U.S. power plant owners and operators plan to retire nearly 11 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale electric generating capacity from the U.S. power grid this year, according to data reported to us in our latest Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. Almost all the scheduled retirements are either coal-fired power plants (58%) or steam turbines and simple-cycle natural gas (42%).

Researchers are engineering bacteria to invade tumors and consume them from the inside. Because tumor cores lack oxygen, they’re the perfect breeding ground for these microbes. The team added a genetic tweak that helps the bacteria survive longer near oxygen-exposed edges — but only once enough of them are present to trigger the change. It’s a carefully programmed biological attack that could one day offer a new way to destroy cancer.

CU Boulder researchers have designed microscopic “racetracks” that trap and amplify light with exceptional efficiency. By using smooth curves inspired by highway engineering, they reduced energy loss and kept light circulating longer inside the device. Fabricated with sub-nanometer precision, the resonators rank among the top performers made from chalcogenide glass. The technology could lead to compact sensors, microlasers, and advanced quantum systems.

A sweeping nationwide study has found that U.S. counties located closer to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer death rates than those farther away. Researchers analyzed data from every nuclear facility and all U.S. counties between 2000 and 2018, adjusting for income, education, smoking, obesity, environmental conditions, and access to health care. Even after accounting for those factors, cancer mortality was higher in communities nearer to nuclear plants, particularly among older adults.

A Martian volcano once thought to be the result of a single eruption turns out to have a much more complex past. Orbital imaging and mineral data show it developed through multiple eruptive phases, all powered by the same evolving magma system underground. Shifts in mineral composition reveal the magma changed over time, hinting at different depths and storage histories. Mars’ interior was far more active than previously believed.

Far beneath the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers off Portugal’s coast, lies a colossal underwater canyon system that dwarfs even the Grand Canyon. Known as the King’s Trough Complex, this 500-kilometer stretch of trenches and deep basins formed not from rushing water, but from dramatic tectonic forces that once tore the seafloor apart.

People whose sugar intake was restricted before birth and in early childhood had markedly lower rates of heart disease later in life. Compared to those never exposed to rationing, their risks of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular death were cut by roughly 20–30%.

A new 30-year analysis reveals that melting land ice is now the main force behind rising global sea levels. Researchers discovered that oceans rose about 90 millimeters since 1993, with most of the increase coming from added water mass rather than just warming expansion. Ice loss from Greenland and mountain glaciers accounts for the vast majority of this gain. Even more concerning, the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating.

Training harder may do more than build muscle—it could transform your gut. Researchers found that intense workouts change the balance of bacteria and important compounds in athletes’ digestive systems. When training loads dropped, diet quality slipped and digestion slowed, triggering different microbial shifts. These hidden changes might influence performance in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.

A UCLA study in mice reveals that aging muscle stem cells accumulate a protein that slows repair but boosts survival. This protein, NDRG1, acts like a brake, preventing cells from activating quickly after injury. When researchers blocked it in older mice, muscle healing sped up dramatically — but stem cells became less resilient over time. The work suggests aging may reflect a survival trade-off rather than straightforward decline.

A century after Erwin Schrödinger sketched out a bold vision for how we perceive color, scientists have finally filled in the missing pieces. A Los Alamos team used advanced geometry to show that hue, saturation, and lightness aren’t shaped by culture or experience — they’re built directly into the mathematical structure of how we see color. By defining a crucial missing element known as the “neutral axis,” the researchers repaired a long-standing flaw in Schrödinger’s model and even corrected tricky visual quirks like the way brightness can subtly shift perceived hue.

Scientists at Stanford Medicine have unveiled a bold new kind of “universal” vaccine that could one day protect against everything from COVID-19 and the flu to bacterial pneumonia and even common allergens. Instead of targeting a specific virus or bacterium, the nasal spray vaccine supercharges the lungs’ own immune defenses, keeping them on high alert for months. In mice, it slashed viral levels, prevented severe illness, and even blocked allergic reactions.

Cleaner wrasse have revealed a remarkable new side of fish intelligence. Marked with fake parasites, they used mirrors to inspect and remove the spots—far faster than seen in earlier tests. Even more striking, some fish dropped shrimp in front of the mirror to watch how its reflection moved, a form of exploratory “contingency testing.” The findings suggest self-awareness may extend well beyond mammals.

Babies born in the early 2000s were exposed in the womb to far more “forever chemicals” than researchers once realized, according to a new study. By using advanced chemical screening on umbilical cord blood, scientists detected 42 different PFAS compounds, including many that standard tests do not routinely check for. These long lasting chemicals are found in common products like nonstick cookware, food packaging, and stain resistant fabrics, and they can build up in the body over time.

Far beyond Neptune, in the frozen depths of the Kuiper Belt, many ancient objects oddly resemble giant snowmen made of ice and rock. For years, scientists wondered how these delicate two-lobed shapes could form without violent collisions tearing them apart. Now researchers at Michigan State University have recreated the process in a powerful new simulation, showing that simple gravitational collapse can naturally produce these cosmic “snowmen.”

Scientists have created a blood test that can estimate when Alzheimer’s symptoms are likely to begin. By measuring a protein called p-tau217, the model predicts symptom onset within roughly three to four years. The protein mirrors the silent buildup of amyloid and tau in the brain long before memory loss appears. This advance could speed up preventive drug trials and eventually guide personalized care.

David’s Notes

1. 🖕 This month’s big environmental FU is Trump’s repeal of the EPA’s "endangerment finding," its determination that greenhouse gases harm human health. For more on why the endangerment finding matters (it is the basis of all federal climate regulations), listen to my 2023 episode with Lissa Lynch of NRDC:

If you would like to hear me cursing freely about the death of the endangerment finding, I went on Public Notice to give my two f’ing cents about the legal reasoning and what might come next:

2. ☀️ A followup to the followup to November’s balcony solar episode: plug-in solar bills are now advancing through more than two dozen state legislatures. (Bookmark Bright Saver’s bill tracker to follow along.) Both Vermont and Virginia are halfway to passage.

In Arizona, however, utilities have successfully delayed (killed?) the effort. The AZ Mirror captures the flavor of the opposition in the relevant legislative committee:

“Am I forced to allow those or not?” Rep. Ralph Heap, R-Mesa, asked one of the advocates, posing a hypothetical where a landlord would not want to have portable solar generators on balconies for “aesthetic reasons.”

…

“I don’t have a problem with people using solar,” Rep. Pamela Carter, R-Scottsdale, said, adding that her problem is that the generators in apartment windows could be an “eyesore.”

Hey look, I found an eyesore in Arizona!

3. 🌵 To make matters worse for poor Arizona, according to the AZ Capitol Times, TurningPoint USA is pouring money into public utility board (PUC) elections in the state, purportedly to fight off the "green new deal." 🙄 (TPUSA, for those blessed enough to be unaware, is the billionaire-funded right-wing recruitment group run by Charlie Kirk’s widow.) I suspect Climate Cabinet will have something to say about this. (I interviewed Ylenia Aguilar, a candidate for AZ’s utility board, in 2024.)

In brighter PUC news, the Valdosta Daily Times reports:

A Republican incumbent on the Georgia Public Service Commission announced Tuesday that she will not stand for reelection, just months after two Democrats ejected two GOP incumbents with decisive electoral victories.

Tricia Pridemore, the incumbent in question, is said to be considering a run for Congress. Is Pridemore getting while the getting’s good? Is she worried an energy-affordability wave is coming? People are asking.

4. 🔌 In December I spoke with Brian Turner of Advanced Energy United and Kathleen Staks of Western Freedom about a larger, unified Western energy market. If you’d like to see the merits of such a market argued in detail, AEU just released a new report: "A pathway to a West-wide energy market."

5. ⚛️ Here’s an interesting thread on France’s nuclear power problem. It has too much and needs to rapidly electrify its economy to absorb more of it!

6. ✅ I confess I was a little worried about how the reactionary-centrism episode would land, but by and large, feedback has been positive and the comments section has been quite lively! Some comments of the month:

Remember, as a kid, playing “beetle,” where you’d have to call out every VW bug you saw? And when you played it, you started seeing them everywhere? That’s how Murc’s Law is. Once you start seeing it you realize it’s ubiquitous.

In his mind, this is Stephens’ job: he waits for Democrats to do something and then he tells them why it’s a mistake. All of DC is wired this way. That’s what DC punditry is for the most part.

I guess I just don’t fully understand why it’s the left’s job to defeat Trump and it’s everybody else’s job to tell them how and why they’re doing it wrong.

Totally agree. One of the most important things to understand about US politics is that Congress (and by extension the whole DC blob) consistently overestimates how conservative voters are. One of the most maddening things about watching the steady rise (and now total domination) of right-wing media is that even elected Democrats are so surrounded by it that they’re inclined to believe what it tells them about themselves, even over their own eyes.

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Deep in the heart of the Sahara, scientists have uncovered Spinosaurus mirabilis — a spectacular new predator crowned with a massive, scimitar-shaped crest that may once have blazed with color under the desert sun. Discovered in remote inland river deposits in Niger, the fossil rewrites what we thought we knew about spinosaur dinosaurs, suggesting they weren’t fully aquatic hunters but powerful waders stalking fish in forested waterways hundreds of miles from the sea.

Flea and tick medications trusted by pet owners worldwide may have an unexpected environmental cost. Scientists found that active ingredients from isoxazoline treatments pass into pet feces, exposing dung-feeding insects to toxic chemicals. These insects are essential for nutrient cycling and soil health. The findings suggest everyday pet treatments could ripple through ecosystems in surprising ways.

Deep in the Arctic north, drained peatlands—once massive carbon vaults built over thousands of years—are quietly leaking greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But new field research from northern Norway suggests there’s a powerful way to slow that loss: raise the water level. In a two-year study, scientists found that restoring higher groundwater levels in cultivated Arctic peatlands dramatically cut carbon dioxide emissions, and in some cases even tipped the balance so the land absorbed more CO₂ than it released.