Today in Science: The "real-life mermaids" of South Korea's Jeju Island

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June 2, 2025—How Doppler weather radar keeps us safe. Plus, the genetics of the divers of Jeju Island, South Korea; and engineered viruses could one day cure brain disease. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor TODAY'S NEWS Haenyeo woman, Jeju Island, South Korea. Asia Lynn Gail/robertharding/Getty Images The Haenyeo, an all-female group of divers on South Korea's Jeju Island, spend much of their lives hunting for seafood in frigid water without equipment—a "superpower" that may be written into their DNA, a new study finds. | 5 min read Clouds of dust drifting from the Sahara Desert over the Atlantic Ocean could make for unusual-looking sunrises and sunsets, as well as potentially drier weather, over Florida and parts of the southeastern U.S. in the coming days. | 2 min read A team of researchers in China has found a way to bring dead lithium-ion batteries back to life by injecting them with a special molecule that AI helped identify. | 4 min read The small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps was largely destroyed last week by a landslide that occurred as a result of the partial collapse of the nearby Birch Glacier. | 3 min read Neuroscientists are using engineered viruses to make precise genetic tweaks to the neurons that are most affected by brain diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and ALS. | 5 min read More News TOP STORIES Mfotophile/Getty Images Let's Look at the Doppler In 1988 a partnership of several government agencies, including NOAA, installed a national network of 160 high-resolution radars. These Doppler radars continuously send out microwave pulses that detect precipitation in the atmosphere, alerting weather forecasters at the National Weather Service (a division of NOAA) to see how much rain, snow, sleet or other precip is falling and where.  How it works: Inside each giant white sphere is a device that looks like a larger version of a home satellite TV dish, with a transmitter that emits pulses in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Those pulses bounce off raindrops, snowflakes, hailstones—what meteorologists collectively call hydrometeors—and back to the dish antenna. The power of the returning signals lets experts create a picture of size, shape and intensity of any precipitation—and this is what you see on a phone app's radar map or a TV broadcast. Amanda Montañez Detailed information: The nation's radar system was upgraded in 2012 to include what is called dual polarization. This means the signal has both vertically and horizontally oriented wavelengths, providing information about precipitation in more than one dimension. The vertical profiles can show, for example, whether a tornado is forming or a storm is creating a downburst—a rapid downward blast of wind. "Doppler radar basically allows us to see in the clouds," says Ryan Hanrahan, chief meteorologist of the NBC Connecticut StormTracker team. NOAA's radars have been on duty for 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year since 1988 (with brief downtimes for maintenance and upgrades).  NOAA The image on the left shows a reflectivity radar image of a supercell thunderstorm that produced several tornadoes on April 19, 2023, near Oklahoma City, OK. The hook shape indicates rotation within the storm. The image on the right shows velocity information that corresponds to the reflectivity image. Very strong inbound winds (green colors) are next to very strong outbound winds (bright red/yellow colors). This very strong inbound/outbound "couplet" indicates the very strong rotation of a tornado.   What the experts say: For much of the country—particularly in the West—there is little to no overlap in the areas that each radar covers, meaning other sites would not be able to step in if a neighboring radar is out. This is especially crucial in areas prone to tornadoes or other quickly forming deadly storms. "Radars are key instruments in issuing tornado warnings," says Jana Houser, a tornado researcher at the Ohio State University. "If a radar goes down, we're basically down as to what the larger picture is." Forecasts at risk: Because of all the large moving parts needed to operate them, the radars require periodic maintenance. And with Trump administration cuts to NOAA staffing and freezes on some spending, the NWS may not have the personnel to keep the radars going, experts worry. "We just got rid of a lot of the radar maintenance technicians, and we got rid of the budget to repair a lot of these sites," University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist Daniel Swain said recently during one of his regular YouTube talks. "Losing radar capabilities would "take us back in time by four decades," says Houser. If they go down, "there's no way we're going to be effective at storm warnings." —Andrea Thompson, senior sustainability editor Want to dive deeper into the science that interests you? Consider a subscription to Scientific American. Today in Science readers get special discounts!

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EXPERT PERSPECTIVES Plant hardiness zones are shifting northward. On average, the coldest days of winter in our current climate, based on temperature records from 1991 through 2020, are 5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 Celsius) warmer than they were between 1976 and 2005. This will have effects even on home gardeners, writes Matt Kasson, an associate professor of mycology and plant pathology at West Virginia University. "When plants have to contend with temperature shifts, heat stress and disease, they will eventually struggle to survive in areas where they once thrived," he says. He lists four factors to consider when planning your garden this year. | 5 min read More Opinion MONDAY MATH PUZZLE A traveling salesman who lives in city A wants to visit all cities from B to P over the course of a week, though not necessarily in alphabetical order, and return to A at the end. He plans to enter each city exactly once. The blue lines are the only roads connecting the 16 cities. The traveling salesman may use only a straight route between any two cities; he is not allowed to turn at the intersection of two streets. How many different routes are possible? Click here for the solution! The northern lights may be visible from Alaska to Massachusetts tonight as a geomagnetic storm continues—a severe solar flare hit Earth early yesterday morning! So keep your eyes peeled tonight and let me know if you see any dazzling displays.  Welcome to a new week of science discovery. Email me anytime: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow!   —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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