8.7.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
Kenny Taylor. I have some stories related to the topics
of science and nature, but first a reminder. RADIOI is
a reading service intended for people who are blind or
have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.

(00:22):
Starting off today, we have an article from Ours Technica
and the headline reads, vast majority of new US power
plants generate solar or wind power. This is from August
the first. The United States added twenty two thousand, three
hundred and thirty two megawatts of power plant capacity in

(00:44):
the first half of this year, and the vast majority
of it was utility scale solar batteries and onshore wind.
Natural gas was next, and there was zero new coal
or nuclear. According to the Energy Information Administration, through twenty thirty,
the US energy landscape looks a lot like these last

(01:06):
six months in terms of the mix of new power plants,
with solar and batteries leading the way according to the
EIA's list of planned power plants. I'm digging into the
numbers to try to make sense of the contrast between
the Trump administration's push to expand use of natural gas,
coal and nuclear power, and the reality of which which

(01:30):
kinds of power plants, mainly renewables, are on track to
serve the grid of the near future. Some of this
contrast can be explained by the normal lag to develop
a power plant. Most of the recently completed projects have
been in the works since about twenty twenty, which feels
like ancient history. The Trump administration's policy changes, which tend

(01:53):
to favor fossil fuels and disfavor renewable energy, haven't had
much time to translate into product with firm timelines. But
even so, it's important to note that the administration is
limited in how much and how quickly it can change
trends in energy development, said David Victor, professor of Innovation

(02:14):
and public Policy at the University of California, San Diego. Quote,
there's a lot of inertia in the system, which means
that when you're trying to build new clean stuff, it
takes a long time to get going in that direction.
But when you're trying to stop building clean stuff and
build dirty stuff, which seems to be the Trump policy,
it takes a long time for that signal to be

(02:34):
felt in the system. He said. Some wind and solar
projects may be canceled because of the rapid phase out
of tax credits in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,
which Trump signed this month. The new law affects the
Investment Tax Credit and production tax Credit, the main incentives
for companies building utility scale renewables, but Victor views this

(02:59):
as more of a slowdown than a reversal of momentum.
One reason is that demand for electricity continues to rise
to serve data centers and other large power users. The
main beneficiaries are energy technologies that are the easiest to
build and most cost effective, including solar, batteries and gas.

(03:20):
In the first half of this year, the United States
added three hundred forty one new power plants or utility
scale battery systems, with a total of twenty two thousand,
three hundred thirty two megawats of summer generating capacity. According
to EIA, more than half the total was utility scale

(03:40):
solar with twelve thousand, thirty four megawats, followed by battery
systems with fifty nine hundred megawatts, onshore wind with twenty
six hundred megawats, and natural gas with seventeen hundred megawats,
which includes several types of natural gas plant. The largest

(04:01):
new plant by capacity was the six hundred megawatt Hornet
Solar in Swisher County, Texas, which went online in April.
Quote Hornet Solar is a testament to how large scale
energy projects can deliver reliable domestic power to American homes
and businesses, said Juan Suarez, co CEO of the developer

(04:24):
Vesper Energy of the Dallas area. The plants being completed
now are special in part because of what they have endured,
said Rick O'Connell, executive director of grid Lab, a nonprofit
that does technical analysis for regulators and renewable power advocates.
Power plants take years to plan and build, and current

(04:46):
projects likely began development during the COVID nineteen pandemic. They
stayed on track despite high inflation, parts shortages, and challenges
in getting approval for grid connections. It's been a rocky
road for a lot of these projects, so it's exciting
to see them online, O'Connell said. Looking ahead to the
rest of this year and through twenty thirty, the country

(05:09):
has two hundred and fifty four thousand, one hundred and
twenty six megawatts of planned power plants. According to EIA,
solar is the leader with one hundred twenty thousand megawatts,
followed by batteries with sixty five thousand and natural gas
with thirty five thousand megawats. There are zero coal fired

(05:32):
power plants and one nuclear plant, the Chemera Unit one
in Lincoln County, Wyoming, developed by Terra Power, which is
listed with projected completion by December twenty thirty. The proposed
restarts of closed nuclear plants, such as Palisades in Michigan,
have not yet shown up in the data. The planned

(05:55):
capacity is a lot for perspective. The country's current power plants,
including the word ones it began operation this year, have
about two and a half million megawats, a caveat when
comparing different power technologies, Generating capacity is only part of
the picture. It's important to consider the typical electricity production

(06:16):
of a plant and how predictable this output will be.
For example, a combined cycle gas plant, the most common
type of gas plant, as an average capacity factor of
sixty percent. This is a number that shows how much
electricity a plant produces compared to if it were running

(06:36):
at full strength all the time. Utility scale solar as
an average capacity factor of twenty three percent limited by
the fact that the sun goes down at height, so
solar's dominance in terms of new capacity coming online is
tempered by its limitations. Developers work around this by building

(06:57):
solar alongside battery energy storage. Some of the largest projects
this year were solar arrays located next to battery systems,
such as Sunstreams four, which is a three hundred megawatt
solar project and a three hundred megawatt battery project in
Maricopa County, Arizona. Gas also has plenty of problems, including

(07:21):
vulnerability to interruptions in fuel supply and fluctuations in fuel prices,
long waits for parts required for new plant construction, and
of course, the release of greenhouse gases that are making
the earth less habitable. These problems are part of Whyle
O'Connell is skeptical of the Trump administration's ability to encourage

(07:41):
more growth in gas fired power than was already happening. Quote,
there are real questions about how much gas we can
really build, he said. I realize this view may be
hard to swallow considering all of the attacks on renewable
energy and the government's support for fossil fuels, but I
also know from years of covering energy, at times like these,

(08:06):
with major policy changes and uncomfortable levels of chaos, are
some of the worst moments to think with clarity about
what may be ahead. And turning now to space dot
Com for an article that's headlined Curiosity Rover celebrates thirteen
years on Mars with well deserved naps and red planet

(08:30):
Coral Coral is in quotes. Thirteen years into its mission,
NASA's Curiosity Rover is still uncovering Martian mysteries and learning
to do more with less, and this was published August six.
Since landing on Gale Crater in twenty twelve, Curiosity has
traveled more than twenty two miles, studying rock layers, analyzing soil,

(08:55):
and revealing mars ancient past, including signs that the planet
once harbored liquid water, a thicker atmosphere, and conditions that
might have supported microbial life. And despite the toll of time,
including worn wheels and mechanical blitches, engineers have kept the
rover rolling with creative workarounds, remote fixes, and adaptive driving strategies. Now,

(09:22):
thanks to recent software upgrades, the Rower has gained new
autonomy that allows it to multitask and put itself to
sleep early when it finishes its daily tasks. This new
ability helps conserve energy from its aging nuclear power source
and extend its scientific lifespan. Quote. We were more like

(09:44):
cautious parents earlier in the mission, says writer Larsen, a
flight systems engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It's
as if our teenage rover is maturing and we're trusting
it to take on more responsibility. Curiosity, which is the
size of a small ISSUV, is powered by a multimission

(10:06):
radioisotope thermoelectric generator MMRTG, which converts heat from the natural
decay of plutonium into electricity to recharge the rovers batteries.
But as a plutonium decays, the system gradually produces less energy,
meaning it takes longer to recharge the batteries and leads

(10:28):
less power for science each day. To make the most
of the diminishing energy supply, engineers have been working to
boost the rover's efficiency by combining previously standalone tasks like driving,
taking photos, and transmitting data. By consolidating these activities, engineers
have been able to shorten each day's operational plan, reducing

(10:52):
the amount of time heaters and instruments need to stay
powered on, saving valuable energy in the process, and instead
of idling while waiting for new commands, Curiosity can now
put itself to sleep as soon as it finishes the
day's work. These small adjustments, even trimming just ten or
twenty minutes per day, can add up over time and

(11:13):
help preserve power and extend the rover's mission. These new
energy saving habits come as the rover has spotted an
eye catching rock formation that resembles a piece of coral.
Captured on July twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, The rock,
nicknamed Poposo, is about two inches wide and was photographed

(11:34):
using a camera perched at the end of the rover's
robotic arm. Poposo likely formed billions of years ago, during
a time when Mars is much wetter than it is today.
Mineral rich water likely seeped into cracks in the rock,
leaving behind hardened deposits. Over time, powerful winds would have
sculpted the exposed material into the delicate branching shape seen

(11:58):
by the rover. Curiosity is currently exploring a region rich
in so called box work formations, a network of ridges
that likely formed underground through ancient water activity. These features
crisscross the lower slopes of Mount Sharp, the three mile

(12:18):
high mountain above the floor of Gale Crater that the
rover has been ascending for years. All in all, Curiosity
remains in good health, NASA says, bolstered by smart engineering,
updated algorithms, and now a little more rest quote together,
these measures are doing their job to keep Curiosity as
busy as ever. The agency's statement says, now, we'll go

(12:44):
to the Weather Channel and they have an article that
is headlined, Phoenix is facing a heat crisis. Here's a
glimpse of our climate future. This is from August fifth.
Phoenix is no stranger to hot summers, but even for
a desert city that is accustomed to blazing temperatures, the

(13:07):
extreme heat is facing now is next level, with record
breaking temperatures becoming the new normal. Scientists say that Phoenix
and much of the Southwest are entering uncharted territory when
it comes to heat, which could lead to serious consequences
when it comes to health, infrastructure, and the environment. Places

(13:28):
like Arizona are absolutely entering uncharted territory when it comes
to heat, said doctor Zachary Labe, climate scientist at Climate Central.
In recent summers, we've seen prolonged stretches of extreme temperatures
that break not just daily records, but monthly and even
all time records. In the coming days, Phoenix is expected

(13:49):
to break even more records. Their high temperature on Thursday
could hit one hundred and seventeen degrees, which would tie
an August all time monthly record, and the record heat
in and around Phoenix is expected to last through the
end of the week. Just last summer, Phoenix made headlines
when it recorded one hundred and thirteen consecutive days of

(14:09):
one hundred degree temperatures or higher, the longest stretch ever observed,
and in twenty twenty three, the city also experienced a
record setting thirty one consecutive days over one hundred ten degrees,
a brutal stretch that strained power grids, overwhelmed cooling centers,
and tested the limits of human endurance. Quote. Climate change

(14:33):
is pushing baseline temperatures higher, thinking it more likely for
heat waves to reach unprecedented levels, Labe explained. He added
this includes over night hours too, when temperatures aren't cooling
down like they did before. What used to be rare
is now becoming more common and more dangerous. That lack

(14:54):
of nighttime relief is especially concerning. Hot nights prevent the
body from recovering after sweltering days and make heat related
illnesses more likely, especially among older adults, children, people with
chronic illnesses, and outdoor workers. Tucson, Arizona is experiencing three
times more extreme heat streaks compared to the nineteen seventies.

(15:19):
As global temperatures rise, Lavee says the Southwest should expect
to see longer, hotter, and more frequent heat waves over
the next several decades. Quote This has wide reaching implications,
from public health risks, especially for outdoor workers and vulnerable populations,
to strains on water resources and infrastructure. Those ripple effects

(15:43):
touch nearly every part of life in Arizona and the
broader region. The agriculture industry could suffer, Roads and rails
may buckle under extreme heat. Energy demand will surge as
people try to stay cool, putting a dish stress on
the power grid, which is already being tested each summer.

(16:04):
Even tourism, a major economic driver in Arizona, may suffer
as more days become dangerously hot for hiking, sightseeing, or
simply being outdoors. We've already seen some of the most
visited national parks forced to close this season due to
extreme heat. Earlier in the spring, Lake Mead was forced
to close after one person died and more than thirty

(16:27):
hikers had to be rescued when they fell ill from
the heat. Unfortunately, challenges and risks from the heat are
only expected to intensify in many areas across the country. Quote.
Extreme heat often interacts with and worsens other climate related problems.
Lade said. Longer heat waves can dry out soils, intensified

(16:49):
drought conditions, and increase the risk of wildfires in quote
in a region already known for water scarcity, those hotter
conditions put extra stress on red resers, rivers, and underground aquifers.
Crops may struggle, ecosystems may shift, and certain areas could
become increasingly difficult to live in during the summer months.

(17:12):
Phoenix and the Greater Southwest are at the frontline of
climate change and heat, and what's happening here may soon
become more common in other parts of the US. Quote.
We're seeing what happens when climate extremes collide with growing
cities and aging infrastructure. Labe explains the choices we make
now will shape how livable these places are in the

(17:35):
decades to come. Quote now we'll go to BBC News.
Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral decline on record. Parts
of the Great Barrier Reef have suffered the largest annual
decline in coral cover since records began nearly forty years ago,
according to a new report. Northern and southern branches of

(17:58):
the sprawling Australia Reef both suffered their most widespread coral bleaching.
According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science, reefs have
been battered in recent months by tropical cyclones and outbreaks
of crown of thorns starfish that feast on core, but
heat stress driven by climate change is the predominant reason.

(18:23):
The Australian Institute of Marine Science or AIMS, warrants that
habitat may reach a tipping point where coral cannot recover
fast enough between catastrophic events and faces a volatile future.
AIMS Suffered surveyed the health of one hundred and twenty
four coral reefs between August twenty twenty four and May

(18:46):
twenty twenty five. It's been performing surveys since nineteen eighty six.
Often dubbed the world's largest living structure, the Great Barrier
Reef is a twenty three hundred kilometer or fourteen hundred
miles expanse of tropical corals that houses a stunning array
of biodiversity. Repeated bleaching events are turning vast swaths of

(19:09):
once vibrant coral white. Australia's second largest reef, Ningaloo, on
Australia's western coast, has also experienced repeated bleaching, and this
year both major reefs simultaneously turned white for the first
time ever. Coral is vital to the planet. Nicknamed the
sea's architect, it builds vast structures that house an estimated

(19:33):
twenty five percent of all marine species. Bleaching happens when
coral gets stressed and turns white because the water it
lives in is too hot. Stressed coral will probably die
if it experiences temperatures one degree centigrade or one point
eight fahrenheit above its thermal limit for two months. If

(19:57):
waters are two degrees sent celsius higher, it can survive
around one month. Unusually warm tropical waters triggered widespread coral
bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in twenty twenty four.
In the first few months of twenty twenty five, as
well as climate change, natural weather patterns like El Nino

(20:20):
can also play a role in mass bleaching events. The
reef has experienced unprecedented levels of heat stress, which caused
the most spatially extensive and severe bleaching recorded to date.
According to the report. Any recovery could take years and
was dependent on future coral reproduction and minimal environmental disturbance.

(20:42):
According to the report, In the latest AIMS survey results,
the most affected coral species were the Acropora, which are
susceptible to heat stress and a favored food of the
crown of Thorn starfish. These corals are the fast to
grow and they are the first to go, says AMES

(21:03):
Research lead doctor Mike Emsley. The Grape Barrier Reef is
such a beautiful, iconic place. It's really really worth fighting
for and if we can give it a chance, it's
shown an inherent ability to recover. He said. There has
been some success with the Australian government's Crown of Thorne
starfish culling program, which has killed over fifty thousand starfish

(21:27):
by injecting them with vinegar or oxmile quote. Due to
crown of Thorne starfish control activities, there was no potential,
established or severe outbreaks of crown of Thorne's starfish recorded
on central Grape Barrier reefs in twenty twenty five. The
AMES report noted the creatures are native to the Grape

(21:48):
Barrier reef and are capable of eating vast amounts of coral,
but since the nineteen sixties their numbers have increased significantly,
with nutrients from land based agriculture runoff regarded as the
most likely cause. Richard Leck from the global environmental charity
WWF or a World Wildlife Fund, said the report shows

(22:10):
that the reef is an ecosystem under extreme, incredible stress,
and scientists are concerned about what happens when the reef
does not keep bouncing back the way it has. Leck
said some core reefs around the world are already beyond recovery,
warning the Great Barrier Reef could suffer the same fate
without ambitious and rapid climate action. Great Barrier Reef has

(22:33):
been Heritage listed for over forty years, but UNESCO warns
the Australian icon is in danger from warming seas and
pollution will go down to Science Focus magazine. The headline
for this article is removing microplastics possible, necessary or just

(22:55):
the latest celebrity trend. The actor Orlando Bloom recently made
headlines when he reportedly paid thirteen thousand, six hundred dollars
to have his blood removed so that any microplastics in
it could be separated and filtered out. His decision to
pay for this drastic treatment highlights the growing worry over

(23:17):
an unsettling truth. There's simply no avoiding these minuscule particles
of plastic. They're everywhere, from the top of Mount Everest
to the inside of our brains according to some studies.
They're also all over the media, and understandably, the perceived
danger of having microscopic flakes of plastic floating around inside
us has raised public and scientific concern. Microplastics are often

(23:42):
linked to disease, but the testing for them and their
effects is still at an early stage and no scientific
consensus has been reached. So should we be worried about
what they're doing to our bodies and should we be
queuing up to get our blood cleaned? The term microplastic
describes any plastic particle or fiber measuring less than five

(24:05):
millimeters in size. Typically, these particles are so small that
we need a microscope to see them. Scientists also use
the term nanoplastic to describe even smaller particles, which is
less than point zero zero one millimeter. These are challenging
to see even with advanced microscopes, but evidence suggests they

(24:27):
could be released from plastic materials and into the surrounding environment.
Part of my research group's work has been to measure
the levels of plastic and other particles in the air
we breathe. In London, we've seen microplastics in the air
pollution small enough to travel deep into our lungs. To
test whether microplastics are in the body, pieces of whole

(24:49):
tissue or blood are processed and then filtered to concentrate
any microplastic amounts. Then analysis can take place either through
a chemistry takesechnique which quantifies the amount of plastic in
a sample, or a microscope based physical chemistry technique. We
count the number of plastic particles and note their size

(25:10):
and shape in a sample. Each method has its merits,
but they both suffer from the same drawback. The modern
laboratory is a hot bed for microplastic contamination. It's full
of plastic wear, plastic consumables, and of course people. Because
of this, the actual process of extracting and testing samples
for microplastics can be a source of pollution itself. Often

(25:34):
we see microplastic particles in samples that we'd previously thought
were too big to be absorbed and distributed throughout the body.
Some reports claim that humans could be ingesting as much
as a tea spoon of plastic every day. Generally speaking,
particles smaller than point zero zero one millimeter can cross

(25:55):
through the lungs and enter the bloodstream at the air
blood barrier. This is the thin layer of tissue in
the lungs that separates air in the air sacs alveoli
from blood in the surrounding tiny blood vessels capillaries. In
the gut, microplastics can cross into the lymphatic system, the
body's waste removal structure. From here, the smallest particles enter

(26:19):
the bloodstream, while larger particles become trapped in the gut.
Lining contamination from the lad could therefore provide an explanation
for the biggest pieces of plastic found in the body.
Another issue is that some of the biological components in
samples generate similar signals to plastics. Specifically, fats interfere with

(26:42):
the signals of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride, which can lead
to an overestimation of how present these plastics are if
a sample isn't adequately processed. With all this in mind,
the high amounts of micro plastics reported to be in
our bodies are likely overestimated. Amounts vary significantly from nanograms

(27:07):
to milligrams, depending on the study location, tissue type, and
analytical method followed. In a recent rigorous study, a conservative
estimate was made that there's around zero point one point
five micrograms of plastic per millilter in our blood. To
put that into perspective, that's less than the weight of

(27:27):
a single human hair. Still, it's also worth noting that
this study only looked at polystyrene, as it's the only
type of microplastic that's easy to test for. Based on
these levels, it's probably more important to focus on where
the microplastics end up in our bodies instead of how
many of them are actually there. But again, it's difficult

(27:49):
to measure the amount of microplastics gathering in different parts
of our bodies. One study published in Nature Medicine this
February suggested that the brain is a hot spot plastic,
claiming that it accumulates on average four point five bottle
caps worth. Well that's all for today's Diary of Science

(28:10):
and Nature. Your reader is Kelly Taylor. Now stay tuned
for the Health Corner on RADIOI