James Dinneen

Deep-living microbes could 'eat' energy generated by earthquakes When rocks fracture in underground faults, they generate a variety of chemical compounds that could provide more energy sources for microbes in Earth’s depths

Earthquakes fracturing rock could unlock a wide menu of chemical energy sources for microbes living deep underground. 👀
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

E. coli genome has been remade with 101,000 changes to its DNA The recoded bacterium uses only 57 of the 64 possible genetic codes, freeing up seven to be used for different purposes

We have gone further than ever before in reshaping life, resynthesising the 4-million base pairs-long genome 🧬 of E. coli from scratch with 100,000 changes 🧪

Making that many changes screws up a lot of things, so getting it working was a "gargantuan effort"

www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Kamchatka earthquake response shows tsunami warnings are improving After an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, early tsunami warning systems kicked in and helped millions of people safely evacuate

Tsunami warning are getting better, but there are still some big gaps. 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Thanks @hausfath.bsky.social @andrewdessler.com @jsmankin.bsky.social @nrdc.org

US says CO2 emissions aren’t harmful – climate science shows otherwise The Trump administration is attempting to argue that greenhouses gases don’t endanger people to reverse regulations limiting these harmful emissions – climate scientists are pushing back

The Trump administration is attempting to end the US government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by arguing they do not pose a danger to people. But climate scientists and lawyers say this argument is...um...weak.🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Earth's extraordinary deep biosphere is our next great frontier A fantastic alien adventure can be found on our very own planet by studying the microbial life in Earth's crust, according to Karen G. Lloyd's new book Intraterrestrials

@karenlloyd.bsky.social's new book Intraterrestrials offers the field guide to Earth's deep biosphere you didn't know you needed. Here's my review in @newscientist.com:
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

Forests with robust animal populations store four times as much carbon An analysis of thousands of forest plots reveals an underappreciated link between animal biodiversity and carbon storage

“This shows a linkage between animal biodiversity loss and a process that exacerbates climate change,” says Evan Fricke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re losing the regrowth potential of tropical forests.” 🧪
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Longest lightning ‘mega-flash’ sets a shocking new record A stroke of lighting that lasted more than 7 seconds and flashed across 829 kilometres is officially the longest ever recorded

An 829 kilometer long lightning flash! SHOCKING. 😅⚡
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Not a good look

Meltwater eruption in Greenland takes scientists by surprise www.newscientist.com/article/2490...

Climate This report evaluates existing peer-reviewed literature and government data on climate impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and provides a critical assessment of the conventional narrative on climate c...

Much of the "Climate Science Discussion" in EPA's Endangerment Finding repeal relies on this DOE report also released today:
www.energy.gov/topics/climate

Strengthened scientific support for the Endangerment Finding for atmospheric greenhouse gases In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the so-called “Endangerment Finding.” This defined a suite of six long-lived greenhouse gases as “air pollution.” Such air pollution...

"The EPA Administrator found in 2009 that the EF for six long-lived GHGs was “compellingly” supported by “strong and clear” scientific evidence. Since 2009, the amount, diversity, and sophistication of the evidence have increased markedly, clearly strengthening the case for endangerment."

We're undergoing an unprecedented loss of freshwater across the planet Rising temperatures are causing water to evaporate and driving humans to extract more groundwater, which is moving freshwater from the land to the seas and creating a "continental drying" trend

Since 2015, freshwater loss from land — mainly from pumping groundwater — has contributed more to sea level rise than melt from Antarctic ice sheet. 🧪

One of Earth's largest carbon sinks vanishes for second year in a row Record heat in 2024 caused ecosystems on land to emit nearly as much carbon dioxide as they took out of the atmosphere

There's was lots of concern when we learned the land carbon sink in 2023 virtually disappeared due to fire, heat, and drought. Early estimates suggest it happened again in 2024 -- but for different reason.🧪

Why a tech start-up wants to pump your faeces deep underground Start-up Vaulted Deep, which has funding from Microsoft, says storing human waste deep underground can keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and pollutants like forever chemicals out of surface ec...

By one estimate, the world generates enough organic waste for this approach to remove as much as 5 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year, enough to meet much of the CO2 removals needed to get to net zero emissions. 🧪

Really enjoying these!👍👍

Cleaner air has increased the number of city heatwaves Reducing air pollution is critical for improving public health, but it has brought big climate trade-offs

Cleaning up aerosol pollution is critical for public health. But reducing aerosols is also unmasking warming from greenhouse gases - researchers here find this influence is strongest in populated places. 🧪

Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win Farms commonly spread crushed limestone on fields to make the soil less acidic – and this practice can also help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

This could be a big deal for farmers and CO2 removal: the centuries-old practice of liming has long been counted as a big source of emissions, but @climatejesper.bsky.social and colleagues say with proper accounting it might actually help remove large amounts of CO2 from the air.🧪🌍

The Senate just posted the report language of its FY26 science appropriations bill. This text lays out what they want done and carries the force of law if it is included in the final spending bill.

It's a line-by-line refutation of Trump's proposed budget for NASA and NOAA.

Is it time to aim for 1.7°C as the new limit for global warming? With the world on the cusp of passing 1.5°C of warming, scientists are turning their attention to defining a new limit for temperature rises – but not everyone agrees that we should

Really important story from @tinymaddie.bsky.social - as we face a post-1.5°C world, what comes next? The Paris Agreement says we must stay "well below" 2°C, but what does that mean? There is a case to make 1.7°C our new target, but also good arguments against www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Just another reminder we all live on the same giant vibrating ball.

Astronomers found a completely new type of plasma wave near Jupiter Observations from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal that Jupiter’s strong magnetic field and the unique properties of its plasma can produce a truly novel kind of extraterrestrial wave near its poles

A bittersweet story about an exciting discovery that ought to be followed by many more exciting insights into Jupiter, except that the fate of the Juno mission, which made this discovery possible, is uncertain given all the turmoil over NASA's 2026 budget
www.newscientist.com/article/2487...

cool

Climate scientists urge others to take up CO2 tracking as US cuts loom Proposed budget cuts in the US will lead to the loss of vital carbon dioxide measurements, but no other countries are preparing to step in so far, researchers warn

"Asked if it had any plans to replace what NOAA does, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service directed New Scientist to contact the European Commission’s DEFIS. DEFIS didn’t respond by the deadline for this article." rt/ @mjflepage.bsky.social

Nor'easters slamming New England are growing more powerful Much like hurricanes further south, the strongest storms to pummel the US north-east are getting even stronger as sea surface temperatures rise

The strongest of the infamous New England gales known as nor’easters have gotten even stronger since the 1940s, likely due to warming ocean temperatures. New work by @michaelemann.bsky.social 🧪🌊
www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Thanks ‪@globalenergymon.bsky.social‬

Could old mines host all the solar energy we need? There may be enough space on former open-pit mines to build all the solar facilities we need, but building there won’t be easy

New analysis finds there may be enough space on former open-pit mines to build *all the solar facilities we need* -- but building there won’t be easy. 🧪🌞

Climate could warm another 0.5°C if we fail to capture far more CO2 Models suggest that meeting climate targets will be virtually impossible without steep emissions cuts paired with a huge expansion of carbon management technologies

New modeling suggest that meeting even the 2°C Paris Agreement climate target will be virtually impossible without a huge expansion of CO2 removal/capture technologies, alongside aggressive emissions cuts.🧪

The trees in our cities are dying — a sick microbiome may be to blame Efforts to expand urban green spaces are undermined by street trees dying prematurely. Restoring their root microbiomes could help them live longer

Ecology of urban forests deserves more attention imo.
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

Trees on city streets cope with drought by drinking from leaky pipes Urban trees lining streets fare better in dry spells than those in parks – now it seems that leaky water pipes are the reason for their endurance

Lovely story on city trees from @alexwilkins.bsky.social
www.newscientist.com/article/2487...