This is from two years ago, but sadly still relevant: Every part of the body is affected by wildfire smoke. There is evidence that its pollution can move through the placenta and impact a developing fetus’s brain, lungs and liver. www.theguardian.com/us-news/arti...

As wildfires rage, what is the smoke doing to our health and bodies?

Scientists are discovering just how toxic wildfire smoke is to the body – here’s what to know and how to stay safe

theguardian.com

Environmentally burdened communities typically lack information about what they’re breathing, but Pacoima is bucking the trend with hyperlocal monitoring. This spring, I spent time following around the effort. Thanks to @chjreportinghealth.bsky.social for funding! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This US neighborhood is full of hazardous air pollution. Can a network of sensors make ‘the invisible visible’?

Pacoima is hemmed in by highways and heavy industry, and its residents are fighting pollution with hyperlocal air quality monitoring

theguardian.com

I'll be at the LA Times Festival of books this Saturday talking with @peterbrannen.bsky.social, @laurapoppick.bsky.social and Dillon Osleger about their books. Come say hi if you are at bookchella! www.latimes.com/events/festi...

Los Angeles Times - Festival of Books | 2025 Participants

Participants » Festival of Books 2025 » L.A. Times - Festival of Books

latimes.com

“You could haze a coyote and it could just look at you, and if it had a middle finger, it would essentially raise it,” Niamh Quinn @ucanr.edu tells @kategammon.bsky.social “Or you could haze a coyote and it could put its tail between its legs and not look back.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Wily coyote? Urban canines take more risks compared with rural ones, study finds

Researchers believe behavioral gap, which may hold true across species, is probably product of less fear of harassment in cities

theguardian.com

How much should you worry about toxins like lead deposited in your soil after a fire? And how can you get your yard or garden tested? I wrote about it, for @calmatters.org: calmatters.org/environment/...

Five things to know about testing, cleaning contaminated soil after wildfires

Testing for toxic chemicals and heavy metals is available in Los Angeles County from philanthropic groups, researchers, and the public health department, after the 2025 wildfires. Learn more here.

calmatters.org

I had a great time chasing around parrots in LA for this story -- and ultimately, these nosy, colorful additions to the city are a reminder that many of us come from elsewhere. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

These parrots came to Los Angeles as pets – then went wild. Now scientists are unlocking their mysteries

Once escapees from the pet trade, Los Angeles’s feral parrots have become a vibrant part of city life, and could even aid conservation in their native homelands

theguardian.com

It's such a thrill to be in this group. Looking forward to seeing everyone's projects develop.

USC Center for Health Journalism@chjreportinghealth.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and the @uscclimate.bsky.social are proud to announce our #USCHealthandClimate Reporting Fellows, who will be joining us on campus starting today. Read the press release: bit.ly/USCHealthandClimateChangeFellows

Jane Goodall was a massive inspiration. Seeing that animals are actually just like us allows people to find empathy in so many parts of the natural world.

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Jane Goodall's work insisting, with evidence from her brilliant and tenacious fieldwork, that we were not so separate from animals, and they were much more like us than the Eurocentric theorists asserted, was so important.

As Jaws turns 50, @kategammon.bsky.social takes a look at the science advisor behind the movie -- and how what he did after Jaws transformed our understanding of sharks again. In @nautil.us: nautil.us/the-shark-wh... 🦈

The Shark Whisperer

Donald Nelson spent his life undoing the damage that Jaws did to the perception of sharks.

nautil.us

I traveled down to Orange County to drink some water that had, just an hour before, been ice-tea-colored sewage. Spoiler alert: the water tasted like water. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Tastes like water’: how a US facility is recycling sewage to drink

A California project can turn sewage into drinking water in less than an hour and could be a blueprint for other water-scarce regions

theguardian.com

This is likely the weirdest and most interesting story you could read today. From @usha.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2025/05/02/d...

Snake enthusiast survived hundreds of bites. Now his blood is aiding the search for a universal antivenom

Blood from a snake enthusiast who's been bitten hundreds of times aided the search for a universal snakebite treatment

statnews.com

For @sierramagazine.bsky.social, I wrote about some tiny hopeful news: a lot of climate projects are baked into the DOD's goals, so even though the word climate may not appear, "mission readiness" includes those efforts -- both now and in the future. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2025-...

Why the Best Place for Climate Science Might Be at the Department of Defense

Expect the DOD to swap the words "climate change" for "military preparedness"

sierraclub.org

Such a pleasure to speak with Alan, Susan and Lawrence about their beautiful works of science and personal narrative. Read these books!

Alan Townsend@alantownsend.bsky.social · last yr.

So enjoyed being part of the @latimes.com book festival. Brings me hope in a darker time to see so many people gather around the power of books and reading. Special thanks to @kategammon.bsky.social Susan Weiss Leibman and Lawrence Ingrassia for a great panel discussion. #latimesfob

Very excited to moderate a panel with Lawrence Ingrassia, Susan Weiss Liebman, Alan Townsend at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend. Say hi if you're around Sunday! #latfob events.latimes.com/festivalofbo...

Participants » Festival of Books 2025 » L.A. Times - Festival of Books

Find your favorite authors and celebrities in this alphabetical list of this year’s participants. View the schedule to learn more about each event.

events.latimes.com

“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility. Those who will have to suffer the consequences will not forget this failure of conscience and responsibility.” — Pope Francis

“De-extinction” is to biodiversity loss what “Mars colonization” is to climate change—wishful thinking that is at its core impossible but nevertheless sucks up attention and resources from actual solutions to these crises (which, ultimately, might be the whole point)

America’s arteries are clogged. THIS is the solution: ‘Even a freeway is redeemable’: world’s largest wildlife crossing takes shape in Los Angeles: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... by @kategammon.bsky.social via @theguardian.com #borderless

‘Even a freeway is redeemable’: world’s largest wildlife crossing takes shape in Los Angeles

A wildlife crossing across the 101 freeway will connect two parts of the Santa Monica mountains for animals

theguardian.com

"Bluefish tuna were overfished in the mid-Atlantic this month because NOAA did not issue the regulation to close the fishery after fishermen filled the quota in mid-January." Who could have predicted this! 🤷‍♂️ www.reuters.com/world/us/how...

How Trump’s regulatory freeze is disrupting the US fishing industry

From the Atlantic to Alaska, fishermen say overfishing and fleet delays are shaking up a $320 billion industry.

reuters.com

This is cool. The Guardian recreated a searchable climate future risk tool (wildfire, extreme heat, drought, hurricane, and coastal flood) for the US that was developed by FEMA but deleted by the Trump administration’s ‘climate’ purge.

Trump’s ‘climate’ purge deleted a new extreme weather risk tool. We recreated it

The Guardian has recreated a searchable climate future risk tool developed by Fema but then deleted

theguardian.com

Also in the post-fire environmental world: surfers, swimmers and beachgoers have been worried about what is lurking in the ocean after the fire debris runoff. Some answers have finally appeared: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘God knows what’s in the water’: Los Angeles surfers in limbo as wildfire toxins linger

In a city where surfing is a way of life, the wait to get back in the water has been agonizing. But new research offers a glimmer of hope

theguardian.com

When the fires raged through LA, air toxins popped off the charts. But the AQI was often in the "good zone." That's because traditional air quality monitoring systems don't catch everything -- but some newer tech can. I wrote about it, for @sciam: www.scientificamerican.com/article/urba...

As fires burned in Los Angeles this year, newer toxin monitors found contaminants not measured by standard methods

As fires burned in Los Angeles this year, newer toxin monitors found contaminants that aren’t measured by standard methods. Now scientists and officials are pushing for better detection

scientificamerican.com

“We can see with our own eyes how extreme heat and extreme weather are harming people’s health,” said Veena Singla, an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

NIH Ends Future Funding to Study the Health Effects of Climate Change

It’s unclear whether the guidance will impact active grants, but it appears to halt opportunities for future studies. One climate health expert said the directive would have a “devastating” impact on ...

propublica.org

I wrote about new research showing that fish in the wild can recognize individual divers -- and why we should be considering fish as individuals, too. For @nautil.us: nautil.us/when-fish-fo...

When Fish Follow You

Some wild fish may recognize individual humans in the sea

nautil.us

I love this move by @wired.com and hope other publications will follow. Public records (like public lands!) belong to all of us.

WIRED@wired.com · last yr.

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

For a story: Have you tried to bring in eggs from Mexico? I'd love to hear the tale. DMs open.

I wrote about new research showing the megalodon -- star of screens everywhere -- was not, in fact, a chonky ancient monster but instead a slender torpedo. That's because being giant -- 80 feet long -- makes it important to swim efficiently through the water. nautil.us/what-megalod...

What Megalodons Tell Us About Gigantism

The biggest predator ever to have lived was a skinny beast

nautil.us

My dad worked for NOAA and went to sea for six weeks at a time when I was little. When he finally came back, my brother and I would get these weird little cups with our names on them. Every single time.

Rebecca R Helm@rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 2y ago

People say scientists are serious but marine biologists will spend hours quietly sitting around tables drawing on styrofoam cups and then tying said cups to deep sea submarines Because ocean pressure will squeeze the air from the cups And we are but human & we want tiny cup

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh. This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

For Nautilus, I wrote about a duo turning tree rings into art -- and exploring the deep history of science: nautil.us/the-language...

The Language of Tree Rings

Turning tree ring science into art

nautil.us

“Toxic contaminants from the wildfire debris could leach into the soil and the waterways. Onshore winds will undoubtedly carry these hazardous particulates, compromising the air quality where people live, work and play.” Story by @kategammon.bsky.social

‘An unprecedented situation’: EPA plan for LA wildfire cleanup stirs protests over toxic dangers

Demonstrators have protested against an expedited cleanup process that would involve using a beloved beach as a toxic waste sorting site

theguardian.com