Salts
Common plastic waste could become fuel using heated salts instead of extreme temperatures. Plastic bags, cutting boards, and many other everyday products are made from a plastic that is notoriously difficult to reuse once it becomes waste. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have now found a way to break down this plastic and turn
Magic of science
Students take a fun science class in Wenling, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on September 13, 2026. Through intuitive and interesting experiments, abstract physical principles were turned into visible phenomena, allowing students to explore the mysteries of low-temperature science up close. Photo: VCG
French Scientists Create a New Form of Ice at Temperatures That Would Vaporize Steel
French researchers have created a new form of superionic ice at temperatures above 3,600°F, offering clues about Uranus and Neptune's magnetic fields.
Why Everything Scientists Thought About Fertilization Timing Was Just Proven Wrong - Futura-Sciences
What if Temperature Is the Real Key to Male Fertility? Did you ever stop and wonder why testicles are located outside the human body? Well, it’s not for the sake of making gym shorts more interesting. The real reason is that sperm cells aren’t fans of heat – they thrive...
Science Behind the Forecast: Wine grapes demand temperatures that are just right
Every week WAVE 3 meteorologist Tawana Andrew breaks down what we know and what we don't about the climate and weather here in Louisville.
Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields music festival supported women-centered organizations
The weather in Irvine was unusual on Aug. 29. Temperatures rose to a beaming 95 degrees early in the day. Who wouldn’t want to stay indoors in that scorching condition? Fans coming to watch Olivia Rodrigo’s revolutionary Daisy Chain Fields music festival, that’s who. Tickets went live and sold out within the first half hour, […]
Awareness of Climate Change and Its Impact on Reproductive Health
Background and aim Climate change poses a serious threat and crisis to health globally, with reproductive and maternal health falling under the vulnerable group exposed to extreme temperature...
Weather forecast for Auburn's Week 2 game vs Southern Miss
Fans attending Saturday's game between Auburn and Southern Miss will be battling high temperatures and possibly a few rain drops.
SportsZone Game of the Week 3 Forecast
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Sportzone Game of the Week 3 is forecast for partly cloudy skies, slightly warm temperatures, windy conditions, and maybe a stray storm. Week three of high school football is a big rivalry between Sioux City East and Bishop Heelan, taking place here at home in Sioux City, IA. Low 80s […]
Menlo Business Brokerage Expands Team with Strategic Hire
TEMPE, Ariz., September 11, 2026--Menlo Business Brokerage today announced that Emily Stubbs has joined the firm as a business advisor. She will represent ABA practices, professional services firms, medical practices, and other businesses looking to sell, bringing a strategic and legally informed perspective to each transaction.
Multnomah County health inspections: Ruth's Chris Steak House, Little Griddle, Xing Ding Dumpling House
An August health inspection found a string of food safety and cleanliness problems at restaurants in Multnomah County, including raw chicken stored above strawberries, cooked foods held above safe temperatures, […]
Alliance Entertainment Holding Corp (AENT) (Q4 2026) Earnings Call Highlights: Revenue Climbs ...
Alliance Entertainment Holding Corp (AENT) posted record annual revenue and double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth, but a non-cash write-off and negative operating cash flow tempered GAAP results.
Wasps are disappearing this summer, and scientists are worried
Britain’s wasps have become mysteriously scarce this summer, and scientists suspect an unusual combination of temperature swings, heatwaves, and food shortages may be responsible. Even the wasps that remain appear unusually small, potentially offering a glimpse of how extreme heat could reshape insect populations.
Indonesian wildfires cause respiratory infections to double in a week, health ministry says
This year’s wildfire season is the most intense in 11 years as “super-El Niño” weather conditions drive up temperatures and cause punishing droughts.
Global heat stuck on high. Scientists say August was Earth’s hottest month they’ve measured.
Global monthly ocean temperatures in August tied a March 2024 all-time record.
August was world's joint-hottest month on record, scientists say
The world just experienced its joint-hottest month since records began, with August pushing the planet's average global temperature to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday.
Nick Offerman Responds to Ben Shapiro’s Homophobic ‘Last of Us’ Digs
The actor hadn’t watched the conservative host’s temper tantrum over his Last of Us episode until now.
Scientists Are Still Trying To Understand How the Moon Formed
The Earth and the Moon have nearly identical isotopic compositions, and the Giant Impact Hypothesis strives to explain this. New research into the ancient impact shows how the temperature of both worlds, and how it affects the strength of the materials involved in the collision, shaped the outcome, including the isotopic compositions.
Current events: Scientists keep close eye on Atlantic Ocean changes
The year is 2060. London shudders through months of Nordic winter freezes. Across northern Europe, oak and beech forests wither under severe frost and drought, while cereal yields collapse from temperatures ...
Falcons Fans Should Temper Expectations for Young Rookie Wide Receiver
The Atlanta Falcons may bring this rookie along slowly.
Balancing an egg: How scientists built a floating magnet to hunt dark matter
Researchers built LeMaMa, a room-temperature levitated magnetometer sensitive enough to aid dark matter searches and monitor brain signals.
Scientists reconstructed a Wyoming forest from 56-million-year-old fossil leaves; it lost about 60% of its canopy during ancient warming and took more than 100,000 years to recover
Deep in the rock record of Wyoming, a layer of fossil leaves tells a quiet but powerful story about what happens to forests when the planet warms rapidly. About 56 million years ago, during a spike in global temperatures known as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a lush subtropical forest that once covered the region lost roughly 60 percent of its canopy.
Cuba: US Embassy issues health alert due to GI pathogens like norovirus, Shigella
The US Embassy in Havana issued a health alert last week after seeing a significant increase in diarrheal illness across Cuba, associated with the continuing degradation of the water and energy infrastructure. This degradation affects water supply, and food storage and temperature control. Recent cases have included E. coli, norovirus, Shigella, and other gastrointestinal pathogens. This comes after a health alert dated August 28 which noted that Cuba’s water delivery infrastructure is increasingly unstable. The Embassy is aware of reports of residential neighborhoods that have gone for long periods without receiving water from municipal or public sources. Dengue cases surge in the Tampa Bay area Prolonged and worsening water issues and power outages caused by the regime’s mismanagement of public infrastructure impact the entire island. Water often only flows to residences when city power is on for a sufficient amount of time. Media reports indicate wells are running dry across the country due to drought, aggravating the ability to supplement water delivery. The lack of water, coupled with power shortages that have disrupted cold chain networks, can present significant health and safety challenges. We remind U.S. citizens to be aware of the risks when traveling to Cuba and take precautions. Embassy officials offer the following precautions to prevent illnesses: Avoiding Foodborne Illness: Be cautious of meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy, and other perishable foods that may have been inadequately stored. Avoid foods that appear to have been sitting at room temperature for extended periods. Avoid raw or improperly washed vegetables. Be cautious of food cooked and then cooled, stored, or reheated, as improper temperature control can allow pathogens or toxins to develop. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before eating and after using the restroom. Hand sanitizer may be less effective against certain gastrointestinal pathogens, including norovirus. Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Water Safety: Use only water known to be safe for drinking, brushing teeth, making ice, and cooking. Use bottled or appropriately treated water; check that bottle seals are intact before opening. Avoid ice unless the water source is known to be safe. Do not use untreated tap water to prepare beverages or food. Be aware that contamination can occur when food, utensils, and surfaces are washed with contaminated water. If You Become Ill: Stay hydrated, especially with frequent diarrhea or vomiting. Most illnesses are self-limited and improve within several days. Seek medical attention for persistent or severe diarrhea, bloody stools, high fever, significant abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, signs of dehydration, or symptoms not improving. Common medications (e.g., acetaminophen, ibuprofen, antibiotics) are frequently unavailable in Cuba; consider bringing your own supply. If you like the reporting on Outbreak News Today, please consider a paid subscription for $5/month or $30 a year. Help support the cause of this niche journalism. It is appreciated.
Local business owner brings Fall Fest to his backyard Sunday
The warm temperatures don't signal that it’s time for Fall Festivals, but it didn't keep away the crowds of people who made their way to Harker Heights Ceramic Coatings on
New Center Seeks to Unlock the Science of Turbulence for Energy, Flight, and Discovery
To advance understanding of turbulence, the National Science Foundation is establishing a new, $30 million Science and Technology
'Extreme' transistor can withstand heat of 1000-plus F — priming it for use in Venus-bound probes
The silicon carbide transistor is designed to avoid low controllability and current leakage, which typically become problems at high temperatures.
32 reactions | AfD leader Tino Chrupalla called Germany's extreme...
AfD leader Tino Chrupalla called Germany's extreme summer "perfectly normal" and dismissed concerns as scaremongering. But temperature records — and climate science — tell a different story....
[Science Through Covers] Alpine plants in the Bernese Alps face extinction as warming intensifies
Twenty-one-year Science study links higher mountaintop temperatures to rising local extinctions above the treeline
CDFW: Scientists keeping an eye on river conditions to protect winter-and-fall-run salmon
From the Department of Fish and Wildlife As California continues to feel the impacts of a heat dome that is bringing higher than normal temperatures to large portions of the state, it’s a good time to remember that fish and wildlife — especially salmon — need cold water, too. River temperature management is critical for salmon’s survival and spawning. Earlier this year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced that commercial ocean salmon fishing was back after being closed for three […]
Chinese-German team builds ultra-sensitive ‘floating compass’ to hunt dark matter
The device detects vanishingly weak magnetic signals, such as those produced by the human brain, and can operate at room temperature.
You Can Train Your Body to Handle Exercise in the Heat, Experts Say
Here’s what experts say about whether heat training is worthwhile—and safe—for people who want to keep exercising outside as temperatures rise.
Ag, economics, and politics
The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, Sept. 1, indicates a continued backwards slide into worse conditions. Almost all of Barton County and much of the surrounding are now in moderate/severe drought with more and most of Stafford and Rice Counties in severe drought. The northeastern third of the state is in good shape as is a small area of the northwest. The six-to-10-day forecast (Sept. 8-12) indicates a 70-90% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and 33-50% of leaning above near normal for precipitation. The eight-to-14-day forecast (Sept. 10-16) indicates a 60-80% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and near normal to leaning a bit above normal for precipitation.
Hydrate early, limit alcohol: ASU health director shares game day safety tips
While kickoff signals the long-awaited start of fall for many Alabamians, dangerously high temperatures still pose a serious threat to football fans and athletes alike.
Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says in report that maps path back below danger zone
In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming's harms. So now the world must figure out how to get temperatures below the danger zone and back to safety, officials say.
Schools around Kansas City had to cancel or delay outdoor sports due to dangerous heat all week
High temperatures are pushing Kansas City area schools to delay football games and cancel sports practices in order to keep kids safe on the field. But "it’s an easy decision" to make, one local athletic director said.
For the first time, a key UN report says the 1.5 C global warming threshold is lost
In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming's harms. Officials say the world must now figure out how to get temperatures below the danger zone and back to safety.
Drought Intensifies Across Puerto Rico
Rainfall deficits and high temperatures have created unusually dry conditions and have spurred water shortages on much of the tropical archipelago.
New Center Seeks to Unlock the Science of Turbulence for Energy, Flight, and Discovery
To advance understanding of turbulence, the National Science Foundation is establishing a new, $30 million Science and Technology Center (STC) at Michigan State University. Georgia Tech is among eight universities supporting the center.
Ocean heatwaves linked with poorer health among children in coastal communities
Marine heatwaves — periods of abnormally warm ocean temperatures — may have negative health effects on children who live in coastal communities in low- or middle-income countries, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Influencer pleads guilty to criminal impersonation for viral pranks at Arizona businesses
An influencer known for prank videos pleaded guilty to posing as an employee during chaotic business takeovers in Tempe, Arizona.
Scientists discover a massive heat anomaly deep inside Mars
Mars has a hidden temperature divide, with its southern interior potentially hundreds of degrees hotter than the north and partially molten. The discovery could help explain several long-standing Martian mysteries, including unusual magnetism, seismic behavior, and clues to the planet’s ancient water history.
'Everything is connected': Readers share their concerns about extreme heat's health impacts
Are you worried about extreme heat? Live Science readers reveal their thoughts about Earth's rising temperatures.
TEMPEST collaboration will take on turbulence
Yale is part of a new, multi-institution research center focused on understanding and controlling turbulence — one of the oldest unsolved problems in physics.
Beautiful Night for Friday Night Football!
The “Battle of the Bluefields” will go off without a hitch! Skies continue to clear this afternoon and evening, so skies will be mostly clear by kickoff. There will still be some sunshine time to start, but the sun sets just before 8:00 tonight. Temperatures at our 7:30 PM kickoff will be nice and comfortable […]
High School Sports in the Heat
High temperatures and new safety rules are transforming practice as a new school year begins.
Understanding the science behind cooling the body down on the cellular level in extreme heat
UAB researchers explain how heat stress affects cells during extreme temperatures, revealing how cellular defense systems protect against damage and what these responses can teach scientists about aging, cancer, neurodegenerative disease and human health.
How worried are you about the health impacts of extreme heat?
Are you worried about the effects of rising temperatures on your and your community's health? Take our poll to answer now.
17 fall festivals in Lancaster County in 2026, from Harvest Days to makers markets
Soon, sweltering temperatures will be replaced with brisk breezes and everything pumpkin themed.
Why rising heat is Asia’s next major health challenge
Higher temperatures are putting new pressure on health systems across the region, prompting a broader push for awareness, prevention and earlier action.
Let Me Explain: Keeping cool during late-summer sports - College of Arts and Sciences
Let Me Explain is a series in which we ask a College of Arts and Sciences faculty member to shed light on an intriguing, timely or often misunderstood topic related to their research. This month, we asked Jessica Murfree how rising temperatures are impacting late-summer sports.
A spatially programmable microfluidic chip for multi-stage particle and cell separation
A programmable microfluidic device developed at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, combines deterministic lateral displacement, a microfluidic technique that is used to separate particles according to their size, with temperature-responsive polymer micropillars to dynamically change the separation conditions along a single channel. Using this device, the researchers successfully separated multiple particle populations. Additionally, they efficiently isolated viable cancer cells, white blood cells, and red blood cells from diluted whole blood.
ASU students return to Tempe boosting local businesses
Arizona State University students are returning to Tempe, bringing energy and business back to downtown restaurants and shops for the new school year. FOX 10's Irene Snyder checks out some local shops.
A deep dive into climate change
Some policymakers continue to question the science of climate change, despite the growing evidence of significant damage to life on land and in the ocean.Katja Matthes, director of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, believes the ongoing attempts to politicise climate science and discredit researchers are hindering international cooperation and public understanding. The ocean provides clear evidence of the extent to which changes are occurring, she says.“We are seeing severe, unprecedented and accelerating changes in the ocean — warming ocean temperatures, acidification and oxygen depletion — that are destabilising the most important system that makes life on this planet possible,” Matthes explains. Visible signs of these changes include the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Greenland. Deeper down, the growing frequency of hypoxia — or oxygen-deprived “dead zones”, where marine life can no longer survive — in the Baltic and record-high Mediterranean surface temperatures are indicators of the “dramatic warming” of the ocean, she adds.The ocean, which covers around 70% of the Earth’s surface, acts as a vital carbon sink, absorbing around 30% of the planet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) and 90% of the excess heat. However, the global ocean surface temperature has risen by an average of half a degree Celsius since 1982, according to the EU Copernicus observatory. More significant rises have been recorded in the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic and other shallower seas.Some ocean temperature increases do occur naturally, such as during El Niño events. But sustained rises can trigger extreme weather on land — including droughts, floods and catastrophic storms — while also harming marine ecosystems. Only 10% of marine species have been studied, Matthes notes, “so the consequences might be even more severe than we know.”Fostering European cooperation amid uncertaintyMatthes, who holds a doctorate in meteorology, is a professor of atmospheric physics as well as director of GEOMAR. She serves as one of Kiel’s ambassadors to Science Comes to Town (SCTT), an EU-funded programme that aims to promote science’s role in society and strengthen cross-border collaboration in research, innovation and sustainability. SCTT is hosted by the coastal cities of Kiel, Brest (in France) and Split (in Croatia).The SCTT project also provides a platform for raising awareness and understanding between scientists and the public about major issues, such as climate change. Having worked on both sides of the Atlantic, Matthes is frustrated by recent attempts to erode decades of international climate collaboration and question the credibility of research. Earlier this year, the US administration delivered a major blow to global cooperation by withdrawing from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other global climate organisations, claiming they were “contrary to the interests of the United States.”In addition, a US Department of Energy (DOE) report cast doubt on the latest IPCC climate assessment, which was published in 2024. As a contributing author to the IPCC study, Matthes says the DOE sought to discredit scientists like herself. “Climate change is not a matter of opinion, it really exists and we are witnessing dramatic changes,” she notes. “It’s not climate change as a whole that is being targeted, but scientists and their research.”Other US actions have also hit home for Matthes, who spent three years at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The White House has announced plans to close the facility, a move that was “pretty tough” due to the German scientist’s personal connections with the staff and their reputation for excellence.Changing the narrative on climate changeEurope’s scientific community remains a driving force on climate research and collaboration. As one of the world’s leading marine research institutions, GEOMAR attracts students from more than 50 countries and plays an important role in global observation initiatives that contribute to understanding and protecting the ocean basins. At a European level, GEOMAR works closely with other top marine research facilities, including France’s Ifremer, an SCTT partner in Brest. GEOMAR has also developed innovative and safe strategies for removing unexploded wartime munitions from the seabed, which release toxic substances that pose a danger to humans and the marine environment. Through the Horizon Europe MMinE-SwEEPER project, this knowledge has been transferred to the European level.These initiatives are examples of how local action can have a global impact, Matthes says, and how Europe can strengthen climate research and partnerships. “This is a chance for Europe to step up and work on climate cooperation and agreements,” she notes. “Climate change is an international problem and a real threat, and we need more speed on climate action than we have now.”Matthes believes her fellow scientists need to communicate that climate change is not only a threat, but an opportunity to find solutions. “We need to change our narrative and expand our strategic alliances with those who are willing,” she says, “and luckily there are a lot of willing people and countries.”Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
A deep dive into climate change
Some policymakers continue to question the science of climate change, despite the growing evidence of significant damage to life on land and in the ocean.Katja Matthes, director of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, believes the ongoing attempts to politicise climate science and discredit researchers are hindering international cooperation and public understanding. The ocean provides clear evidence of the extent to which changes are occurring, she says.“We are seeing severe, unprecedented and accelerating changes in the ocean — warming ocean temperatures, acidification and oxygen depletion — that are destabilising the most important system that makes life on this planet possible,” Matthes explains. Visible signs of these changes include the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Greenland. Deeper down, the growing frequency of hypoxia — or oxygen-deprived “dead zones”, where marine life can no longer survive — in the Baltic and record-high Mediterranean surface temperatures are indicators of the “dramatic warming” of the ocean, she adds.The ocean, which covers around 70% of the Earth’s surface, acts as a vital carbon sink, absorbing around 30% of the planet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) and 90% of the excess heat. However, the global ocean surface temperature has risen by an average of half a degree Celsius since 1982, according to the EU Copernicus observatory. More significant rises have been recorded in the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic and other shallower seas.Some ocean temperature increases do occur naturally, such as during El Niño events. But sustained rises can trigger extreme weather on land — including droughts, floods and catastrophic storms — while also harming marine ecosystems. Only 10% of marine species have been studied, Matthes notes, “so the consequences might be even more severe than we know.”Fostering European cooperation amid uncertaintyMatthes, who holds a doctorate in meteorology, is a professor of atmospheric physics as well as director of GEOMAR. She serves as one of Kiel’s ambassadors to Science Comes to Town (SCTT), an EU-funded programme that aims to promote science’s role in society and strengthen cross-border collaboration in research, innovation and sustainability. SCTT is hosted by the coastal cities of Kiel, Brest (in France) and Split (in Croatia).The SCTT project also provides a platform for raising awareness and understanding between scientists and the public about major issues, such as climate change. Having worked on both sides of the Atlantic, Matthes is frustrated by recent attempts to erode decades of international climate collaboration and question the credibility of research. Earlier this year, the US administration delivered a major blow to global cooperation by withdrawing from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other global climate organisations, claiming they were “contrary to the interests of the United States.”In addition, a US Department of Energy (DOE) report cast doubt on the latest IPCC climate assessment, which was published in 2024. As a contributing author to the IPCC study, Matthes says the DOE sought to discredit scientists like herself. “Climate change is not a matter of opinion, it really exists and we are witnessing dramatic changes,” she notes. “It’s not climate change as a whole that is being targeted, but scientists and their research.”Other US actions have also hit home for Matthes, who spent three years at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The White House has announced plans to close the facility, a move that was “pretty tough” due to the German scientist’s personal connections with the staff and their reputation for excellence.Changing the narrative on climate changeEurope’s scientific community remains a driving force on climate research and collaboration. As one of the world’s leading marine research institutions, GEOMAR attracts students from more than 50 countries and plays an important role in global observation initiatives that contribute to understanding and protecting the ocean basins. At a European level, GEOMAR works closely with other top marine research facilities, including France’s Ifremer, an SCTT partner in Brest. GEOMAR has also developed innovative and safe strategies for removing unexploded wartime munitions from the seabed, which release toxic substances that pose a danger to humans and the marine environment. Through the Horizon Europe MMinE-SwEEPER project, this knowledge has been transferred to the European level.These initiatives are examples of how local action can have a global impact, Matthes says, and how Europe can strengthen climate research and partnerships. “This is a chance for Europe to step up and work on climate cooperation and agreements,” she notes. “Climate change is an international problem and a real threat, and we need more speed on climate action than we have now.”Matthes believes her fellow scientists need to communicate that climate change is not only a threat, but an opportunity to find solutions. “We need to change our narrative and expand our strategic alliances with those who are willing,” she says, “and luckily there are a lot of willing people and countries.”Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
Tempe businesses celebrate ASU students returning to school
Arizona State University students returned to Tempe for the new school year, bringing crowds and energy back to local businesses.
Scientists Observe Quantum Heat Waves at Room Temperature For The First Time
Another notable step forward.
Bret Michaels cancels remaining 2026 tour dates hours after 'comeback' performance due to health scare
Bret Michaels' doctors pulled him off the road for months of recovery after recent surgeries, canceling all of his remaining 2026 tour dates.
Iron hydride enters an exotic state of matter under Earth's inner-core conditions
Earth's inner core, composed primarily of iron with a small percentage of light elements, may enter a superionic state at extreme pressure and temperature, according to experimental results from researchers ...
High temperatures see business heat up for Arkansas air conditioning companies
Temperatures in Arkansas are expected to remain at record highs throughout the weekend, and local heating and air businesses are feeling the strain of the state's historic heat streak.