A newsletter for science lovers, wandering minds, inspiration seekers ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
October 27, 2025—Hurricane Melissa is the third cat 5 storm this year, scientists uncover the tree microbiome, and turtles carry a nuclear record in their shell. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | | |
Darrell Gulin/Getty Images | | Scientists have mapped the microbiomes of humans, deep-sea habitats, and even clouds—and now the microbial world inside of trees. Researchers drilled into about 150 trees to take samples and then ground that material into powder to sequence the bacteria (the trees are unharmed by the coring). They compared the microbes in the trunk's middle and innermost layers and measured gases such as methane and nitrous oxide that living trees produced. They found unique microbial communities within different layers of the tree trunk, including methane-producing anaerobic bacteria in its innermost layers. Why this is interesting: Anaerobic bacteria are unexpected because they're more common to wetland environments like swamps. The finding suggests unique microbe communities exist within the trees. "It turned out what's living inside the trees was really different from what we found anywhere else in the forest," says the study's co-lead author, Jonathan Gewirtzman, an ecosystem ecologist at Yale University. What the experts say: "It is a really nice study, as they did something different from most: comparing the inner wood versus the outer wood," says plant microbiologist Sharon Lafferty Doty of the University of Washington. —Andrea Tamayo, Newsletter Writer | | Turtles that lived near nuclear production and detonation sites carry a record of these weapons in their shells. Scientists used a special mass spectrometer, a device that detects the chemical makeup of a material, to measure tiny amounts of uranium in the shells of four turtles that lived near such sites before they were collected as natural history specimens between the 1950s and 1980s. The isotopes of uranium detected in the shells matched the distinct profiles produced by the type of nuclear activity happening where the turtles lived. (The health of these particular turtles, which managed to survive the nuclear exposure, likely wasn't affected by the very small amounts of uranium found in their shells, the researchers say.) How it works: The fission, or splitting, of radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium gives nuclear weapons their power. The creation and detonation of these weapons shed these elements into the local environment. Elements then are taken up into local soil and water, where plants and eventually animals such as turtles can consume them. The researchers traced varying levels of uranium in individual concentric layers that formed like tree rings and tracked the animal's uranium uptake over time. What the experts say: Tracing nuclear elements this way could help scientists understand where and when nuclear activity occurred and how radioactive materials move from soil and water into plants and animals, says study co-author Cyler Conrad, an earth scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. | | | | |
- When you have a cold or flu, which remedies actually work? Zachary Rubin, a double board-certified pediatrician and allergist, gives some tips on how you can best treat a fever, congestion, sore throat and more. Click here to watch the full video. | 1 min
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Seven numbers belong together in a well-known group that no other numbers are a part of. Six of them are shown here in encrypted form: 9, 22, 24, 12, ?, 4, 13 What does the question mark stand for? Click here for the solution. | | My research for my graduate degree in Earth science was on tree rings (extra points to anyone who knows what the field is officially called!). You'd be amazed at what you can learn from tree rings—it's way more than just age. Rainfall history, temperature history, wildfire and pest occurrences, even the slope of the land where the tree grows. Trees (and turtle shells too!) carry a record of their lives in their outermost "skins," a reminder that memory can live in matter. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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