Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 12h

bioengineer.org/april-2025-c...

April 2025 China Wind-Dust Disaster: Causes, Impact

In April 2025, China experienced an unprecedented environmental catastrophe marked by an extreme wind-dust compound disaster, a complex convergence of severe meteorological and atmospheric phenomena.

bioengineer.org

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 17h

Space weather- a primer from the chemists.
cen.acs.org/physical-che...

What causes space weather and how does it affect Earth?

The aurora borealis is a spectacle of space weather, but solar flares and coronal mass ejections have far more Earthly impacts

cen.acs.org

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 18h

www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

Amazon rainforest trees are resisting climate change by getting fatter from CO2 in the atmosphere

Tree trunks in the Amazon are getting 3.3% thicker every decade as the plants absorb extra carbon dioxide, suggesting they are more resilient to global warming than previously thought.

www.livescience.com

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 18h

Flood-prone Houston faces hard choices for handling too much water
theconversation.com/flood-prone-...

Flood-prone Houston faces hard choices for handling too much water

None of the three main options could handle another Hurricane Harvey, but they would give varying benefits based on different sizes, costs and timelines.

theconversation.com

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 19h

Those "fantistical" imaginings of an ancient
"mushroom planet" may be less fantastic than you think
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

The billion-year reign of fungi that predated plants and made Earth livable

Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier ...

www.sciencedaily.com

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 19h

Not just the Mediterranean? Saudi researchers suggest the Red Sea went completely dry before being flooded by the Indian Ocean about 6.2 million years ago
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

The Red Sea went completely dry before being flooded by the Indian Ocean

Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have provided conclusive evidence that the Red Sea completely dried out about 6.2 million years ago, before being suddenly refi...

www.eurekalert.org

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 19h

Update to Shackleton's story, based on a recent article in the Polar Record
www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve...

Shackleton Knew ‘Endurance’ Was Flawed, a New Study Suggests

Researchers believe Shackleton knew of his ship’s weaknesses in ice. Should that change our understanding of the classic tale of survival?

www.outsideonline.com

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 1d

With the rising price of gold, a resurgence of panning and mining in California's Mother Lode country www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...

California sees return of ‘gold fever’ amid record-high gold prices

Gold prices doubled in the last two years and are now at record highs. And prospectors are once again rushing to California’s waterways to see what they yield.

www.sfchronicle.com

1

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 1d

California's Teakettle Experimental Forest, with ~500 year old Jeffrey pine and sugar pine trees, effectively was completely wiped out by the Garnet Fire.
www.sfchronicle.com/climate/arti...

‘All the trees are dead’: An ancient California forest has been wiped out

Old growth forests across the West are at risk of disappearing within 50 years. The Teakettle Experimental Forest is a tragic example in California.

www.sfchronicle.com

3 11 28

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 1d

The next DUST ALLIANCE webinar will be this Friday, Oct. 10, at 1pm ET, with Dr. Amato Evan of UCSD presenting "Dry Lakes, Drought, and Dust Storms: Air Quality and Environmental Change in Southeastern California." Go to dustalliance dot org or click on the QR code in the image below to sign up!

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 3d

Super cool this is!
eos.org/articles/new...

New USGS Map Offers an Interactive Look at the Rocks Beneath Our Feet - Eos

The Cooperative National Geologic Map is an interactive tool that builds on both cutting-edge technology and decades of mapping by geoscientists.

eos.org

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 3d

National Academies final report now available: Off-Lake Sources of Airborne Dust in Owens Valley, California
nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2795...

Off-Lake Sources of Airborne Dust in Owens Valley, California

Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print.

nap.nationalacademies.org

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 3d

Mysterious will-o’-the-wisps ignited by microlightning | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Mysterious will-o’-the-wisps ignited by microlightning

Electrical discharge from microscopic bubbles offers a new explanation for fleeting flames of folklore

www.science.org

1

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 3d

earthsky.org/human-world/...

1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day

earthsky.org

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

An uphill battle to tackle Valley fever?
grist.org/health/valle...

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies

What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

Lots of artifacts many centuries old have been found in the vulture nests. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

Found: 650-year-old shoe, in vulture nest

Many unexpected human artifacts have been preserved, for centuries, in vulture nests.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

We ought to think of discarded chewing gum as plastic pollution.
modernsciences.org/chewing-gum-...

Chewing gum is plastic pollution, not a litter problem - Modern Sciences

David Jones, University of Portsmouth Thousands of tonnes of plastic pollution could be escaping into the environment every year … from our mouths. Most chewing gum on sale is made from a variety of o...

modernsciences.org

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

She's making a big startup splash after seeing sprinklers running in the rain
news.northeastern.edu/2025/09/30/w...

She’s making a big startup splash after seeing sprinklers running in the rain

Northeastern student Khushi Shah turned a middle school science project into Drizzl, a smart irrigation startup fighting water waste.

news.northeastern.edu

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

Hmm. Colleagues, what do you think?
www.scientificamerican.com/article/eart...

Most of an Earthquake’s Energy Is Released as Heat, Not Shaking

Up to 98 percent of the energy of an earthquake goes into flash heating rocks, not shaking the ground, new research shows. The finding could help yield better earthquake forecasts

www.scientificamerican.com

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

Hmm.
www.404media.co/earth-was-my...

Earth Was Mysteriously Thrown Off-Kilter In 2015. Now, Scientists Think They Know Why.

The sudden reduction in the Chandler wobble, a deviation between Earth’s axis and crust, may primarily originate in a powerful La Niña event, reports a new study.

www.404media.co

1

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 5d

Clean Air, Green Spaces May Guard Kids Against Hypertension
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Clean Air, Green Spaces May Guard Kids Against Hypertension

Reducing air pollutants such as particulate matter < 2.5 μm and increasing environmental greenness may help reduce the incidence of prehypertension or hypertension in children.

www.medscape.com

Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 6d

First snow of the season- right on time for October 1- on the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Evidence this morning from the @alertcalifornia.bsky.social Mammoth Mountain 1 webcam, if you look closely.

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 6d

Dust is still blowing from the playa at the north end of Honey Lake, California. This makes at least five days in a row, I think. Photo from @alertcalifornia.bsky.social Shaffer Mountain cam.

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 7d

Canids in the wild tend to follow fixed routes, felids tend to wander
www.earth.com/news/movemen...

Movement in the wild: Why dogs follow paths and cats roam

Dogs follow regular travel routes while cats wander freely showing different evolutionary movement strategies.

www.earth.com

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Tom Gill @tomgillpredicts.bsky.social · 7d

phys.org/news/2025-09...

Ice dissolves iron faster than liquid water, offering explanation for Arctic's rusty rivers

Ice can dissolve iron minerals more effectively than liquid water, according to a new study from Umeå University. The discovery could help explain why many Arctic rivers are now turning rusty orange a...

phys.org

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