Iris on science · June 24th

People who wonder if "discontinuity" isn't overstating the magnitude of the planetary crisis would do well to actually check the weather. France just recorded the hottest day it’s ever had. How unprecedentedly hot was it? Take Bordeaux: as meteorologist Jeff Barardelli notes, “Bordeaux’s high Monday of 41.8ºC (107ºF) falls on the extreme right tail, 3.6 Sigma with a return interval of 1-in-7000 years for June in a historical climate.” (Météo-France ended up clocking Bordeaux’s high temperature as 42.1ºC, or 108ºF.) A one-in-7,000-year heat wave. In other words, families in Western Europe could

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) scientists have developed a form of neurological pacemaker that adapts in real time to a patient’s walking and could address one of the most disabling and hard-to-treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind Tags: Parkinson's Disease, Deep Brain Stimulation, Walk, Brain, Neurodegenerative conditions

In what looks like a march to the past, at this year's Eurosatory exhibition in Paris Ukrainian firm Parabella has shown off its eponymous portable pillbox military shelter designed to protect troops on the battlefield. Category: Military, Engineering

Using plants instead of vulture parts for belief-based practices is helping to tackle poaching of the birds in some regions of Nigeria, say conservationists. Vulture populations have collapsed in Nigeria. The country was once home to seven vulture species; recent surveys recorded only two, the critically endangered hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) and the palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis). Habitat loss, poisoning and poaching for belief-based uses, such as the use of vulture parts in traditional medicines or to bring luck or success, are the primary drivers of their rapid decline.

A deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, that has killed millions of wild and domestic birds and mammals across the globe, has for the first time reached Australia’s shores. Australian authorities confirmed that two migratory seabirds, a brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) and a northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli), have both tested positive for H5N1, a strain of what’s officially known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The sick birds were discovered along the southern coast of Western Australia. They have since died.

Once a lush field of green, the seagrass meadows surrounding Thailand’s Koh Libong are now largely barren stretches of sand, devastating the island’s iconic dugong population, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. Koh Libong’s seagrass meadows were once Thailand’s largest, and a critical coastal habitat that is protected nationally. Yet, between 2020 and 2024, seagrass cover in these protected waters shrank by up to 50%. Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) attributes this decline to a range of factors, from marine heat waves to river-mouth dredging.

If drought in an area persists longer, elephants move closer to areas near human settlements. This is the finding of research by biologist Irene Bouwman of Radboud University. During short-term droughts, the animals remain close to rivers and lakes and move less than normal.

Flour made from the brown seaweed Sargassum filipendula can increase the nutritional value and digestibility of gluten-free cookies. This conclusion is based on a study published in the journal Food Research International.

During Norway's first match of the FIFA World Cup against Iraq on June 17, several small vibrations were recorded on the seismometer. A particularly clear signal was observed when Erling Haaland scored.

PJM’s looking at Texas because the Lone Star grid’s “energy‑only” setup has let it add new capacity faster than almost any other system. In Texas, developers bear the interconnection risk, and the market pays only for the energy they actually generate, not for reserved capacity. That model has helped ERCOT keep its queue moving in weeks rather than the 700‑day timeline PJM currently expects.

The PJM white paper sketches three ways to shift from a surplus‑focused capacity market toward a scarcity‑driven approach. One option is to lock in long‑term bilateral contracts, another is to apply stricter reliability standards for new big‑load customers, and the third—what Allmond calls Path C—is to tilt the market toward energy and ancillary services while shrinking the capacity component, essentially mimicking ERCOT’s tilt.

Why does this matter for Virginia? The state’s regulator forces large customers to pay a minimum generation charge for 14 years, even if they build their own power. That double‑dip makes the Texas‑style, developer‑risk model uneconomic for data centers, which end up paying both their own generation costs and the utility’s charge. Allmond argues that without reform, Virginia’s load growth will be throttled by that policy.

If PJM adopts any of these pathways, especially the energy‑market tilt, it could speed interconnection, lower costs for big users, and bring its grid’s responsiveness closer to what Texas has achieved. The trade‑off will be how much capacity certainty PJM is willing to give up in exchange for that speed.