🧵What's in a menu for the planet? With food sector GHG emissions accounting for as much as one-third of the total global inventory, what we put on our plates has a big impact on climate. (1/x)

Does dropping an organic package of ground beef in your grocery cart make you feel like you're helping the environment? In some respects -- animal welfare+biodiversity -- you are. But in others, not quite. (1/x)

Organic Beef Has a Larger Carbon Footprint Than Feedlot Beef

But no matter the way it’s raised, beef comes with a steep climate cost.

sentientmedia.org

Iowa has a cancer problem. With the most consequential election cycle in recent memory around the corner, water and cancer are on the ballot in a way they’ve never been before. Stay tuned for the full doc on Thursday, September 24.

AI is coming to factory farms. Will the animals benefit, or just the industry?

📣 We're hiring! Knowable Magazine seeks an organized, detail-oriented & self-motivated Temporary Editorial Assistant. Ideal candidate: 💡 excellent proofreading skills 💡 great communication skills 💡 experience with digital publishing tools 💡 strong administrative capabilities 💡 interest in science

It's time to put the protein supplements DOWN and pick that can opener UP (as long as you're using it to open a tin of beans....or another fibrous food!). (🧵)

🎉 We are so excited to welcome Knowable Magazine’s new science writing interns, @claudiasteiner.bsky.social and Georgia Michelman!

🫘 We asked the experts, and yes, we should all be fibermaxxing. ✍️ @claudiasteiner.bsky.social: knowmag.org/4z36G5h

Fibermaxxing? Your microbes (and your health) say thanks.

Scientists are making progress understanding how a fiber-rich diet can help with chronic disease

knowablemagazine.org

🧵In the ~10 years since #ElectricVehicles have become prevalent on city streets and in our conversations about climate change mitigation, they've also been lauded as a solution to urban air pollution.

The endometrium sheds and regenerates every month without scarring -- it's one of those gob-smacking miracles of science. But at a cellular level, we really don't know how it pulls off this unique biological feat. (1/x)

This organoid can menstruate — and shows how tissue can repair itself

Mini models of the uterus lining give insight into mystery of how it is shed without scarring.

nature.com

B Cells, "security guards" of the immune system, also support your body in getting through (and crushing!) an endurance or strength work out. Read more about immune-liver coordination in my latest story for @altnps.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/d41.... Thanks @nickyphillips7.bsky.social!

Immune cells have a surprising role in exercise endurance

Study in mice suggests that B cells help to regulate muscle performance.

nature.com

When it comes to power demand, electric vehicles can be givers just as much as takers, according to a new study of Vehicle-to-Grid battery tech. Learn more in my story for @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Electric vehicles can ride to the grid’s rescue

Vehicle-to-grid technology, if installed properly, could allow vehicles to serve as back-up batteries.

nature.com

In my first story for @nature.com I break down a recent study that quantifies the risk of pathogen transmission from mammals in the global wildlife trade. It's the first study to do it on such a lengthy scale. lnkd.in/gkrMpQbK. Thanks to @nickyphillips7.bsky.social for the edits!

Wetland ecosystems and their climate stabilizing superpowers are a well-documented phenomenon. But for @science.org, I wrote about their potential to reduce GHGs in a rather unlikely setting: wastewater treatment plants. www.science.org/content/arti... Thanks to my editor @ginamizell.bsky.social!

Floating wetlands boost water quality, slash greenhouse emissions

Fabricated platforms at an Australian wastewater lagoon soak up water pollution and methane

science.org

What do Seahawks QB Sam Darnold and a snapping shrimp have in common? They both protect their brains from injury with headgear (though only 1 of them is up against a supersonic shockwave). My latest for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti.... Thanks as always @michaelgreshko.bsky.social :-)

Snapping shrimp use headgear to protect their brains from shock waves

Unusual “hood” is the first known biological armor that protects against traumatic brain injury

science.org

The death of Kanzi, the language-trained bonobo, was a tremendous loss for science. But before his passing last march, he left the field of comparative cognition with a parting gift . . . Read my latest for @science.org to learn more: lnkd.in/gaG9eg4A. Thanks to @michaelgreshko.bsky.social!

6/ @claudiasteiner.bsky.social on how skittish wetland birds are affected by transportation noise in the South Bay www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/h...

Scientists are learning how noise affects Bay Area wildlife as they work to conserve wetland birds amid a roaring urban soundscape

The Bay Area is a permanent or temporary home for 250 different species of resident and migratory birds. Noise can affect their stress response, interfere with their ability to listen for predators…

mercurynews.com

Dandelions living in downtown areas of Japan have adapted to life in the big city—perhaps a bit too much. Urban seeds have evolved to float shorter distances than rural ones, potentially leading to inbreeding problems that could threaten these metropolitan populations. https://scim.ag/49mV964

Urban dandelions have evolved to stay close to home. That’s bad news

Small seed “parachutes” may be causing inbreeding

scim.ag

Certain types of physical touch among plants allows them to better withstand stress, finds a new report. https://scim.ag/45dMP6c

Plants cope with stress by touching each other

Behavior could help them respond to environmental challenges

scim.ag

Giant ancestors of modern kangaroos and wallabies could have hopped like their modern counterparts, an analysis of their fossilized bones reveals, despite some weighing up to 250 kilograms—about as much as a baby grand piano. https://scim.ag/3LVHo5j

Hulking kangaroo ancestors could hop just like their nimble descendants

Fossils reveal these ancient footbones were robust enough to withstand the impacts of leaping locomotion

scim.ag

Scientists are learning how noise affects Bay Area wildlife as they work to conserve wetland birds amid a roaring urban soundscape—The Bay Area is a permanent or temporary home for 250 different species of resident and… www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/h... @claudiasteiner.bsky.social @mercurynews.com

Scientists are learning how noise affects Bay Area wildlife as they work to conserve wetland birds amid a roaring urban soundscape

The Bay Area is a permanent or temporary home for 250 different species of resident and migratory birds. Noise can affect their stress response, interfere with their ability to listen for predators…

mercurynews.com

LATEST in @mercurynews.com from our news features classes @ucscscicomm.bsky.social: @claudiasteiner.bsky.social on urban noise and wetland birds in the South Bay www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/h...

Scientists are learning how noise affects Bay Area wildlife as they work to conserve wetland birds amid a roaring urban soundscape

The Bay Area is a permanent or temporary home for 250 different species of resident and migratory birds. Noise can affect their stress response, interfere with their ability to listen for predators…

mercurynews.com

Crystal clusters reveal a volcano’s past and could even help forecast future eruptions. 🧪🌋 Research from Pavel Izbekov of the Alaska Volcano Observatory presented at #AGU25. Comments by Hannah Shamloo, story by @claudiasteiner.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/cry...

Crystal Clusters Contain Clues to Magma’s Past and Future Eruptions - Eos

Eos

eos.org