Author
Erik Olsen
Los Angeles–based journalist and filmmaker. Former Senior Video Journalist at The New York Times and West Coast correspondent for Quartz. Work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC, Scientific American, Popular Science, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS NOVA.
159 stories
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The Complicated Legacy of Founders Grove and the Save the Redwoods League
Founders Grove is a conservation triumph built on a far more complicated history of logging, industry and eugenics.
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The Night a Tidal Wave Erased Downtown Crescent City, California
Why California’s most northern town is a magnet for deadly tsunamis.
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The Himalayan Flood Has an Echo in California’s Past
The collapse of the St. Francis Dam in 1928 sent a wall of water through a narrow canyon, killing hundreds. The cause was different, but the destruction is hauntingly familiar.
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The Wetland Newport Beach Saved for the Birds
The Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, better known as the Back Bay, remains one of Southern California’s most important refuges for birds traveling the Pacific Flyway.
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Inside a Collection of 117,000 Shells and the World’s Deadliest Snail
Hidden at Occidental College, the Cosman Collection holds nearly 117,000 shells, possible undiscovered species, preserved DNA, and some of nature’s deadliest venom.
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Giants Fallen: The Destruction of Converse Basin Grove and its Giant Sequoias
The true tragic story of one of the worst environmental crimes in California history.
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Pain, Strain and Gain on the Rae Lakes Loop
Five days, 45 miles, 7,000 feet of climbing elevation, and a welcome escape from the noise of everyday life.
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Reading California's History in Highway Roadcuts
How geologists read millions of years of history in California's highway roadcuts.
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California Has a Huge Whale Graveyard off the Coast. And That’s Not a Terrible Thing.
Whale falls offer scientists a treasure trove of information about life in the deep ocean. Microbiologist Jeffery Marlow talks about the importance of microbes.
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A Planet Built by Microbes
Deep-sea scientist Jeffrey Marlow discusses the astonishing diversity of microbial life, whale falls, hydrothermal vents, deep-sea mining, and the tiny organisms that help make Earth habitable.
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Hidden Near Los Angeles Is One of the World's Most Important Centers for Endangered Apes
The Gibbon Conservation Center in Santa Clarita is home to about 40 endangered apes and has become a globally important center for conservation, research, and education.
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The Miracle of Cabo Pulmo in Baja California
How local fishermen transformed Cabo Pulmo into one of the world's greatest marine conservation success stories.
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The Rock That Powered California: The Monterey Formation
From microscopic plankton to billions of barrels of oil, few rock formations have shaped California's history more profoundly than the Monterey formation.
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Mountain of Knives
Lookout Mountain obsidian became prized toolstone, traded through Indigenous networks from the eastern Sierra to the Channel Islands.
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The California Supervolcano You Can Visit...and Other Amazing Geologic Attractions
Supervolcanoes, Hot Springs, Fumaroles, Yellow Lakes, and Other Geologic Wonders of Mammoth Lakes
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The Moon May Help Drive California’s Next Flooding Crisis
An 18.6-year lunar cycle is expected to amplify tides just as rising seas push more of California’s coastline toward flooding thresholds.
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Sea Turtles Are Thriving in a Concrete River in Los Angeles
A threatened population of green sea turtles is thriving in the concrete channels of the San Gabriel River in Long Beach.
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The Walls of Yosemite Are Coming Down
Exfoliation helped create Yosemite’s famous rounded granite domes and continues to peel the cliffs apart in massive sheets of rock.
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Inside The Huntington’s Extraordinary Succulent Garden
At The Huntington, one of the world’s great succulent collections reveals how plants from some of Earth’s harshest climates evolved to survive, even as many species face threats from plant theft.
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It’s Going to Be a Sharky Summer. Here’s Why That’s Okay.
Shark populations are rebounding along California’s coast, and the risks may be far lower than people think, says Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach.
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That Time We Tried to Live Under the Sea Off California
One of the most ambitious attempts to allow humans to live on the ocean floor took place just off San Diego. It’s called SEALAB II.
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Why Southern California is the Stingray Capital of the World
According to research led by Dr. Chris Lowe at California State University, Long Beach Shark Lab, Southern California’s nearshore waters may host one of the densest concentrations of stingrays anywhere in the world.
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How the Jones Act Strangles California Innovation and Keeps I-5 Packed with Trucks
California’s highways are clogged with trucks moving goods that could travel by sea, but the Jones Act makes coastal shipping too costly to scale, locking freight onto crowded roads and limiting a cleaner alternative.
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The Man Who Saved the Owens Pupfish
Less than 2.5 inches in length, the Owens pupfish is a silvery-blue fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. Endemic to California’s Owens Valley, 200 miles north of Los Angeles, the fish has lived on the planet since the Pleistocene, becoming a new species when its habitat was divided by changing climatic conditions, 60,000 years ago.
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MBARI and the Machines That Let Us See the Deep
From glowing deep-sea creatures to underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, MBARI is helping uncover the mysteries of the Pacific off California.
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Curiosity Is the Point
The more you look around in California, the more you realize there is almost always something fascinating to notice and something worth learning a little more about.
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The Valley That Feeds a Nation
When it comes to a geological feature that has quietly shaped daily life in California more than almost any other, we should consider the Central Valley, arguably the state’s most important geological masterpiece.
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California’s Daily Tidal Wave of Life
Every day, trillions of marine animals migrate up and down through the ocean in the largest daily movement of biomass on Earth. California’s exceptionally productive waters, and research hubs like MBARI near Moss Landing, make the state one of the best places in the world to observe and study this vast, invisible pulse of life.
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Measuring the Earth’s Tremors and the Development of the Richter Scale
In 1935, Charles F. Richter, a seismologist at CalTech, introduced a groundbreaking method to quantify earthquakes: the Richter scale.
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When Muybridge Made Motion Visible in Palo Alto
Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Animal Locomotion’ was the first scientific study to use photography. Now, more than 130 years later, Muybridge’s work is seen as both an innovation in photography and the science of movement.
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Recommended California Science & Nature Videos
Today’s newsletter is a little different. Instead of one big story focused on a single topic, I put together a short list of some of my…
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Ancient and Poisonous Cycads Are the Prehistoric Plants of Southern California
These living fossils predate dinosaurs and bear some of the largest seed cones on Earth — yet most Californians walk past them in gardens without ever recognizing what they’re seeing.
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California’s Two-Spot Octopus is the Alien Mind Off Shore
I have a deep passion for octopuses. I have made several short documentaries about them and even traveled twice to Indonesia with one of…
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Upwelling, the Ocean’s Engine Beneath California’s Waters
Few marine processes are as impactful on the abundance of sea life off the coast of California as upwelling. It may not be a term you’ve heard before, but the natural oceanic process of upwelling is one of the most important engines driving climate, biological diversity, and the ocean’s food web.
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Transforming California’s Oil Platforms into Marine Sanctuaries
Beneath the surface of California’s offshore oil platforms lies one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. As the state debates whether to remove or reef these massive structures, scientists, divers, and environmental advocates like Blue Latitudes’ Amber Sparks are fighting to keep the life they support alive.
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Laurel Sumac, the Resilient Beauty of Southern California's Chaparral
Laurel sumac is one of Southern California's most resilient native shrubs — a chaparral cornerstone that shelters wildlife, survives fire, and thrives where other plants struggle.
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San Clemente Island is Where War Games and Wildlife Coexist
San Clemente Island is a remote, Navy-controlled island off Southern California where live-fire military training zones share rugged terrain with rare birds, endemic foxes, and ancient Tongva sites.
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The Happy Nut: California’s Rise to Pistachio Power
California now grows more pistachios than any place on Earth, generating nearly $3 billion in economic value in the state. Nearly every nut sold in the United States, and most shipped abroad, comes from orchards in the Central Valley.
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Ten Essential Books About California’s Nature, Science, and Sense of Place
I’m an avid reader, and over the past decade I’ve dedicated a large section of my bookshelf to books about California—its wild side, its nature, and its scientific wonders.
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The Myth of the 100-foot Whale
So, according to the best records we have, the largest blue whale ever properly measured was 98 feet long. Granted, 98 feet is close to 100 feet, but it’s not 100 feet, and it’s certainly not over 100 feet, as so many otherwise reputable references state.
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One Wilshire: Los Angeles’ Hidden Artery of the Internet
One Wilshire in downtown Los Angeles. I often discover these stories not from full articles, books, or podcasts, but from a single…
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California Is a Nobel Powerhouse
The University of California system now counts 74 Nobel Prizes among its faculty and researchers. 23 in physics and 16 in chemistry. Berkeley leads the list, with 26 laureates, followed by UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Francisco. Even smaller campuses, such as UC Riverside, have ties to winners like Barry Barish, who shared the 2017 Nobel in Physics for detecting gravitational waves.
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Corals Revealed as Never Before Through a Groundbreaking New Microscope in California
A groundbreaking underwater microscope developed at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is giving scientists their first up-close look at coral stress before bleaching begins.
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The Unsung California Labs That Powered the Digital Revolution
The technology is extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). And one of the most important points I want to leave you with is that the origins of EUV are not found in Silicon Valley startups or corporate boardrooms but in California’s national laboratories, where government-funded science made the impossible possible.
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A Tiny California Seaweed Could Make a Big Dent in Livestock Methane
Because methane is so potent, trapping more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, the livestock industry’s footprint has become a central focus for climate scientists searching for solutions.
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Riding Wave Energy in Los Angeles
Turning the steady motion of the Pacific into clean electricity, Eco Wave Power’s pilot at the Port of Los Angeles tests whether wave energy can become a real piece of California’s renewable future.
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The Story of Southern California Sand from Mountains to Surf
It turns out most of the grains between your toes actually began their journey high in the mountains above LA, on craggy slopes far from the shore. Mostly, we are talking about the San Gabriel Mountains and other peaks in the Transverse Ranges that run east-west across Southern California.
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The Physics and Geology of The Wedge, California’s Most Dangerous Wave
There is something unforgettable about the Wedge and the way its waves crash with such raw force. Sometimes they detonate just offshore, sending water skyrocketing into the air; other times they slam thunderously against the sand, eliciting groans and whoops from bystanders.
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California’s Precarious Future and the Promise—and Limits—of Desalination
As drought becomes California's new normal, desalination offers a tantalizing solution — but the technology comes with serious costs and limits that could reshape the state's water future.
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Bring Human Exploration Back to California’s Deep Ocean
California's deep ocean remains one of the least explored places on Earth. Here's why it's time to send humans back down into the sea. And what we stand to discover.
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How California Has Revived Its Groundfish Fisheries
How Smart Policy and Collaboration Brought Groundfish Back From the Brink
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What David Attenborough Reminded Me About the Sea
The new National Geographic documentary Oceans makes plain what bottom trawling does to the seafloor — and why protecting the ocean might be the most important thing we can do.
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The Salton Sea Was California’s Strangest Catastrophe
In California’s southeastern desert, the Salton Sea stretches across a wide, shimmering basin, a lake where there shouldn’t be one. At about 340…
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The Caltech Experiment That Proved How Life Copies Itself
The Meselson-Stahl experiment didn’t just prove a point. It told a story about how knowledge is built: carefully, creatively, and with a precision that leaves no room for doubt. It became a model for how science can answer big questions with simple, clean logic and careful experimentation. And it all happened in California.
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Manzanitas are California's Sculptured Survivors
With twisting, terra-cotta limbs and bark polished smooth by the sun, manzanita doesn’t just grow in California’s chaparral, it sculpts itself into the landscape.
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California’s Eye on the Cosmos: The SLAC-Built Camera That Will Time-Lapse the Universe
Images from the most powerful astronomical discovery machine ever created, and built in California A breathtaking zoomed-in glimpse of the cosmos: this first image from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory…
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The Channel Islands Are California’s Own Galápagos
Pygmy mammoths, island foxes and jays found nowhere else: California’s Channel Islands are a natural laboratory for evolution, and a conservation success story, just 12 miles off Ventura.
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The Scourge of Ghost Lobster Traps and the Battle to Save Marine Life in California
Lobster is delicious. Let’s just get that out of the way. Yes, I’m sure there are some who either don’t…
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Caltech’s Einstein Papers Project Is a Window Into Einstein’s Mind
In a small building near Caltech, scholars have spent decades collecting and annotating everything Albert Einstein wrote, from physics breakthroughs to letters to Freud and Gandhi. Much of it is free online.
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The Fight for California’s Coastline and the Future of the Coastal Commission
For over 50 years, the California Coastal Commission has protected public access and natural beauty, but growing challenges—wildfires, housing shortages, and political pressure—are testing its authority like never before.
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How a 1969 Meeting at Asilomar Made California the Center of the Plate Tectonics Revolution
In December 1969, geologists gathered at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, and plate tectonics finally clicked. How the theory explained California’s earthquakes, mountains and jumbled rocks.
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Can California Drink the Pacific? The Promise and Problems of Desalination
California’s Carlsbad plant turns 100 million gallons of seawater a day into drinking water. How desalination works, why it’s so expensive and where new plants are planned.
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Berkeley’s Cosmic Breakthrough and the Alvarez Discovery That Rewrote Earth’s History
The Alvarez’ work led to one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century: the discovery that a massive meteorite impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and much of life on Earth.
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Creosote Bushes Are the Mojave Desert’s Time Travelers
In the Mojave Desert, one creosote plant known as “King Clone” is estimated to be over 12,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living clonal organisms on Earth.
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Camp Pendleton’s Wild Landscape as a Natural Refuge
Covering approximately 200 square miles in north San Diego County, the base has served as a critical training ground for the U.S. Marine Corps since 1942. However, its restricted access and limited development have inadvertently preserved some of Southern California’s last remaining wild coastal terrain.
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A Deep Dive into Monterey Canyon, California’s Great Abyss
Monterey Canyon, often called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is one of the largest and most fascinating submarine canyons in the world. Stretching over 95 miles from the coast of Monterey, California, and plunging to depths exceeding 3,600 meters (11,800 feet), this underwater marvel rivals its terrestrial counterpart in size and grandeur.
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The Mountain Pass Mine, America’s Only Rare Earth Mine, May Be the Key to Breaking China’s Grip
The Mountain Pass Mine in California’s Mojave Desert is America’s only rare earth mine, and it may be the key to breaking China’s near-total grip on the minerals powering the modern world.
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How a Lancaster, California Company is Giving Old EV Batteries a Second Life on the Grid
By harnessing the power of old electric vehicle (EV) batteries to store renewable energy, B2U is giving these aging batteries a productive second life and helping enhance the viability of green energy grids. The effort could pave the way for not only improving solar storage but also reusing old batteries that might otherwise end up in landfills or pose environmental hazards.
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Understanding the Impact of Santa Ana Winds in the Eaton Fire
One fact is indisputable: the fires were unusual in their ferocity and destruction. While studies, debates, and expert analyses following the disaster are inevitable, the immediate aftermath offers one clear conclusion—this fires were driven, in large part, by the extraordinary winds that descended on Los Angeles that night.
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How a Tiny Beetle Helped Save California
In the 1880s, an Australian insect was killing California’s orange groves. A USDA entomologist smuggled in a tiny ladybug that wiped it out, the world’s first great success in biological pest control.
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Walter Munk was a Californian Oceanographer Who Changed Our Understanding of the Seas
Photo: Erik Jepsen (UC San Diego) Walter Munk, often referred to as the “Einstein of the Oceans,” was one of the most influential oceanographers of…
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Giant Sea Bass Are Making a Comeback at Catalina
Giant sea bass can reach 560 pounds and live 75 years. Fished nearly to extinction, they’re slowly returning to Southern California, especially Catalina. Here’s how, and why scientists say it’s too early to celebrate.
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California’s Dark-Eyed Juncos Are Quietly Evolving in Plain Sight
One of the most compelling examples of urban ecology at work is the story of the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), a small songbird traditionally found in mountainous forests, now thriving in urban environments like San Diego and Los Angeles.
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John Isaacs, the Maverick Oceanographer Who Wanted to Tow Icebergs to California
California’s water crises have always inspired bold solutions, but few ideas rival the sheer audacity of John Isaacs’ proposal to tow a giant Antarctic iceberg to San Diego.
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All the Fish We Did Not See: How a WWII Sonar Glitch Off San Diego Revealed the Ocean’s False Bottom
In 1942, Navy sonar off San Diego found a mysterious ‘false bottom’ hundreds of feet down. It turned out to be alive: the deep scattering layer, part of the largest animal migration on Earth.
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Cadillac Desert Is Still the Book to Read About California Water
Marc Reisner’s 1986 Cadillac Desert tells how the American West moved its rivers to grow, and what it cost. Nearly 40 years later, it’s more relevant than ever.
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The Forgotten New Year’s Flood of 1934 Reshaped Los Angeles
A forgotten New Year’s disaster killed dozens, swept hundreds of homes off their foundations in the foothills, and forced California to invent the modern playbook for flood control.
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The USS Independence, a WWII Carrier That Survived Two Atomic Bombs, Lies Off San Francisco
The USS Independence fought across the Pacific, survived two atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll and was sunk off San Francisco in 1951. Found in 2015, it’s now a deep-sea reef.
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Ivanpah, the Glowing Solar Towers Off I-15, Was a Bold Bet That Didn’t Pay Off
Those three blinding towers near the Nevada line are the Ivanpah solar plant, once the future of solar power. Here’s how it works, why it struggled and what it means for California’s clean energy push.
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Get Your Nukes on Route 66: The Wild Plan to Use Nuclear Weapons to Blast a Highway Through the California Desert
…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Micah 4:3 Fake…
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The Sierra Nevada Batholith, the Giant Block of Granite Under Half Dome and Mount Whitney
Half Dome, El Capitan and Mount Whitney are all part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, a mass of granite 450 miles long that formed miles underground. Here’s how it got there and how it was uncovered.
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Western Fence Lizard: California’s Blue Belly Is Evolving in Cities
Meet California’s western fence lizard, the blue-bellied reptile found on fences, rocks, and trails across the state. Here’s the science behind this ubiquitous backyard lizard.
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The Magic, Wonder, and Science of Ocean Bioluminescence in Southern California
The phenomenon that causes the blue glow has been known for centuries, but that in no way detracts from its wonder and beauty. The phenomenon is called bioluminescence, and it is one of nature’s most magical and interesting phenomena.
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Santarosae, the Lost Ice Age Island Off California, Had Pygmy Mammoths and Some of America’s First People
During the Ice Age, four of the Channel Islands were one big island called Santarosae, home to pygmy mammoths and some of the earliest people in the Americas. Rising seas drowned most of it.
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California’s Elephant Seals Came Back From the Brink, With an Asterisk
Northern elephant seals were hunted down to a few dozen animals. Now hundreds of thousands haul out on California beaches. Here’s how they live, dive and fight, and where to see them.
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New Research Sheds Light on the Saber-Toothed Cats of California, Fierce Predators of the Pleistocene
Among the region’s Pleistocene Epoch megafauna, the Saber-toothed cats are some of the most iconic prehistoric predators to have roamed California.
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Squid Pro Quo: The California Market Squid Feeds the Ocean and the State’s Biggest Fishery
The California market squid lives fast, dies young and supports the state’s largest fishery by volume. Here’s how they live, how they’re caught and why climate change is pushing them toward Alaska.
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Unraveling the Geology Behind Palos Verdes’ Ongoing Landslide Crisis
For decades, geologists and engineers have been aware that the Portuguese Bend region of Palos Verdes is prone…
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Why John McPhee’s Assembling California Is Still the Best Book on California Geology
John McPhee’s Assembling California, written with geologist Eldridge Moores, explains how the state was pieced together by plate tectonics. Here’s why it’s still the book to read, and what’s changed since.
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The Monterey Formation, the Layered Rock Behind California’s Oil and Its Crumbling Cliffs
Those stacked, cream-colored cliffs at Crystal Cove and Montaña de Oro are the Monterey Formation, an ancient seafloor built from tiny algae. It’s the source of most of California’s oil and a big reason the coast keeps sliding.
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Why bringing back California’s kelp is so important
Sea urchins have devastated kelp forests in California. Support California Curated by buying us a coffee? Two centuries ago, the waters off the California coast were home to a vibrant ecosystem of…
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California Sea Lions, the Barking Comeback Kids of the Coast
California sea lions were once hunted for oil and hides. Now there are about 300,000 of them barking from buoys and docks. How they live, what eats them and why some years they starve.
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Why Parkfield, California is the Nation’s Earthquake Capital
In Parkfield, every hillside and valley, grassy nook and riverbed is home to some kind of instrument that measures earthquakes. Over the years, these instruments have become more sophisticated and expensive, making it necessary in many cases to fence them off with the threat of arrest. These instruments monitor, hour by hour, or better, millisecond by millisecond, the stirrings of the earth. To geologists, it is ground zero for seismic measurement.
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How Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 trip to California gave birth to modern conservation
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 trip to California gave birth to modern conservation.
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The Mighty Oaks of California Are a Keystone of the Golden State’s Ecosystem
California has about 20 kinds of oak, and they feed and shelter more wildlife than almost anything else that grows here. A look at the trees that hold the state's landscapes together.
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Beyond the Beach: How Santa Monica Became Home to the RAND Corporation, America’s Premier Defense Think Tank
“This was a very smart bunch,” said Ellsberg, before his death on June 16, 2023. “The smartest group of people I ever did associate with. It turns out, by the way, intelligence is not a very good guarantee of wisdom.”
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Caltech Fly Labs and a Century of Genetic Discovery
And much of the work to understand the fruit fly has taken place and is taking place now, right here in California at the Cal Tech fly labs.
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Pasadena Is One of the Great Science Cities on Earth
Pasadena is known for the Rose Bowl, but it’s also home to Caltech, JPL, Carnegie Observatories and the Planetary Society. Here’s how a pleasant Southern California suburb became a science powerhouse.
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From Desert Treasures to Resilient Glass: How a California Boron Mine Transformed the World
Acknowledgment: Many of my stories begin with something I come across while reading. Often, it is a…
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Dark Parks in California: Where to Find a Truly Dark Sky
Light pollution has erased the Milky Way for most Californians. Here’s why that matters and where to go to see a truly dark sky, from Death Valley and Joshua Tree to Anza-Borrego and Mount Shasta.
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The Pacific Coast Highway (PCH): Icon of American Scenic Roadways
The Pacific Coast Highway — California's iconic Highway 1 — winds 655 miles along one of the most dramatic coastlines on Earth. Here's its history, geology, and what makes it legendary.
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Black Gold Beach or How Oil Transformed Long Beach and Built the Southern California Economy
How early oil discoveries turned Long Beach into one of Southern California's wealthiest cities — and permanently shaped the region's economy and coastline.
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Julia Platt was the Unwavering Force Behind Monterey’s Ecological Conservation
In the 18th century, when Spanish and French explorers ventured along the northern California coast they encountered…
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JPL and the Voyager Golden Record, Humanity’s Mixtape for the Stars
In 1977, JPL sent two gold-plated records into space aboard the Voyager probes, loaded with music, whale songs, greetings in 55 languages and a kiss. Here’s what’s on them and how they were made.
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Geologist Thomas Dibblee Jr. and the Theory Behind Pinnacles National Park’s 200-Mile Tectonic Journey
Pinnacles National Park’s wide landscape of dramatic rock formations and craggy spires looks otherworldly, especially in golden hour light. But few people who visit the park, located in Central California, southeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, are aware that the rock formations were once at the center of one of the most fierce debates in the history of California geology.
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Bear Divide, Near Los Angeles, Is One of the Best Bird-Watching Spots in America
Every spring, tens of thousands of migrating birds funnel through Bear Divide, a low pass in the San Gabriel Mountains 45 minutes from downtown LA. Occidental’s Moore Lab is counting them.
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The Blythe Intaglios Are California’s Own Nazca Lines
Giant human and animal figures, the largest 171 feet long, are scraped into the desert near Blythe. Nobody knows exactly how old they are or why they were made. California’s little-known geoglyphs.
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The Island Fox Nearly Vanished From the Channel Islands. Then It Made a Record Comeback.
The house cat–sized island fox lives only on California’s Channel Islands. In the late 1990s it nearly disappeared. Here’s how it came back faster than almost any endangered mammal in U.S. history.
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SLAC, the Two-Mile Machine Behind Stanford That Changed Physics
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, near Stanford, helped discover quarks, hosted the first U.S. website and built the world’s largest digital camera. Today its X-ray lasers film chemistry in action.
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Roadcut Revelations: Unearthing California’s Deep History Along the Highway
Roadcuts in California, those slices through hills and mountainsides made during the construction of roads, are like open books to geologists. They reveal the intricate and often dramatic geological history of the state.
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The Joshua Tree Isn’t Really a Tree, and Its Future Isn’t Certain
The Mojave’s signature plant is a giant yucca that depends on a single moth to reproduce. Here’s how Joshua trees got their name, why they’re so hard to age and why fire and heat threaten them.
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Underground Fury: The 1985 Methane Blast That Rocked Los Angeles and Rerouted Its Subways
When an unseen pocket of methane ignited under a Ross Dress for Less in 1985, it didn’t just injure 23 people, it forced Los Angeles to redraw the future of its subway.
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Journey to the Iron Giant: NASA’s Psyche Mission Could Unlock the Secrets of a Metallic World
A NOVEL PROPULSION SYSTEM WILL TAKE US TO A MASSIVE METAL ASTEROID IN DEEP SPACE
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Why the Eastern Sierra Turns Gold Every Fall
Every October, aspens across the Eastern Sierra turn gold, orange and red. Here’s the chemistry behind California’s best fall color, and why the timing is starting to shift.
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The California Gull, Utah’s State Bird, Has a Surprisingly Big Story
The California gull looks like an average gull, but it’s Utah’s state bird, the hero of a pioneer “miracle” and a symbol of the fight to save Mono Lake.
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The Barreleye Fish Has a See-Through Head, and It Lives Off Monterey
With a transparent head and glowing tube-shaped eyes that swivel, the barreleye fish looks like science fiction. MBARI scientists filmed it in Monterey Canyon and solved the mystery of how it sees.
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Navigating the Unseen Current: How the California Current System Shapes Our Ocean, Climate, and Future
The California Current, originating from the colder regions up near British Columbia, sweeps its way down toward Baja California, extending laterally several hundred miles offshore into deep oceanic waters off the continental shelf.
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Davidson Seamount and the Unseen Mountains and Hidden Treasures Off California’s Coast
Perhaps the most astonishing discovery at Davidson Seamount occurred in 2018, when scientists discovered the “Octopus Garden,” the largest known aggregation of octopuses in the world. The garden is about two miles deep and was discovered by researchers on the research vessel (RV) Nautilus.
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The San Gabriel Mountains Are Still Growing. Here's Their Story
The mountains hovering above Los Angeles are geologically young, tectonically restless, and still getting taller.
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The Garibaldi Is California’s Bright Orange, Bad-Tempered State Fish
California’s state marine fish is impossible to miss, fiercely territorial and oddly curious about divers. Here’s why garibaldi are orange, how the males build nests and where to see one.
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The Eucalyptus Tree’s Twisted Path to Californian Soil
The California landscape is dotted with numerous plant species, many of them native , but few have a story as…
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Mt. Wilson Observatory, Where We Learned the Universe Is Expanding
High above Los Angeles, Mt. Wilson Observatory is where Edwin Hubble discovered other galaxies and the expanding universe. It nearly burned in 2020, and you can still look through its telescopes.
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How the Boysenberry Was Saved From a Weedy Lot and Built Knott’s Berry Farm
The boysenberry was bred in Anaheim, nearly lost and rescued by Walter Knott, whose roadside berry stand grew into Knott’s Berry Farm. The sweet, slightly tart story of a California original.
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Einstein in Pasadena: Three Wonderful Winters in Paradise
Of all the places he visited, one city stood out in particular. Pasadena, with its warm weather, lively culture, and, most importantly, its reputation as a scientific hub, had a deep personal appeal to Einstein. He visited Pasadena during the winters of 1931, 1932, and 1933, each time staying for approximately two to three months.
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Tejon Pass is a Journey Through Time, Terrain, and Tectonics
Tejon Pass — the dramatic gateway between the LA Basin and the Central Valley — is where the San Andreas Fault, ancient sea floors, and millions of years of California geology converge.
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Hannes Keller’s Deadly 1,000-Foot Descent off Catalina Island Was the Dive of the Century
In 1962, Swiss diver Hannes Keller and journalist Peter Small rode a diving bell 1,000 feet down off Catalina Island to prove humans could work at impossible depths. It made history and cost two lives.
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Baja California Is Slowly Breaking Away from the Mainland and May One Day Become an Island
The Baja California Peninsula is slowly being pulled away from mainland Mexico by powerful tectonic forces. As the Pacific Plate moves northwest, it is tearing the peninsula from North America, opening the Sea of Cortez and reshaping the landscape in a geologic process that continues today.
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Where the Sand on Southern California’s Beaches Comes From
Beach sand, particularly in Southern California, is primarily composed of quartz and feldspar mixed with silvery mica and milky quartz. These minerals originally existed in the granite of the local mountains, miles from the shoreline.
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Why Are Dinosaur Fossils So Scarce in California?
Hadrosaur on ancient California landscape. Hadrosaurs like this AI generated one are among the very few dinosaurs whose fossils have ever been found in California. Support California Curated with a…
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How Oranges Built Southern California
Before Hollywood and freeways, Southern California sold the world oranges. How navel and Valencia oranges, railroads and immigrant labor turned citrus into an industry that shaped the state.
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Before Los Alamos, Oppenheimer Built the Atomic Age at Berkeley
J. Robert Oppenheimer spent 14 years at UC Berkeley, where he built a world-class physics program and colleagues discovered plutonium and invented the calutron. California’s role in the Manhattan Project.
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The 1975 Asilomar Conference, Where Scientists Decided to Police Genetic Engineering
In 1975, scientists met at Asilomar on the Monterey Peninsula to decide whether genetic engineering was too dangerous. Their answer, self-imposed safety rules, shaped biotech for decades and still echoes in the CRISPR debate.
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The Long Life and Accidental Death of Prometheus, One of the World’s Oldest Trees
Prometheus, a Great Basin bristlecone pine, was nearly 5,000 years old when a young scientist cut it down in 1964 to count its rings. The story of the tree, the mistake and the ancient bristlecones that still survive.
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The Enduring Legacy of Hydraulic Mining in California
California's Gold Rush-era hydraulic mining reshaped entire mountains and choked rivers with debris. Its environmental legacy is still visible in the Sierra Nevada foothills today.
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The Desert Tortoise: A Resilient Survivor of the Mojave
a close-up of a desert tortoise The Mojave Desert, a harsh yet strikingly beautiful landscape that extends across four western U.S. states, is home to an equally fascinating and resilient creature:…
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Toyon, the Everyday California Shrub That May Have Named Hollywood
You’ve walked past toyon a thousand times. California’s red-berried native shrub feeds winter birds, was food and medicine for Indigenous Californians, and may be the “holly” in Hollywood.
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Maybe You’ve heard of Josiah Whitney, Mt. Whitney’s Namesake
Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States, is one of the great peaks in California. A wildly popular destination for…
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Serpentine, California’s Slippery, Controversial State Rock
California’s state rock is a chunk of the Earth’s mantle that ended up in the hills. Here’s how serpentine forms, why it nearly lost its title over asbestos and why rare plants love it.
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The return of Lake Tulare - once the largest lake West of the Mississippi
Lake Tulare was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi — until it was drained for farmland. Here's the remarkable story of its brief and surprising return.
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The Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades, Where LA’s Water Comes Tumbling In
Off Interstate 5 in Sylmar, water from the Eastern Sierra tumbles down the Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades. The story of the 233-mile aqueduct, Mulholland’s “There it is. Take it.” and the cost to the Owens Valley.
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California’s Common, but Lovely, Birds: the House Finch
One of the most common birds in California, probably familiar to anyone whether a backyard enthusiast or committed ornithologist is the house finch. The house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) is a small passerine (perching) bird that is native to western North America, including California. This bird is widely known for its vibrant red plumage and melodic song, making it a beloved sight and sound in backyards across the state.
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Ten Little-Known Facts About California
Giant Sequoia California is known for its sunny beaches, bustling cities, and iconic landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood sign. However, the state is also home to a wealth of…
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California is a dolphin paradise
More than a dozen dolphin species swim California's waters, making the state one of the best places on Earth to spot wild dolphins. Here's what draws them to our coast.
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The Rich Historical and Geological Past of the Alabama Hills
The hills are known for their unique geological formations, including massive rounded boulders and natural arches, and their rich history and cultural significance.
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Clair Patterson: The little-known California scientist who may have saved millions of lives.
The Caltech geologist who proved leaded gasoline was poisoning all of humanity — and then spent decades fighting the oil industry to get it removed from the air we breathe.
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See Dinosaur-Era Cycads at Descanso Gardens’ Ancient Forest
Cycads ruled the Jurassic and fed the dinosaurs. Thanks to a local couple’s donation, one of the best places to see them is Descanso Gardens’ Ancient Forest in La Cañada Flintridge.
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Why are California’s redwoods and sequoias so big and tall?
California’s coast redwoods and giant sequoias are the tallest and most massive trees on Earth. Here’s the science behind why they grow so enormous — and why they only grow here.
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The Majesty and Mystery of California’s Bristlecone Pines
Bristlecones are the longest living organism on earth. Gnarled and oftentimes squat, especially when compared to the majestic coastal redwoods and giant sequoias living near the coast further west, they hardly seem like mythical beings. But to scientists, they are a trove of information, offering clues to near immortality and to the many ways that the earth’s climate has changed over the last 5,000 years.
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Mars helicopter Ingenuity is ready for its “Wright Brothers” moment
If all goes well, in late July, Nasa will do something it’s never done before. The agency will launch a new mission to Mars with the aim of landing a small helicopter on the surface that will perform several test missions to see if we can fly on the surface of the Red Planet.
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Ancient Bristlecone Pines by Drone
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California's White Mountains is home to the oldest living trees on Earth — some over 5,000 years old. Here's what a drone reveals from above.
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Beautiful, but Deadly: Painting the Coronavirus
Pandemic as art. You’ve seen it. Probably a thousand or more times by now. It’s the image of a greyish sphere, hanging in space, barbed with blood-red spikes. It looks like an undersea Navy mine……
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How one building survived the San Francisco earthquake and changed the world.
The Bekins building survived because it was made of a relatively new material that had largely been ignored (and vigorously opposed) in California. That material is reinforced concrete.
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Vasquez Rocks: Where Plates Collide and Captain Kirk Roamed
This is Vasquez Rocks, one of California’s most interesting and dramatic geologic formations.
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The genius of Luther Burbank, father of the most famous potato in the world
Luther Burbank created some of the most successful fruits and vegetables in the world, all from his California farm.
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This is how we’re going to solve climate change
The Resnicks’ $750 million gift to Caltech is a bet that the climate crisis won’t be solved by cutting emissions alone — and that California’s labs will lead the search for what comes next.
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White shark sightings are up in California, but don’t panic
White shark sightings are increasing along California's coast — but scientists say the risk is far lower than headlines suggest. Here's what the data actually shows.
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Saving the California Condor
The birth of the 1000th condor chick as part of an extensive breeding and reintroduction program gives hope to many other species in peril.
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Towing an iceberg from Antarctica isn’t a new idea.
It was proposed 70 years ago by a maverick California scientist at Scripps. Sign up for the California Science Weekly newsletter . Fresh California science every Friday! Annie Spratt…
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How California Companies are Leading the Effort to Save the World with Microbes
Synbio startups like NovoNutrients are developing novel products to help feed the world and stop climate change. Wikipedia - CC BY-SA 3.0 (Sign up for the California Science Weekly newsletter ,…