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Becca Dzombak

@rdzombak.bsky.social
1.3K followers 598 following 254 posts

science journalist covering climate, environment, geology, science | work in New York Times, National Geographic, others | PhD in very old rocks

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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In 2024, dam demolition on the Klamath was completed, letting long-controlled stretches of the river flow free. Now, the first stats for how many salmon are returning are in. It's good news: Thousands migrated upriver in '24 and '25. But recovery is not guaranteed. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...
nytimes.com
Salmon Are Thriving After Klamath Dam Removals, Study Finds (Gift Article)
The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers’ expectations.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Beavers in tidal marshes? For dam sure. One PNW researcher has been digging into an under-studied population of beavers: those thriving in tidally influenced river deltas, from British Columbia to Oregon. Read on in my piece for @sierramagazine.bsky.social :
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A reader emailed me this weekend asking: They're pulling out millions. What happens with all those crabs? 🦀 🦀 🦀 They're mostly composted, and a few are frozen and sent to @whoi.edu for genetics research. There's not (yet) a market for selling them on the west coast. (Google "green crab whiskey.")
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
European green crabs are the thugs of the shoreline. They're aggressive, versatile and voracious. And they're making their way deeper into Puget Sound. Meet the teams trying to stop the invasion. Gift link to the @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/c...
nytimes.com
Racing to Contain Invasive Green Crabs in Puget Sound (Gift Article)
Tribes and scientists are mounting an urgent trapping effort to keep European green crabs from devastating a corner of Puget Sound.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
An origins update: A Canadian geotech company tracked down the island five days before it was videoed, 13 km away from that location: www.linkedin.com/posts/corey-...
linkedin.com
#sentinel2 #ndvi #floatingdebrisindex #claudecode #dillydalling #jitterbugging #geospatial #datascience #willistonlake #remotesensing #geospatialdatascience | Corey Scheip, Ph.D.
Have you seen the island? Earlier this week, Joel Van Hove sent a couple of us this wild video (link: https://lnkd.in/engu_uJ5). It took me a few seconds to watch the undulations of the island and see...
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The island, still intact, has joined the shoreline once more, some 18 miles from where the boater first spotted it. This image, courtesy of the lake's dam operator, shows the island's scale and driftwood piled on the shore. Fun to imagine a chunk of it tearing away!
An aerial photograph of forested land on the left and a lake on the right. The floating island is in the middle, pushed up against the driftwood-covered shoreline.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A floating forest on the waters of British Columbia's largest lake has captured the attention of boaters and scientists alike. It's a "phenomenal sighting," said @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social — one that's rare today, but used to be common. Read why: www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...
nationalgeographic.com
Canada Has a New Forested Floating Island. Scientists Think It Used to Have Many More.
Researchers explain how it’s possible for a forest to float.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Algae toxins can go airborne, and some scientists around Lake Erie are studying the risks from bloom to breath.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Most people who live with the threat of landslides can't afford to, a new study found. Appalachia is the epicenter. Meanwhile, wealthy urban homeowners can buy their way to safety by mitigating landslide risk or simply rebuilding. For @sciencenews.bsky.social: www.sciencenews.org/article/land...
sciencenews.org
Landslides pose the largest risks to those who can least afford them
Appalachia is a hotspot of landslides, but many there can’t afford to move away or mitigate the danger, a new study finds. Wealthy urban residents can.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
These days, the TP aisle overwhelms me. I was looking for an environmentally friendly wipe, and bamboo-based TP intrigued me. But all our TP bamboo is grown overseas, and I wondered if growing it here would make for a greener wipe. Ecologists aren't so sure. www.sciencenews.org/article/bamb...
sciencenews.org
Bamboo toilet paper intrigued me. Reality turned out to be messy
What makes a greener wipe? Researchers have more to say about bamboo's ecological risks, given limited carbon footprint data.
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Reposted by Becca Dzombak
Andrew Freedman @afreedma.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Trump administration on Monday pulled federal support for the flagship Arctic Report Card, an annual science report on the state of the Arctic that has been published for 20 years (incl. last year, under Trump). www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/c...
cnn.com
Trump administration ends support for flagship Arctic climate reports | CNN
The Trump administration is ending federal support for Arctic Report Card.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Super-puff planets almost shouldn't exist, seeming at first to defy the rules of gas giant formation. But like the unlikely planets themselves, "our explanations are actually holding together," one astrophysicist told me. Read on at @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/s...
nytimes.com
Rare Pair of Improbably Light ‘Super-Puff’ Planets Is Discovered (Gift Article)
They’re less dense than cotton candy, and they will help astrophysicists better understand the most unusual ways giant planets can form.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Scientists have found sugar in the space between stars, providing tantalizing clues into how life may have arisen on Earth. The discovery eluded scientists for decades. So I asked what's obviously the most important question: What does it taste like? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/s...
nytimes.com
A Sweet Surprise: Scientists Find Sugar Deep in Our Galaxy (Gift Article)
It’s the first time a sugar molecule has been detected in interstellar space. The discovery provides tantalizing new clues into how life may have arisen on Earth.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Friendly reminder: you can watch the live feed of seismometers that detect shaking at the stadium in Seattle where the US is playing Belgium! ⚽️📈 pnsn.org/experiment/2...
pnsn.org
USA vs Belgium - R16 Knockout - PNSN.org
Experiment event details for USA vs Belgium - R16 Knockout
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Compared to the 1980s, California condors are thriving, but their numbers are still struggling: Without human-reared additions, their population would be shrinking. Lead is largely to blame, despite California's ban on lead-based ammo, a new study found. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
California’s endangered condors have a surprising new foe
Researchers couldn’t figure out why the birds were dying — then they turned up an unusual suspect.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Size isn't everything when it comes to wildfire. In 2025, the global area burned by wildfires was the second-smallest in modern records. But it was the costliest fire year, mostly due to the Los Angeles fires, a new study says. Gift 🔗 to the @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/c...
nytimes.com
2025 Wildfires Were the Costliest Ever, Researchers Say
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Last year, more than 600 dams—unwanted, unused or dangerous—were removed across Europe. The European Union set a goal of having 25,000 kilometers of free-flowing rivers by 2030, and dam removals are key to hitting that target. But they can be contentious. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...
nationalgeographic.com
Why Europe wants to tear down thousands of its dams
The continent has a growing movement to remove old and unnecessary dams to improve river health and save species. It comes as pressure on Europe’s water resources strengthens.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
For the @nytimes.com, I wrote about the threat of tsunamis on the West Coast and the lack of evacuation structures. These expensive but life-saving buildings could help tribes and other coastal communities stay in place. But the US has only a handful. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/r...
nytimes.com
These Towns Want a Tsunami Shelter Before It’s Too Late
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The Seattle fault zone runs right under its namesake city. In 923, it ruptured catastrophically. The threat of a repeat event on the main fault is still there. But two new studies show that smaller—but still damaging—quakes from shorter faults in the system are more likely. eos.org/articles/on-...
eos.org
On the Seattle Fault, the Biggest Quakes Aren’t the Most Likely - Eos
Smaller quakes from secondary faults—which are not included in national seismic hazard modeling—occur more frequently than previously thought.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Much of the West Coast and Hawaii faces some degree of tsunami risk. But if communities lack high ground to flee to before the waves hit, they really have one option: build up. Tsunami shelters are ubiquitous in tsunami-prone Japan, but the US has only a handful. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/r...
nytimes.com
These Towns Want a Tsunami Shelter Before It’s Too Late
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Dice games have been a key tool for social cohesion for many Native American cultures for thousands of years, as oral traditions, modern practices and archaeology reflect. The oldest documented dice are 12,000 years old and from the western US, a study finds. www.sciencenews.org/article/olde...
sciencenews.org
The oldest known dice in the world are roughly 12,000 years old
A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I wrote about the history of wine grapes last week for @nytimes.com, but we didn't have room to get into the climate of it all. In our wines, which do we value more: the past or the future? 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/s...
nytimes.com
Ancient Grapes Reveal Long History of Modern Wines
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
We humans have been drinking wine for thousands of years. It's recorded in ancient Egyptian paintings, Roman frescoes and Georgian wine jugs. But how have wines, and the grapes that make them, changed over time? DNA preserved in ancient grapes holds the clues. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/s...
nytimes.com
Ancient Grapes Reveal Long History of Modern Wines
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Wildfire seasons around the world are starting to overlap, with fire-friendly weather hitting more frequently. That convergence of wildfire timing could soon hamper the world's ability to share crucial firefighting resources. Within the U.S., it's already a reality. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/c...
nytimes.com
Wildfire Seasons Are Starting to Overlap. That Spells Trouble for Firefighting.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
For some butterflies, only those with a sense of rhythm can survive. That's because they need to be adopted by ant colonies as caterpillars to make in. Caterpillars mimic ants' sounds to get carried inside, and a new study explores rhythm's role in that. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/s...
nytimes.com
The Password That Lets Caterpillars Hide in an Ant’s Lair
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
It's hard to think about things that aren't politics in the U.S. right now, but for a bit of good news distraction: polar bears in Svalbard are fatter than scientists expected, suggesting they're coping with dramatic sea ice loss — for now. www.sciencenews.org/article/pola...
sciencenews.org
Polar bears in the Barents Sea are staying fat despite rapid sea ice loss
Polar bears can struggle to adapt to climate change. Bears on Svalbard may be surviving on land prey and seals — but scientists warn it may not last.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
A handful of intrepid cattle ranchers in Wyoming are testing out new tech that could help make ranches a little more conservation-friendly: virtual fences. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/c...
nytimes.com
Wyoming Cowboys Are Breaking Down Barriers, Literally
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Read this investigation into CA's child labor: A "climate of fear has made families more reluctant than ever to complain about unsafe working conditions, concerned that employers will retaliate. Even so, young people continue to work to help their parents pay bills and put food on the table."
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
The ant queen is dead. Long live the queen! Some parasitic ant queens can sneak into other species' colonies and douse the true queen in an acid that compels the workers—her daughters—to turn against her. After the workers kill their queen, the usurper swoops in. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
nytimes.com
Parasitic Queen: Now She’s Stealing an Ant Fief
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Today in fish news: After more than 100 years away, salmon are back in the headwaters of the Klamath River. At least 140 Chinook adults are spawning, and more are coming. But there's restoration work still to do. Some federal funding for it is delayed. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/c...
nytimes.com
A River Restoration in Oregon Gets Fast Results: The Salmon Swam Right Back
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
A new study argues that in the past, Cascadia quakes have triggered the San Andreas to go off, and that it could happen again. But other experts, while recognizing that may technically be possible, want more evidence. Read more at NatGeo: www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
How ‘the big one’ near Seattle could trigger an earthquake in San Francisco
Are two of the deadliest earthquake zones in North America linked? It's possible—but controversial.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
The @nytimes.com climate section is profiling federal scientists who have been terminated and their work. I spoke with tsunami expert Corina Allen, who worked to ensure tsunami alerts made it to the public. She was fired in February. Read her story and others': www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/c...
nytimes.com
She Made Sure That Tsunami Warnings Reached the Public
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
This is one of my favorite stories I've gotten to write. And it's that time of year again, when the skies in northwestern Washington are painted with squiggly black Vs of snow geese looking for a snack bar to settle down at for the winter. Just don't get hit by poop when you're looking up at them!
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Economy or environment? That's the question that plagues public land managers, and Washington's forests are not immune. 77,000 acres of ecologically important stands will be conserved, but some worry rural schools will lose out. For @highcountrynews.org: www.hcn.org/articles/was...
hcn.org
Washington moves to conserve its state forests - High Country News
The proposal would protect 77,000 acres of ‘structurally complex’ forests.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
A wildfire has been burning in the Olympic Peninsula for a month, growing to more than 5,100 acres at just 3% containment. Washington state is working to raise awareness of fire risk in its wet, forested environs and developing a plan to best fight fires here. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/c...
nytimes.com
Washington State Braces for ‘Inevitable’ Megafire. Climate Change May Bring It Sooner.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Climate change is whipping up worse fire weather and more severe fire seasons. Longer hot dry spells mean drought-stricken soils and crispy vegetation, and when the winds shift and something sparks—wildfire. In 2023 and 2024, forests were hit hard, two studies show. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...
nytimes.com
Climate Change Is Making Fire Weather Worse for World’s Forests
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
NOAA's network of climate monitoring stations and sample collectors is the backbone of tracking global climate change. Trump's proposed budget would shut it down. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/c...
nytimes.com
After 7 Decades of Measurements From a Peak in Hawaii, Trump’s Budget Would End Them
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Today NASA backtracked on its statement earlier this month that the National Climate Assessments would be hosted on their website. “NASA has no legal obligations to host globalchange.gov’s data,” a spokeswoman said today. “We never did and will not host the data.”www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/c...re
nytimes.com
NASA Website Will Not Provide Previous National Climate Reports
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
The Trump administration's proposed budget would slash NOAA's climate research funds. It still has to pass Congress, but it's already affecting scientists. A program supporting promising new climate scientists furloughed its current cohort and canceled 2025 awards. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/c...
nytimes.com
Recipients of a U.S. Climate Science Fellowship Are Put on Unpaid Leave
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
The levees that protect New Orleans from storm surges are sinking. It's built into their design: they're big and heavy and basically built on mud. But in some spots, they're sinking faster than expected. A new study shows where and how fast it's happening. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/c...
nytimes.com
Map of New Orleans Highlights Sinking and Stable City Spots
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Three DoD/NOAA satellites that help scientists track sea ice (and hurricanes) are slated to cease providing their data at the end of July due to "cybersecurity concerns." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/c...
nytimes.com
Data Crucial to Hurricane Forecasts Will Continue, but for One Month Only
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
The national climate assessment "shows how climate is changing in the places where we live, in ways that matter to people's lives," @katharinehayhoe.com told me. It explains those effects in "clear and unmistakable terms." The reports' website disappeared on Monday. NASA will now host them online.
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
The federal website for the national climate reports and other climate change information went dark Monday afternoon, the latest ripple of the shutdown of the legislatively mandated Global Change Research Program. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/c...
nytimes.com
National Climate Report Website Goes Dark
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
In a temporary pivot, the DoD will keep supplying satellite data important for forecasting hurricanes (and monitoring sea ice) until July 31. Today's announcement cited cybersecurity concerns as the reason for originally pulling the data. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/c...
nytimes.com
Data Crucial to Hurricane Forecasts Will Continue, but for One Month Only
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Forecasters will imminently lose observations crucial for hurricane tracking and prediction, as data from three NOAA/DOD satellites will go unmonitored. The satellites aren't being decommissioned. The agencies will simply stop providing the satellites' data. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/c...
nytimes.com
Critical Hurricane Monitoring Data Is Going Offline
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
State geological agencies create maps that oil & gas, mining and energy industries use for exploration and development, supporting Trump's goals around energy and critical minerals. But delayed federal funds and a proposed budget cut threaten this key work. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/c...
nytimes.com
There Might Not Be a Map for That: Budget Cuts Threaten Geological Surveys
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Airplanes are designed to handle extreme heat and cold, strong winds and more. Climate change and weather extremes mean some planes are hitting their limits more often. But it's still safe to fly on hot days, experts said. Read on to learn why: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/c...
nytimes.com
How Is Extreme Heat Affecting Air Travel?
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Temperatures are soaring, and there's a limit to what plants can handle. Scientists are figuring out how to engineer crops to take the heat so they can get into the kitchen. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/c...
nytimes.com
Soaring Temperatures Threaten Crops, So Scientists Are Looking to Alter the Plants
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
The atmosphere is a needy sponge, demanding more and more water as it warms. This "atmospheric thirst" is largely responsible for the increase in drought severity and areal extent seen in the last 40 years, a new study finds. "A hotter world is a thirstier world." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/c...
nytimes.com
It’s Not Just Poor Rains Causing Drought. The Atmosphere Is ‘Thirstier.’
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Becca Dzombak @rdzombak.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
The WH said the "gold standard of science" EO was to address "a crisis of trust between the scientific community and the American public," but according to Pew, "the American people trust scientists far more than the federal government." www.pewresearch.org/science/2024... Read Somini's piece:
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