Science & Earth

About 2,000 adult European oysters and 30,000 juvenile spat were placed on the Belfast Lough seabed in a first-of-its-kind seabed deployment in Northern Ireland, led by Ulster Wildlife with support from Belfast Harbour and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Climate Central reports 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025, causing about $115 billion in damage; January wildfires in Southern California were the costliest single event.

Scientists transferred 8,500 juvenile corals from The Florida Aquarium to partner facilities; about 4,500 will go to The Reef Institute in West Palm Beach and 4,000 to Reef Renewal USA for later outplanting to South Florida reefs and the Keys.

An amber Met Office snow warning covers parts of Wales from 20:00 GMT Thursday to 09:00 Friday, with 10–15cm expected in many areas and up to 20–30cm possible in some locations; rail services will face alterations and some closures.

Officials warned travellers across Coventry and Warwickshire as Storm Goretti brings an amber Met Office snow warning forecasting 10–15cm, with some areas possibly 20–30cm; Network Rail said some trains will run a reduced timetable from 19:00 on Thursday.

Researchers analyzed 643 ancient and modern canid skulls using 3D models and geometric morphometrics and found clear size and skull-shape diversity at least 11,000 years ago, with substantial variation already present by the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The study, led by teams at the University of Exeter and the French CNRS and published in Science, covers specimens spanning roughly 50,000 years.

An investigation reports the Lachman fire began on Jan. 1, 2025, on parkland and was left to burn under a state park policy; the larger fires were contained on Jan. 31, 2025 and federal and private legal filings have followed.

A Nature Communications study led by Paul Byrne models Europa's interior and reports little evidence for seafloor tectonics or hydrothermal activity, which the authors say reduces the likelihood of life on the ocean floor.

Astronomers using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's LSST camera identified an asteroid about 710 meters across that rotates once every 1.88 minutes; the study reports its orbit does not intersect Earth's and no impact warnings were issued.

A nearly complete 2,000-year-old Celtic war trumpet (carnyx) was recovered in a metal hoard in West Norfolk, and Pre-Construct Archaeology and Historic England say research and conservation are ongoing.

NOAA reports eastern gray whale numbers fell to about 12,950 and officials recorded at least 1,235 strandings along the U.S. West Coast from 2019–2025.

A storm system is producing severe thunderstorms in the Southern Plains and will spread snow, rain and strong winds across parts of the Plains, Midwest and East through the weekend. A tornado was confirmed near Purcell, Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, with local snowfall up to 24 inches expected mainly Wednesday through Thursday.

A childhood visit to Cannon Beach sparked Ashwin Sivakumar's interest in wildlife and birding, which led to integrative biology research at Harvard; he was named a 2026 Marshall Scholar and will pursue a Ph.D. at Cambridge studying cichlid genetics.

A team from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology and the University of Stuttgart used 3D-nanoprinted hollow-core “light cages” filled with cesium vapor to make chip-scale quantum memories, and they demonstrated storage and retrieval of very weak light pulses containing a few photons for several hundred nanoseconds while integrating multiple identical memories on a single chip.

Consumers are increasingly choosing toilet paper made from recycled or sustainably sourced fibers, and advocates estimate that using recycled-content rolls could save more than 1 billion gallons of water and 1.6 million trees in the U.S.

Roughly 95% of the universe is dark matter and dark energy, and Dr. Rupak Mahapatra at Texas A&M is developing semiconductor detectors with cryogenic quantum sensors to search for very rare dark-matter interactions.

A Viewpoint in Genomic Psychiatry highlights a Brazilian cohort of more than 160 centenarians, including 20 validated supercentenarians, and reports that researchers have identified millions of previously undescribed genetic variants in Brazil that could inform studies of extreme longevity.

The National Weather Service reported a wintry mix spreading from the Great Lakes through New England with ice and snow continuing through midweek, and AccuWeather said a larger storm will move east later in the week bringing rain, thunderstorms and snow across many central and eastern states.

Researchers dated hominin remains from Grotte à Hominidés in Casablanca to about 773,000 years ago and report the bones combine Homo erectus-like traits with features seen in Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, which could place them near the root of the shared ancestry of modern humans and some archaic cousins.

The National Weather Service issued high-surf and small-craft advisories across the U.S. West Coast as Pacific storms generated waves reported up to about 26 feet, and impacts were expected through Thursday.

Unseasonable warmth and Gulf moisture are fueling a large storm expected to bring thunderstorms, heavy rain and isolated severe weather Thursday through Saturday, with significant snow possible in parts of the Upper Midwest.

FEMA has paid more than $195 million for damage from the August Milwaukee-area flood and has approved over 36,500 individual assistance applications as of Jan. 6, 2026.

The Northwest Avalanche Center began publishing avalanche forecasts in 1975 and now issues daily forecasts informed by data from 52 weather stations. The article reports NWAC serves backcountry users and public agencies while facing ongoing funding and staffing uncertainty.

A reactor at the Kashiwazaki‑Kariwa plant in Niigata is scheduled to resume around Jan. 20, marking Tokyo Electric Power Company's first restart since the 2011 Fukushima accident. Currently 14 reactors are operating while others await restart approval.

The U.S. announced it will withdraw from 66 international bodies, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as part of a broader shift away from multinational climate cooperation. Officials and experts say the moves are likely to reduce U.S. influence on climate policy and scientific assessments.

Construction is under way on small modular reactor projects in Oak Ridge and other sites as federal funding and private backers increase; experts say high costs, new fuels like TRISO and a history of delays make long-term success uncertain.

A winter storm tied to a Kona Low brought snow to the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, and agencies shared video and a timelapse showing snow at the high-altitude peaks.

Researchers report they recovered male DNA with a Tuscan lineage from a red chalk drawing and other artifacts and posted a preliminary paper on bioRxiv; experts say the findings are tentative and not yet peer reviewed.

Chicago launched its first citywide recycling program, the Blue Bag, in December 1995 and discontinued it in 2008; the city's reported waste diversion rate has remained around 9% in recent years.