Join a community of science-loving readers. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
July 30, 2025—The earthquake off eastern Russia was one of the strongest ever recorded, a secret lake bursts through the ice in Greenland, and what the heck is "corn sweat?"
—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | A photograph from March 2022 shows an aerial view of the South Kuril Islands in eastern Russia. Natalia Zakharova/Anadolu via Getty Images | | | | |
Damage from a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30, 2025. Kamchatka Branch of Geophysical Survey of Russian Academy of Science (KBGSRAS)/S. Lakamov via Getty Images | | Today an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia, triggering tsunami warnings and sending high waves across the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Hawaii and California. The quake was one of the 10 strongest ever recorded. At the top of the list is a 9.5 magnitude quake, which struck Chile's southern coast in 1960. What happened: The earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia in a subduction zone at the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc, where the heavier Pacific plate is being subducted under the lighter, continental Okhotsk plate. Early forecasts by scientists (correctly) predicted that several countries around the Pacific Ocean would be inundated to some degree. Millions of people were evacuated from coastal Japan, and many in Hawaii were ordered to seek higher ground. People across swaths of Central and South America were also advised to flee from the receding ocean. Why this is interesting: This tsunami didn't cause giant waves or extensive damage (scattered buildings in some eastern coastal towns in Russia did experience localized destruction). Why? Not every earthquake, even if it's of high magnitude, is capable of sending out a huge tsunami. "The tsunami energy is not distributed symmetrically," says Amilcar Carrera-Cevallos, an independent earthquake scientist. A tsunami does not move outward in all directions with the same momentum, because faults don't rupture in a neat linear break, nor does the seafloor movement happen smoothly and in one direction. | | An aerial view of the city of Severo-Kurilsk flooded due to a tsunami triggered by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30, 2025. Kamchatka of Geophysical Survey/Anadolu via Getty Images | | - In order to reduce the global risk of nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and war, the "U.S. should support only bomb-resistant reactors and nuclear fuel" which entirely avoid weapons-usable material by disposing of it as waste, rather than the "bomb-prone" variety that creates proliferation risks by purifying and recycling nuclear fuel, writes Alan J. Kuperman, an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin. | 6 min read
| | - Two women got sick after getting peptide injections at the "Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival" in Vegas. Health authorities are investigating. | ProPublica
- A new aerogel, combined with sunlight, could remove enough salt to make seawater drinkable. | Ars Technica
- A group of doctors asked the FDA to remove warning labels on some hormone therapy treatments for menopause, saying they are scaring patients who would benefit. | NPR
| | Though damage from today's earthquake remained relatively local, the tsunami warnings were an inarguable success. "Federally funded science saves lives," Diego Melgar, director of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center, wrote on Bluesky. After several deadly tsunamis killed hundreds in the 1940s and 50s, a federally-funded warning system grew into an expert-staffed, 24/7 operation. "Last night, after the M8.7 in Kamchatka, warnings went out to Hawaii, Japan, and the U.S. West Coast within minutes," Melgar wrote. "Wave forecasts were updated as new info came in. That's a huge leap from where we were even 20 years ago." | | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | | |
Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters here. | | | | |
