Alex Fox
Verified
Writing about science. Bylines: @NYTScience @SmithsonianMag @NatGeo @NewsFromScience @NatureNews @ScienceNews @MercNews @Mongabay | @UCSC_SciCom Grad.
Articles by Alex Fox
The Endangered Proboscis Monkey Is Easily Identifiable By One Physical Trait: Its Supersized Schnoz
When you see this primate’s nose, you know you’re in Borneo, where efforts are underway to restore its habitat If Cyrano de Bergerac had been a proboscis monkey, he might not have needed poetry. For this furry primate, found only on the island of Borneo, a prominent nose is an asset. Males with the biggest snouts, up to nearly seven inches long, usually have the largest bodies overall.
Positive Interactions Dominate Among Marine Microbes, Six-Year Study Reveals
Published Date January 21, 2026 A six-year analysis of marine microbes in coastal California waters has overturned long-held assumptions about how the ocean's smallest organisms interact. Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that marine microbes interact in ways that benefit one another more often than they eat each other or compete.
Scripps Scientists in Antarctica Studying Retreating Glaciers, Cancer-Fighting Microbes and More
Published Date January 20, 2026 Seals resting on sea ice floes in the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula near Marguerite Bay, 68°S, in 2023. Credit: Allison Cusick Scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Scripps Polar Center are at the bottom of the world conducting field research in Antarctica this season.
Electric Bloom S01E15 480p WEB x264-RMTeam
Demonz: Thought this was some messed up file, saying 13 hours with such a small size. Plays just fine on my ... waanaabe: nothing here about "the Savant" new series with jessica chastain ? odd?? Wrapt: Wow what is going on in here now. Came in to look for an old comment but there is pages and pages of... timt: On RE=UPLOAD never no NitroFlare Links.
Sea Otters May Be Small Marine Mammals, But Their Effect on an Ecosystem Can Be Huge
Their fur is so soft it almost led to their extinction, but otters’ recovery has been a boon to Pacific kelp forests, a key habitat for other sealife Sea otters are North America’s smallest marine mammal, weighing just 30 to 100 pounds, but their appetites are huge. They burn calories at three times the rate expected for their size, chomping on clams, mussels and sea urchins to compensate for a lack of blubber, the layer of fat mammals use to keep warm.
Strange “Halos” on the Ocean Floor off Los Angeles Reveal a Toxic Secret
A discarded barrel on the seafloor off the coast of Los Angeles. The image was taken during a survey in July 2021 by remotely operated vehicle SuBastian. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute Once believed to contain the pesticide DDT, new analysis shows some barrels actually held caustic alkaline waste. In 2020, striking photographs revealed rusted barrels scattered across the seafloor near Los Angeles, capturing widespread attention.
This Majestic Monkey Has Become a Beloved Neighbor for Millions in Vietnam
For the critically endangered red-shanked douc, proximity to an urban center has had surprising benefits With maroon stockings, white sleeves, a heathered gray vest and an orange mask fringed by a wispy white beard, red-shanked doucs look dressed for a swanky party. These spectacular primates live in the treetops of forests in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, where there have been a small number of sightings.
Study unlocks anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory potential of soft corals
Some corals produce chemicals called diterpenoids that have shown promise in fighting cancer and reducing inflammation, but researchers have been unable to study the chemicals in depth. The problem is that the chemicals are produced in tiny amounts by slow-growing and uncommon corals, making it environmentally destructive and impractical to supply enough of the compounds to test or produce new drugs.
This Elusive Snake's Habitat Is Under Threat in Ecuador. Here's How Conservationists Are Fighting Back
How do you protect an endangered serpent with a special talent for hiding in plain sight? Coild in the canopy of the lowland rainforests of northwestern Ecuador and southwestern Colombia, the elusive and endangered Blomberg’s tree boa can remain motionless for hours, like a trap waiting to be sprung.
Supercomputers reveal how small ocean processes influence storms
For decades, scientists assumed that only large ocean temperature patterns covering 200 kilometers (124 miles) or more could strongly influence storms. Now, by leveraging advances in computing power, a team of scientists from UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center have discovered that small-scale ocean processes can have a much larger influence on storm development than previously thought. The study, published Jan.
Improving risk estimates for extreme rain and snow
A new study led by scientists from UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and published in Scientific Reports details an improved method for estimating the likelihood of extreme precipitation events in the western United States. The traditional approach estimates the frequency of severe rain and snow by analyzing meteorological records looking only at precipitation intensity over arbitrarily defined time periods, such as one hour or 24 hours.
Atmospheric rivers explain atypical El Niño and La Niña years
El Niño and La Niña are climate phenomena that are generally associated with wetter and drier winter conditions in the Southwestern United States, respectively. In 2023, however, a La Niña year proved extremely wet in the Southwest instead of dry. New research from scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds that atmospheric rivers explain the majority of atypical El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years, such as 2023.
Improving Risk Estimates for Extreme Rain and Snow
Article Content A new study led by scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography details an improved method for estimating the likelihood of extreme precipitation events in the western United States. The traditional approach estimates the frequency of severe rain and snow by analyzing meteorological records looking only at precipitation intensity over arbitrarily defined time periods, such as one hour or 24 hours.
Supercomputers Reveal How Small Ocean Processes Influence Storms
Article Content For decades, scientists assumed that only large ocean temperature patterns covering 200 kilometers (124 miles) or more could strongly influence storms. Now, by leveraging advances in computing power, a team of scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center have discovered that small-scale ocean processes can have a much larger influence on storm development than previously thought.
UC San Diego Receives 10 DURIP Awards from Department of Defense
Article Content Scientists at the University of California San Diego received 10 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) awards from the Department of Defense (DOD). Nine of UC San Diego’s awardees are based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The DURIP awards $43 million across 64 universities to purchase equipment that will enable cutting-edge research.
The Andes’ Translucent Glass Frogs Need to Be Seen to Be Saved
The amphibians are at the mercy of mining operations that are destroying their ecosystems, but local communities throughout South America are fighting back Suctioned to a leaf bottom in the rainforests of South and Central America, glass frogs seem to vanish in plain sight—the transparent skin of their undersides erasing the hard edges of their silhouette, making them difficult for birds and other predators to spot.
Study reveals persistent DDT contamination in Southern California fish
The toxic pesticide DDT was dumped into the ocean off Southern California more than 50 years ago by the Montrose Chemical Corporation, and it is still contaminating fish and sediments in the region decades later, according to researchers. Banned in , the pesticide is now known to harm human and wildlife health, with linking it to cancer as well as reproductive and neurological issues.
Study Finds Pattern in DDT Contamination Among Fish off Southern California
Various agencies and research groups have been measuring DDT contamination in fish and sediments off Southern California for decades. Beginning in 2023, McGill and her co-authors sought to compile those data to get a better big-picture understanding of DDT contamination and to find out how it changed through time. The researchers also wanted to explore potential connections between contamination levels in fish and ecological factors including the fish’s location, habitat preferences and diet.
How Scientists’ Tender Loving Care Could Save This Endangered Penguin Species
Many penguin species huddle together in massive colonies, but pairs of yellow-eyed penguins go out of their way to be alone, nesting deep in New Zealand’s scrublands and forests out of sight of other penguins.
UC San Diego Receives $10 Million for Center on Neurobiology in Changing Environments
Center will focus on the impacts of climate change on marine species’ nervous systems Published Date September 10, 2024 Article Content The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group has selected UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography to receive a four-year, $10 million grant funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to establish the Allen Discovery Center for Neurobiology in Changing Environments.
Learning to Live Beside Endangered Tigers May Be the Key to Saving Them
New programs in India are helping to reduce conflict between humans and the big cats by educating communities and helping those who have been affected by animal attacks Even after four decades, seeing a tiger in the wild still fills Ullas Karanth with awe. “They’re beyond anything a human painter or sculptor could create,” says Karanth, founder of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, a conservation group in India, where he has been studying tigers since the 1980s.
A long-awaited cancer treatment reaches patients Original
Science News is collecting reader questions about how to navigate our planet's changing climate. What do you want to know about extreme heat and how it can lead to extreme weather events? Oncologist Steven Rosenberg of the U.S. National Cancer Institute became intrigued by the body’s potential for fighting cancer in 1968 after encountering a patient whose tumors spontaneously disappeared, presumably due to the immune system. It took decades to go from that kernel of an idea to the new TIL therapy.
These Cute, Fuzzy Bumblebees Are Precision-Engineered Pollinators
Bumblebees’ round, hairy bodies are magnets for pollen. Inside flowers, they often “slip, almost fall and somersault,” says conservation biologist Leif Richardson of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, an international nonprofit. “They make a huge mess and get pollen all over themselves, which makes them effective pollinators for plants,” Richardson says.
Design of World’s First Hydrogen-Hybrid Research Vessel Approved
Published Date June 25, 2024 Article Content The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) approved the preliminary design of a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-hybrid research vessel that will join the fleet at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography when completed. The vessel’s design was developed by naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten.
Using Oceanography To Understand Fronts and Cyclones on Jupiter
Article Content New research led by Lia Siegelman, a physical oceanographer at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, shows that the roiling storms at the planet Jupiter’s polar regions are powered by processes known to physicists studying Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. The geophysical commonalities spanning the 452 million miles between the two planets could even help facilitate an improved understanding of those processes on Earth.
Tiny number of ‘supersharers’ spread the vast majority of fake news
Did you see the article claiming Kamala Harris joked about killing Mike Pence and Donald Trump? Or the one about large numbers of Trump votes being secretly switched to Joe Biden? If stories like this, run by fake news sites such as Infowars or Gatewaypundit, popped up in your social media feed about the 2020 U.S. presidential election, they probably came from a tiny group of people with a massive impact.
How Scientists Are Protecting Plovers’ Beachfront Lifestyle
The first time Andrea Jones, director of bird conservation at Audubon California, saw western snowy plovers, she nearly didn’t see them at all. Walking along the high tide line of a Central California beach around 2007, she came across what appeared to be a bunch of gray rocks a couple hundred feet off. The “stones” suddenly stood up, exposing feathered white bellies as they scampered away.
Daily Business Report: May 7, 2024
By Khari Johnson | CalMatters If you visited a Planned Parenthood in the continental United States in the past few years then the company Near Intelligence, a data broker, probably knew it — and may have sold that information to anti-abortion activists. If you attended certain houses of worship or patronized particular pharmacies, the data broker known as Outlogic allegedly sold that information. Near Intelligence filed for bankruptcy in December.
DDT Pollutants Found in Deep Sea Fish off Los Angeles Coast
As the region reckons with its toxic history of offshore dumping, the new findings raise troubling questions about whether the banned pesticide remains a threat to wildlife and human health Published Date May 06, 2024 Article Content In the 1940s and 1950s, the ocean off the coast of Los Angeles was a dumping ground for the nation’s largest manufacturer of the pesticide DDT – a chemical now known to harm humans and wildlife.
To Save Sun Bears, Scientists First Have to Find Them
Science | The world’s smallest bear plays a crucial role in repairing its tropical habitat in Southeast Asia The world’s smallest bear weighs as little as 60 pounds when fully grown, but it exerts a mighty influence on the patches of rainforest it inhabits across mainland Southeast Asia and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. “Sun bears are forest engineers,” says Roshan Guharajan, a researcher with the conservation organization Panthera in Malaysian Borneo.
Understanding an overlooked hotspot for carbon emissions
In Southeast Asia, the construction of canals to drain water from soggy peatlands unlocks far more planet-warming carbon dioxide than previously estimated, according to a study published March 8 in Nature Geoscience. “We were fascinated to learn that the drainage canals themselves are a hotspot for peat carbon to be transformed into carbon dioxide,” said study co-author Alison Hoyt, assistant professor of Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
This tiny swimming robot can think for itself
MINNEAPOLIS—Tiny robots that swim through our blood to deliver drugs or hunt down pathogens have been a staple of science fiction for decades. Although still distant, that vision is a step closer to reality now that electrical engineers have unveiled swimming microrobots smaller than grains of sand with enough computing power to perform a simple task on their own—rather than being constantly guided by external signals.
Giraffes Are Notoriously Hard to Track, But New Technology Is Helping Scientists Protect the Beloved Species
By signing up for our newsletter, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Giraffes Are Notoriously Hard to Track, But New Technology Is Helping Scientists Protect the Beloved Species
Science | As populations plummet across Africa, researchers have designed an ingenious method to study the graceful creatures They have one of the most instantly recognizable silhouettes on the planet. “They walk so gracefully that it looks like they are floating across the savanna,” says Michael Brown, an ecologist with the Namibia-based Giraffe Conservation Foundation, or GCF.
Atmospheric River Reconnaissance Flights Begin
On the heels of an exceptionally wet year, an expanded data collection program using Air Force and NOAA aircraft will begin flights over the Pacific from November through March Published Date November 21, 2023 Article Content Seven atmospheric rivers classified as strong or greater dumped rain and snow on California during the 2022-2023 rainy season, lifting the majority of the state out of drought conditions and causing disastrous flooding.
Meltwater Flowing Beneath Antarctic Glaciers May Be Accelerating Their Retreat
Article Content A new Antarctic ice sheet modeling study from scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests that meltwater flowing out to sea from beneath Antarctic glaciers is making them lose ice faster. The model’s simulations suggest this effect is large enough to make a meaningful contribution to global sea-level rise under high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios.
What is El Niño?
Article Content El Niño and La Niña are natural climate phenomena that alter weather patterns around the world. El Niño occurs irregularly but shows up roughly every three to seven years and typically lasts between nine and 12 months with occasional exceptions that linger for multiple years.
How to make fresh tomatoes less squishable
A supermarket tomato can be a delicate thing, easily squashed. Tomatoes grown for canning are a lot tougher. Even when vine-ripened, they’re unscathed by huge harvesting machines that rip out plants row by row, shake loose the fruits, and fling them into trucks. Such durability makes these tomatoes cheap to farm, but they’re also a bit bland when eaten raw; cooks typically turn them into sauce.
NOAA Awards $2.5 Million to Scripps Researchers Working on Climate Solutions
Article Content Two projects led by researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been awarded nearly $2.5 million by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to probe the potential of climate change solutions aimed at fighting ocean acidification and removing planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The projects are led by Scripps scientists Andreas Andersson and Andrew Dickson, respectively.
Warming is Shifting Napa’s Wine Growing Season
The start of wine grape growing season in California’s Napa Valley now comes nearly a month earlier than it used to because of the region’s warming climate, according to a new study from a team led by UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Dan Cayan.
Warming Is Shifting Napa’s Wine Growing Season
Higher temperatures have advanced the wine grape growing season nearly a month earlier compared to the 1950s Published Date August 08, 2023 Article Content The start of wine grape growing season in California’s Napa Valley now comes nearly a month earlier than it used to because of the region’s warming climate, according to a new study from a team led by UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Dan Cayan.
California’s winter waves may be increasing under climate change
A new study from UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher emeritus Peter Bromirski uses nearly a century of data to show that the average heights of winter waves along the California coast have increased as climate change has heated up the planet.
The Unexpected Physics Behind Turkey’s Devastating 2023 Earthquakes
Article Content A new study from researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography uses a multidisciplinary approach to unravel the complexities of the two deadly earthquakes of nearly equal strength that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, 2023. The research, published today in the journal Science, finds that each of the two quakes, measured at magnitude 7.8 and 7.7, respectively, had unexpected elements that added up to make the shaking even more destructive.
California’s Winter Waves May Be Increasing Under Climate Change
New research used 90 years of seismic data to infer wave heights, creating an unprecedented record of the waves that have pounded California’s coast Published Date August 01, 2023 Article Content A new study from UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher emeritus Peter Bromirski uses nearly a century of data to show that the average heights of winter waves along the California coast have increased as climate change has heated up the planet.
Scripps Researchers to Explore Deep-Sea Methane Seeps in Alvin Submersible
“These seeps host an amazing array of microbial processes that we are still discovering and are relatively untapped when it comes to industrial applications and climate change applications such as methane or carbon capture,” said Levin.
Tiny Worms Get the Munchies, Too Original
Those celebrating the decidedly unofficial holiday of 4/20 on Thursday might experience a phenomenon known to scientists and the lay public as “the munchies.” Cannabis’ ability to stimulate appetite is one of its many medically useful properties, but it can also lead recreational users to plow through pints of ice cream, devour mountains of Cheetos or gnaw a log of raw cookie dough down to a stump.
Climate Change Is Making Home Runs Easier to Hit Original
Change is in the air for Major League Baseball, with numerous new rules going into effect this season aimed at speeding up play and making games more action-packed. But a new study finds that the air itself has also been changing baseball—by making home runs slightly easier to hit.
News at a glance: Benin Bronze’s source, a supermassive black hole, and Aboriginal knowledge
COVID-19 Chinese team posts key DNA from market After intense pressure and criticism from many scientists, Chinese researchers last week released a trove of new genetic data that may offer fresh clues about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some scientists say the new evidence gives more credibility to the thesis that SARS-CoV-2 could have jumped into humans from raccoon dogs or other mammals illegally sold at a Wuhan market.
Scientists have overlooked the snake clitoris, until now
NEW YORK: You’ve probably seen a snake’s forked tongue, but it’s not the slithering animal’s only forked body part. Male snakes sport forked genitals called hemipenes that look a bit like pink cactuses and often have spines to match. What’s good enough for him is good enough for her in the suborder Serpentes.
More Than Half of U.S. Bird Populations Are Shrinking Original
Interest in birds and birdwatching surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, with legions of birders, new and old, recording the details of their feathered sightings with apps such as eBird. In the process, these citizen scientists delivered a glut of high-resolution data that has been a boon to American ornithologists looking to better understand bird populations. Combined with decades of traditional biological surveys, this trove of data tells a story, and not a happy one.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Alex
Contact Alex, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack