# science policy (news sources) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover science policy. Page: Feed: --- ## [California’s Drought Irreversibly Damaged Sacramento Valley Aquifers](https://eos.org/articles/californias-drought-irreversibly-damaged-sacramento-valley-aquifers) _2026-08-21 · Grace van Deelen · Eos_ Satellite data have revealed an abrupt drop in aquifers’ ability to recharge after the 2020–2022 drought. More real-time monitoring could spot the issue before it arises again. ## [Swift Observatory Rescue Mission Fails](https://eos.org/research-and-developments/swift-observatory-rescue-mission-fails) _2026-08-20 · Kimberly M. S. Cartier · Eos_ NASA’s attempt to rescue the falling Swift Observatory has failed. Look back at some of Swift’s most exciting discoveries. ## [It Takes Three to Model Methane Right](https://eos.org/research-spotlights/it-takes-three-to-model-methane-right) _2026-08-20 · Rebecca Dzombak · Eos_ By combining conventional process-based and atmospheric inversion modeling with machine learning, scientists home in on a more realistic methane model. ## [Tectonics and Deglaciation Govern Eastern-Southern Alps at Slow Rates](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/tectonics-and-deglaciation-govern-eastern-southern-alps-at-slow-rates) _2026-08-20 · Lothar Ratschbacher and Djordje Grujic · Eos_ Transnational, multiproxy, and interdisciplinary datasets locate seismic hazard and show that slow-rate tectonic and deglaciation deformation overrate mantle processes in the Southern-Eastern Alps. ## [The 18 August 2026 gold mine landslide at the Zamboye (Zamboï) mining site in the Central African Republic](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/zamboye-1) _2026-08-20 · Dave Petley · Eos_ At least 107 people were killed in major failure at an artisinal mine on the border with Cameroon. In the afternoon of 18 August 2026, a large landsldie occurred at an artisinal gold mine at Zamboye (also spelt Zamboï) in the Central African Republic. The landslide was caught on videos that have been widely shared \[…\] ## [Decoding the Origins of Lightning’s Violent Currents](https://eos.org/editors-vox/decoding-the-origins-of-lightnings-violent-currents) _2026-08-19 · Caitano da Silva, Logan Baeza, Jacob Wemhoner and Saulo Orizaga · Eos_ A compact set of physical equations delivers a unified, first-principles explanation for how lightning's most destructive surge of current is born, races towards the clouds, and fades. ## [冻土图案的形成源于重力和奇特的物理现象](https://eos.org/research-spotlights/patterned-frozen-soils-get-their-shape-from-gravity-and-funky-physics-chinese) _2026-08-19 · Rebecca Dzombak · Eos_ 冻土的一个神秘特征，可以用非牛顿流体物理学来部分解释。这就是“奥布雷克”(Oobleck)。 ## [Why Channel Steepness Might Not Always Be What You Think it to Be](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/why-channel-steepness-might-not-always-be-what-you-think-it-to-be) _2026-08-19 · Oliver Korup · Eos_ Channel steepness is a popular metric in most studies of tectonic geomorphology, but the simple and convenient method of defining channels in the first place may have overlooked a serious pitfall. ## [Solar Panels Can Cool Crops—and Workers](https://eos.org/research-spotlights/solar-panels-can-cool-crops-and-workers) _2026-08-19 · Rebecca Owen · Eos_ A new model simulates the benefits of agrivoltaic farming, in which solar panels and crops share the same land. ## [The report of the external review commissioned by Tauranga City Council into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslide](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/mount-maunganui-beachside-holiday-park-landslide-1) _2026-08-19 · Dave Petley · Eos_ The external review of the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslide is extremely critical of the local authority in their approach to the management of the well-documented landslide hazard and risk at the site. The external review commissioned by Tauranga City Council (TCC) into the 22 January 2026 Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslide released \[…\] ## [Snapshot Showdown on Google Play (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/TZBnto5gKZZo) _2026-08-19 · **Sponsored**_ Available on Google Play for Android devices. ## [Arctic Report Card Will Move Ahead Without NOAA](https://eos.org/research-and-developments/arctic-report-card-will-move-ahead-without-noaa) _2026-08-18 · Grace van Deelen · Eos_ The Arctic Report Card, an annual, peer-reviewed evaluation of the state of our warming Arctic, will still be published this year despite a lack of financial or logistical support from NOAA. On 10 August, editors of the Arctic Report Card were informed that NOAA will no longer support its publication, meaning the agency will not provide the report with coordinating editors, coordinate its external… ## [Forest Service to End Protection for 45 Million Acres of Forest](https://eos.org/research-and-developments/forest-service-to-end-protection-for-45-million-acres-of-forest) _2026-08-18 · Kimberly M. S. Cartier · Eos_ The U.S. Forest Service has moved forward with a rule to withdraw protections from 45 million acres of pristine national forests. ## [Drought Extremes are Intensifying More Rapidly Than in the Past](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/drought-extremes-are-intensifying-more-rapidly-than-in-the-past) _2026-08-18 · Alberto Montanari · Eos_ Twenty ensemble members from a 600-year climate simulation reveal that drought extremes are intensifying more rapidly than in the past with respect to moderate droughts. ## [Images of the aftermath of the 13 August 2026 tailings storage facility failure at the Semancor Dikwena Chrome Mine in South Africa](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/semancor-dikwena-tsf-2) _2026-08-18 · Dave Petley · Eos_ The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. On social media, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Republic of South Africa has released two aerial images of the aftermath of the 13 August 2026 tailings storage facility failure at \[…\] ## [Scientists Define a New Category of Heat Wave: “Snow Eaters”](https://eos.org/articles/scientists-define-a-new-category-of-heat-wave-snow-eaters) _2026-08-17 · Katie Yoder · Eos_ Unseasonably warm weather that rapidly melts snowpack is becoming more widespread in the U.S. West and happening earlier in the year. ## [The 13 August 2026 tailings storage facility failure at Dikwena Chrome in South Africa](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/dikwena-tsf-1) _2026-08-17 · Dave Petley · Eos_ A major tailings accident occurred last week in a Chrome mine at Dikwena near Brits. On 13 August 20926, a major failure occurred in a large tailings storage facility at the Dikwena facility, owned by Samancor Chrome in the Brits area of South Africa. There are news reports from IOL and the Daily Maverick about this \[…\] ## [Antarctica Is Releasing Mercury Faster Than Ever Because of Climate Change](https://eos.org/articles/antarctica-is-releasing-mercury-faster-than-ever-because-of-climate-change) _2026-08-14 · Grace van Deelen · Eos_ A new study shows melting glaciers are remobilizing pollutants. ## [Patterns in time and space of fatal coastal cliff failures](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/patterns-in-time-and-space-of-fatal-coastal-cliff-failures) _2026-08-14 · Dave Petley · Eos_ A new analysis (Reiss et al. 2026) explores a global database of fatal coastal cliff failures, showing that these tragic events most frequently occur in the summer months when beaches are heavily populated. One significant type of fatal landslide is coastal cliff failures. Whilst I have recorded a number of these events through the years, \[…\] ## [How Fluid Mixing due to Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities Really Works](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/how-fluid-mixing-due-to-kelvin-helmholtz-instabilities-really-works) _2026-08-13 · Lars Umlauf · Eos_ Physical oceanographers might have a misconception about the anatomy of mixing at realistic Reynolds numbers in this important type of shear instability. ## [Extreme Heat May Drive Asthma Risk in Baltimore, Especially at Night](https://eos.org/research-spotlights/extreme-heat-may-drive-asthma-risk-in-baltimore-especially-at-night) _2026-08-12 · Rebecca Owen · Eos_ A new study paints a fuller picture of how heat affects respiratory health, especially in Baltimore’s socially vulnerable neighborhoods. ## [One platform, from silicon to agent (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/eCRS8aoZbHqH) _2026-08-12 · **Sponsored**_ Serverless inference plus Inference Router to optimize cost and latency at scale. ## [Introducing Research Letters in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology](https://eos.org/editors-vox/introducing-research-letters-in-paleoceanography-and-paleoclimatology) _2026-08-12 · Kaustubh Thirumalai, Ursula Röhl and Sarah J. Feakins · Eos_ Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology now offers Research Letters, a new format for brief, timely, scientific communications, launched on the journal’s 40th anniversary. ## [Streamflow From Generative AI](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/streamflow-from-generative-ai) _2026-08-12 · Stefan Kollet · Eos_ The trifecta of predicting, assimilating, and downscaling streamflow has arrived with generative diffusion AI models. ## [Forty Years of Looking to Earth’s Past to Understand Its Future](https://eos.org/editors-vox/forty-years-of-looking-to-earths-past-to-understand-its-future) _2026-08-12 · Sarah J. Feakins, Ursula Röhl and Kaustubh Thirumalai · Eos_ From ancient greenhouse worlds to ice ages, Earth's past offers vital clues to its future. Explore the 40 th anniversary special collection from Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology . ## [The evolution of the Wanlixi landslide in Taiwan](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/wanlixi-landslide-2) _2026-08-12 · Dave Petley · Eos_ Planet Labs satellite imagery highlights how the Wanlixi landslide in Taiwan evolved prior to the main failure on 21 June, and how it has continued to move subsequently. On 31 July 2026 I highlighted the valley-blocking Wanlixi landslide in Hualien County, Taiwan. The location of the landslide is 23.78859° N, 121.27236° E (for machine readable \[…\] ## [Participation Challenges May Limit Conservation Incentive Programs](https://eos.org/editor-highlights/participation-challenges-may-limit-conservation-incentive-programs) _2026-08-11 · Kathryn Semmens · Eos_ Landowners in North Carolina are interested in adopting conservation practices that reduce flood risk but are discouraged by time-consuming conservation programs that are difficult to navigate. ## [The Under-the-Radar Creeks That Are Sweeping Carbon Out of Salt Marshes](https://eos.org/research-spotlights/the-under-the-radar-creeks-that-are-sweeping-carbon-out-of-salt-marshes) _2026-08-11 · Rebecca Dzombak · Eos_ Transport via tidal creeks is a “major and often underrecognized” pathway of carbon in the coastal wetlands, and a gap in most blue carbon assessments, new research reports. ## [The 4 July 2026 landslide disaster at Cantzama in Ecuador](https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/4-july-2026-cantzama-in-ecuador) _2026-08-11 · Dave Petley · Eos_ On 4 July 2026, 19 people were killed in a massive landslide in Zamora Chinchipe province, Ecuador. Planet Labs imagery shows that this was caused by a c.1 km long landslide that occurred 13 km upstream of Cantzama. This transitioned into a channelised debris flow that destroyed the community. On 4 July 2026, a massive \[…\] ## [Government Pulls Funding for the Arctic Report Card](https://eos.org/research-and-developments/government-pulls-funding-for-the-arctic-report-card) _2026-08-10 · Emily Gardner and Grace van Deelen · Eos_ The Trump administration is pulling funding from NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, an annual, peer-reviewed report about the state of the region, which is warming more quickly than anywhere else on Earth. ## [Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Hits Colombia, Latest on the Ring of Fire](https://eos.org/uncategorized/magnitude-7-4-earthquake-hits-colombia-latest-on-the-ring-of-fire) _2026-08-10 · Emily Gardner · Eos_ Western Colombia was struck by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake this morning at 7:34 a.m. local time.