California Science Weekly 
The current effort to bring back the white abalone is one of numerous projects underway in California to revive the state’s once-thriving marine environment. If you grew up in Southern California in the 1970s, there were a few things that defined California: surfing, skateboarding, the Eagles (preferably on the radio while driving down the Pacific …
Read moreSaving the White Abalone is Part of a Much Bigger Story
Luther Burbank created some of the most successful fruits and vegetables in the world, all from his California farm.
At Caltech, Clair Patterson’s relentless determination to understand the health impacts of atmospheric lead changed the world for the better.
Two centuries ago, the waters off the California coast were home to a vibrant ecosystem of plants and animals. Vast forests of kelp provided habitat for thousands of species of fish and invertebrates. Some of these kelp forests were so dense that light hardly penetrated to the seafloor. But now, along much of the coastline, …
Read moreWhy bringing back California’s kelp is so important
Yesterday, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena made a major announcement: philanthropists and entrepreneurs Stewart and Lynda Resnick gave the school $750 million to develop technologies to tackle climate change. The news of the announcement was somewhat lost in the craziness of the news cycle following the whistle-blower revelations of the Trump administration, …
The “blob” is back. Or so says a group of researchers from the NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. The blob was a massive marine heatwave that caused record warming of ocean waters (up to nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal) off the West Coast five years ago. It led to …
Read moreCalifornia sea life could be imperiled by new ocean “blob”
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 trip to California gave birth to modern conservation.
They’re baaaack! Here we are in late summer and the great white shark stories keep coming. On August 22, a drone captured a white shark swimming beneath some surfers, who remained oblivious. Two days ago, a pair of kayakers off Cambria filmed a great white swimming beneath their boats. The shark circled the kayaks for a few minutes …
Read moreWhite shark sightings are up in California, but don’t panic
Parkfield, California is a quiet, dusty farming town nestled among rolling hills about midway between Fresno and Monterey. It’s known as the earthquake capital of the world. This is not because there are so many earthquakes there, although there are, but because it has one of the highest densities of seismic technology anywhere. Parkfield has shaken with 6.0-magnitude quakes …
California’s unheralded role in Apollo 11 // Wildfires, climate change and atmospheric rivers // Marine reserves working even better than thought // California science news roundup