Beachgoers beware! A record algae bloom is headed for South Florida
In fact, the amount of sargassum seaweed aimed at Floridians increased last month, with amounts in the eastern Caribbean Sea and west Atlantic Ocean reaching 'surprisingly high levels,' note scientists.
Researchers at the University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Lab said levels were 200 percent higher than their historical records in April in both areas, and the total amount in all regions combined was 150 percent higher.
'Furthermore, this total amount was 40 percent higher than the all-time high in June 2022, which makes 2025 a new record year,' they said.
So what does this mean for Floridians, the state's ecosystems, and other inhabitants?
Sargassum blooms are massive accumulations of brown seaweed that originate in the Atlantic Ocean and float on the surface of the water. The seaweed provides habitat for crabs, shrimp, threatened sea turtles, and fish. They're also filled with plastic.
Historically, most of it was located in the Sargasso Sea, but the geographic range for sargassum expanded in 2011. Now, massive amounts from the new 5,000-mile region called the 'Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt' head west into the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers believe the beach-choking blooms are tied to strong ocean currents and wind that help to create ideal growing conditions for the algae. The nutrients that are necessary for multiple kinds of blooms were driven by the shifting winds. Winds and currents carry the seaweed around to Florida.
This year, scientists say that the exact reasons for the new historical records need to be investigated, although most were due to local growth and the seaweed's movement.
'Over the last month, we saw somewhere around 31 million metric tons of sargassum, which is the highest amount we've ever recorded in this area and [it] would be the largest macroalgae bloom ever,' Dr. Brian Barnes told News 6.
Higher temperatures due to climate change may also be a factor, one scientist told The Miami Herald. But, another expert said hot water temperatures could hurt growth.
May is expected to see a continued increase in most regions. The typical peak is in the summer.
Florida has spent millions of dollars on clean-up over the last few years. Tourism is adversely affected when beaches close.
But, there are also harmful health effects — for humans and animals.
Brown tides can smother coral reefs and disrupt nesting grounds for sea turtles.
Sargassum is not toxic unless it's rotten. If it is, it releases a hydrogen sulfide gas that can irritate your eyes, nose and throat. People with prior respiratory conditions may have trouble breathing after inhaling it. Its smell is reminiscent of rotten eggs.
In addition to other contaminants, sargassum may contain high levels of heavy metals, including arsenic and cadmium.
To protect themselves and their families, people should avoid touching or swimming near the seaweed, close their windows and doors if they live near the beach, limit their time on the beach if they have respiratory issues, and use gloves to handle seaweed.
'Stay away from the beach if you experience irritation or breathing problems from hydrogen sulfide — at least until symptoms go away,' the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises.
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Atlantic
23-07-2025
- Atlantic
The Sea Slug Defying Biological Orthodoxy
This week, a friend sent me our horoscope—we're both Gemini—from Seven Days, a beloved Vermont weekly, because, improbably, it was about the sea slug I'd been telling her about just days before. 'The sea slug Elysia chlorotica is a small, unassuming creature that performs a remarkable feat: It eats algae and steals its chloroplasts, then incorporates them into its own body,' the horoscope explained. Years ago I had incorporated this fact into my own view of the world, and it had changed my understanding of the rules of biology. This particular slug starts life a brownish color with a few red dots. Then it begins to eat from the hairlike strands of the green algae Vaucheria litorea: It uses specialized teeth to puncture the alga's wall, and then it slurps out its cells like one might slurp bubble tea, each bright-green cellular boba moving up the algal straw. The next part remains partially unexplained by science. The slug digests the rest of the cell but keeps the chloroplasts—the plant organelles responsible for photosynthesis—and distributes these green orbs through its branched gut. Somehow, the slug is able to run the chloroplasts itself and, after sucking up enough of them, turns a brilliant green. It appears to get all the food it needs for the rest of its life by way of photosynthesis, transforming light, water, and air into sugar, like a leaf. The horoscope took this all as a metaphor: Something I'd 'absorbed from another' is 'integrating into your deeper systems,' it advised. 'This isn't theft, but creative borrowing.' And in that single line, the horoscope writer managed to explain symbiosis—not a metaphor at all, but an evolutionary mechanism that may be more prevalent across biology than once thought. Elysia chlorotica is a bewitching example of symbiosis. It is flat, heart-shaped, and pointed at the tail, and angles itself toward the sun. Its broad surface is grooved by a web of veins, like a leaf's is. Ignore its goatish head, and you might assume this slug was a leaf, if a particularly gelatinous one. Sidney Pierce, a marine biologist retired from the University of South Florida, remembers his surprise when a grad student brought a specimen into his office in the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, on Cape Cod, more than two decades ago. Photosynthesis requires specialized equipment and chemistry, which animals simply do not have—'yet here was an animal that's figured out how to do it,' he told me. He spent the next 20-odd years trying to find the mechanism. 'Unfortunately, I didn't get all the way to the end,' he said. No one has, as my colleague Katherine J. Wu has written. The algae and the slug may have managed some kind of gene transfer, and over time, produced a new way of living, thanks not to slow, stepwise evolution—the random mutation within a body—but by the wholesale transfer of a piece of code. A biological skill leaked out of one creature into another. All of us are likely leakier than we might assume. After all, every cell with a nucleus, meaning all animal and plant cells, has a multigenetic heritage. Mitochondria—the organelles in our cells responsible for generating energy—are likely the product of an ancient symbiosis with a distant ancestor and a microbe, and have their own separate DNA. So we are walking around with the genetic material of some other ancient life form suffused in every cell. And the earliest ancestor of all plants was likely the product of a fusion between a microbe and a cyanobacterium; plants' photosynthesizing organelles, too, have distinct DNA. Lynn Margulis, the biologist who made the modern case for this idea, was doubted for years until new genetic techniques proved her correct. Her conviction about the symbiotic origins of mitochondria and chloroplasts was a monumental contribution to cell biology. But Margulis took her theory further; in her view, symbiosis was the driving force of evolution, and many entities were likely composites. Evolution, then, could be traced not only through random mutation, but by combination. 'Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking. Life forms multiplied and complexified by co-opting others, not just by killing one another,' she wrote, with her son, in 1986. This remains pure conjecture, and an exaggeration of the role of symbiosis beyond what mainstream evolutionary theory would support; random mutation is still considered the main driver of speciation. Yet more scientists now wonder if symbiosis may have played a larger role in the heritage of many species than we presently understand. Phillip Cleves, a geneticist at the Carnegie Institution for Science who studies the symbiotic relationship between corals and their algae symbionts, told me how, as an undergraduate, he was blown away by the fact that corals' alliance with algae made possible ecosystems—coral reefs—that support a quarter of all known marine life. The algae cells live, whole, inside coral cells, and photosynthesize as normal, sustaining the coral in nutrient-poor tropical waters. 'I realize now that that type of interaction between organisms is pervasive across the tree of life,' he said. It's probable that the ancestors of all eukaryotes were more influenced by bacteria in their environments than modern evolutionary theory has accounted for. 'All animals and plants likely require interactions with microbes, often in strong, persistent symbiotic associations,' Margaret McFall-Ngai, a leading researcher of the role of microbes in animal development, wrote in 2024. These interactions, she argued, are so fundamental to life that the animal immune system should perhaps be thought of as a sort of management system for our many microbial symbionts. Although biology has been slow to recognize symbiosis's significance, she thinks this line of research should now take center stage, and could alter how all stripes of biologists think about their work. Cleves, too, sees himself as working to build a new field of science, by training people on how to ask genetic questions about symbiotic relationships in nature: When I called him, he was preparing to teach a four-week course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole on exactly that. Genomic research has only relatively recently been cheap enough to apply it routinely and broadly to all sorts of creatures, but now scientists can more easily ask: How do animals' interactions with microbes shape the evolution of individual species? And how does that change dynamics in an ecosystem more broadly? Elysia chlorotica is also a lesson in how easily the boundaries between an organism and its environment can be traversed. 'Every time an organism eats, a whole wad of DNA from whatever it's eating passes through the animal. So DNA gets transferred all the time from species to species,' Pierce told me. Most times it doesn't stick, but on the rare occasions when it does, it can reroute the fate of a species. 'I think it happens more than it's recognized, but a lot of times it's hard to recognize because you don't know what you're looking for. But in these slugs, it's pretty obvious,' he said. They're bright green. Still, attempts to understand what is happening inside Elysia chlorotica have mostly fallen short. Scientists such as Pierce presume that, over time, elements of the algal genome have been transferred to the slug, allowing it to run photosynthesis, yet they have struggled to find evidence. 'It's very hard to find a gene if you don't know what you're looking for,' Pierce said—plus, slug DNA is too muddled to parse a lot of the time. Slugs are full of mucus, which can ruin samples, and because the chloroplasts are embedded inside the slug cells, many samples of slug DNA end up picking up chloroplast DNA too. After years of trying, and at least one false start by a different lab, Pierce and his colleagues did manage to find a gene in the slug that was involved with chloroplast repair, hinting that a genetic transfer had occurred, and offering a clue as to how the animal manages to keep the plant organelles alive. But another research team showed that related species of photosynthesizing slugs can survive for months deprived of sunlight and actual food: They may simply be hardy. Why, then, if not to make nutrients, might the slugs be photosynthesizing? Perhaps for camouflage. Or perhaps they're stashing chloroplasts, which themselves contain useful fats and proteins, as food reserves. (Pierce, for one, is skeptical of those explanations.) Whatever benefit Elysia chlorotica derives from the chloroplasts, there couldn't be a leakier creature. It crosses the divide between plant and animal, one species and another, and individual and environment. I first read about the slug in a book titled Organism and Environment by Sonia Sultan, an evolutionary ecologist at Wesleyan University, in which she forwards the argument that we should be paying more attention to how the environment influences the way creatures develop, and how those changes are passed generationally, ultimately influencing the trajectory of species. While Elysia chlorotica is an extreme example of this, a version of it happens to us, and our bodies, all the time. Encounters with the bacteria around us reshape our microbiomes, which in turn affect many aspects of our health. Encounters with pollution can reroute the trajectory of our health and even, in some cases, the health of our offspring. Researchers think access to healthy foods—a factor of our environments—can modify how our genes are expressed, improving our lives in ways that scientists are just beginning to understand. We are constantly taking our environment in, and it is constantly transforming us.
The Hill
19-07-2025
- The Hill
Without weather forecasters, our canaries in the storm, expect disaster
Before modern forecasting, hurricanes were mass casualty events. The 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed over 8,000 people, wiping out an entire city with a 15-foot storm surge. Less than a century ago, Hurricane Okeechobee killed over 2,500 Floridians in a tragedy that today would be largely preventable. We've come a long way since the days when hurricanes struck without warning. I know, because I helped develop the systems that save countless lives and give communities time to prepare. That was my job until February, when I was terminated by President Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency alongside hundreds of other scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Since then, I have continued my work in hurricane forecasting through Cooperative Institute research; however, the cuts left deep holes across NOAA's forecasting teams that've not been filled. This purge isn't 'cutting waste' — it is dismantling America's hurricane monitoring systems. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I worked on the next-generation Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System. This system enabled emergency managers to issue timely evacuation orders during life-threatening hurricanes like Helene and Milton, helping prevent thousands of potential fatalities. Yet even with cutting-edge forecasting, Helene revealed new, urgent challenges. In the last decade, freshwater flooding surpassed storm surge as the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths. Helene's victims were coastal residents and mountain communities, caught unprepared by catastrophic inland flooding. Dozens more died — victims of power outages, delayed medical care and collapsed infrastructure in the days after the storm passed. If our warning systems don't evolve to keep pace with rapidly changing storms, Helene's damage may seem merciful compared to future disasters. Precisely when adaptation is most urgent, political decisions have systematically dismantled our protective infrastructure. Key vacancies remain across NOAA's local forecast offices, satellite operations and modeling teams — many of which are already stretched thin this hurricane season. Without continuous investment in modeling and surveillance, hurricane season, which officially began June 1, will become even deadlier and harder to predict. DOGE's decimation of the forecasting workforce unravels a century of progress in hurricane survival rates. While the full impact of these cuts won't be seen overnight, the damage will compound the longer these positions go unfilled. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration isn't just a research agency; it's America's first line of defense against natural disasters. Forecasting is the foundation of all response efforts. While scientists aren't knocking doors with evacuation orders ourselves, we're the ones telling first responders when, if, and whose doors they should knock on. When NOAA functions at full capacity, emergency managers have the tools they need to prepare their communities. NOAA's remaining scientists and National Weather Service forecasters will give their all this hurricane season to deliver the most accurate forecasts possible, but dedication can't make up for a system that's been hollowed out, and grit can only hold together this critical system for so long. Privatizing these forecasting services creates a dangerous 'pay-to-play' model for life-saving information. This approach wouldn't just create barriers for low-income families; it would hamstring small municipalities and volunteer emergency services trying to protect their communities. The private sector cannot fill this void. The National Weather Service processes over 6 billion observations daily and issues approximately 1.5 million forecasts and 50,000 warnings annually. No private entity possesses infrastructure that can match this scale and reliability. There is a better path forward. By recommitting to public science and restoring forecasters' positions, we can build systems that adapt to changing storms, accurately track flood zones and storm paths, and provide both inland and coastal communities with the advanced warning they need to stay safe. We owe this to every family who will face the next Helene or Milton. Congress must act urgently to restore NOAA's full operational capacity and reject all efforts to privatize these essential services. The FY26 federal budget proposes a $1.3 billion cut to NOAA's core operations, such as satellite programs essential to forecasting, programs supporting climate modeling and even public education. NOAA can't issue life-saving warnings if its data stream has gone dark. And the research that drives improvements in modeling and forecasting is threatened if some of the budget proposals come to fruition. There have been some positive developments from Congress. The House Republicans' fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill, announced on Monday, proposes a much-smaller cut of $387 million, bringing the NOAA budget to $5.8 billion. While it's a modest improvement, it still does not fully cover the financial needs of an agency tasked with protecting hundreds of millions of Americans. Hurricane forecasting shouldn't be treated like a luxury or a political football. It's public infrastructure that's as essential as our power grids or water systems. Storm surges don't check voter registrations before flooding homes, and hurricanes won't stop based on who occupies the White House. Without urgent action in this year's budget, we risk turning the worst-case scenario into reality. The question isn't whether the storms are coming. It's whether we'll be ready when they do.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Yahoo
SpaceX rocket launches have increased in California. Not all residents are happy.
Rocket launches in California are on the rise. That's good news for space enthusiasts and anyone in the region who enjoys watching SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 spacecraft soar into the sky multiple times a week. But for many residents who live near the Vandenberg Space Force Base, a powerful rocket liftoff is not exactly a welcome sight to behold. That's because when a Falcon 9 or any other spacecraft gets off the ground from the Santa Barbara County spaceport, it's not just its visage that they have to endure. Rattling houses, terrified pets and startling bomb-like noises known as sonic booms are just a few of the effects that residents in certain parts of California, a state known for its earthquakes, can expect anytime a rocket launches for orbit. And while Floridians on the Space Coast have long adapted to constant rocket launches in a region famed for them, Californians may still be grappling with the effects of a growing space industry. Vandenberg Space Force Base: 4 things to know about site of California rocket launches Here's what to know about SpaceX and other rocket launches from Vandenberg, as well as how liftoffs are perceived by residents and would-be spectators alike. Vandenberg hosts a regular cadence of weekly rocket launches, most from its Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E). SpaceX conducted all six of the rocket launches in June from the Vandenberg Space Force Base – all but one of which was a Starlink mission to deploy internet satellites into orbit. Following about a two-week break in July, spaceflights are scheduled to resume from Southern California with a potential Tuesday, July 15 launch of another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a Starlink-deployment mission. On June 23, the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk also launched Transporter 14 – a rideshare mission to deliver 70 payloads for paying customers into orbit. Most prominently, the Falcon 9 transported a spacecraft carrying the remains of 166 individuals for Houston company Celestis' most recent memorial spaceflight. But it's not just SpaceX that launches from Vandenberg. In March, NASA contracted a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to boost both its SPHEREx space telescope and small sun-observing PUNCH satellites into orbit following a launch from the base. And in late April, Texas spaceflight company Firefly Aerospace attempted to launch prototype satellites into orbit for Lockheed Martin from the base. Rocket launches have steadily increased from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in recent years. As recently as 2023, just six rockets took off from the Southern California spaceport before launches spiked to 36 in 2024. In 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, gave SpaceX the greenlight to increase its Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg to 50. What's more, a proposal on the table would double the number of annual launches from Vandenberg using SpaceX's Falcon 9 to 100. Those who enjoy seeing a spacecraft thunder into the sky should be encouraged by the developments. Because Vandenberg is an active military base, the launch complex does not host public viewings of launches. But if conditions are clear, plenty of people have been known to gather near the base to watch rocket launches, which can be viewed from several locations as far as Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Several spots around Lompoc in Santa Barbara County have become well-known as prime places to catch a rocket launch, and the city's tourism bureau, Explore Lompoc, even maintains a list with suggested viewing locations. Because of Arizona's proximity to the launch site, many residents in the neighboring state also gather to glimpse spacecraft that can be visible streaking across the sky, especially at night or very early morning. Still, not everyone in California is as enthused by the prospect of more and more rockets getting off the ground from their backyard. Multiple residents have opposed plans to ramp up launches from Vandenberg during a series of public hearings in Santa Barbara County. At a June 10 meeting, for instance, 11 people spoke about how rocket launches can disrupt their lives, scare their pets, and shake and damage their homes. Why? That'd be the sonic booms. The brief, thunder-like noises, which occur when a spacecraft travels faster than the speed of sound, can often be heard from the ground Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County and Ventura County. Department of Air Force officials, working with the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard, won't decide on the proposal until fall 2025. Officials at Vandenberg Space Force Base are well aware of how rocket launches can disrupt the lives of those who live near there. For that reason, the military base has commissioned an ongoing study into sonic boom patterns created by spacecraft launching from the spaceport. The goal, as noted in a June press release, is "to reduce potential disturbances" launches can have on populated areas. That partially explains why almost all of the rocket launches from Vandenberg occur during the day, rather than early in the morning or late at night when they're more likely to be disruptive. Contributing: Cheri Carlson, Ventura County Star This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Rocket launches have increased in California. Not all are happy.
