GoKawiilClimate change makes the event difficult to predict. Plus, signs of success from an early trial of an osteoporosis therapy and how to safeguard reptiles and amphibians from illegal trafficking.
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This year’s El Niño weather event is forecast to reach unprecedented strength. It’s also the first strong El Niño to form in the eastern (rather than central) Pacific since the late 1990s, when the Earth was cooler. These facts, combined with the climate crisis, make El Niño’s effects hard to predict, experts say. So far, the impacts resemble those of previous strong events, and are far-reaching:
• Drought conditions in Central America have slowed shipping traffic on the Panama Canal.
• The anchovy harvest at a fishery off the coast of Peru, one of the most productive in the world, was cancelled early as fish fled warm waters.
• Tens of millions of people in parts of southern and East Africa are predicted to experience acute food insecurity because of dry weather combined with high prices for fuel and fertilizer.
Nature | 7 min read
Read more: The United Nations cultural organization UNESCO has released an online tool for heritage professionals and policymakers to prepare for the impact of El Niño on cultural sites.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is changing how it funds research grants — and how it decides which ones to fund — to better align with the priorities of US President Donald Trump’s administration. An NSF letter describes a shift to a “portfolio-based” approach to making grants that combines traditional “investigator-driven inquiry” with “NSF-directed opportunities”. It doesn’t specify what the opportunities will be. Agency staff who spoke to Nature worry that the changes will lead to further cuts for discovery-focused, curiosity-led research.
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