Today in Science: How the Palisades Fire was fueled by Santa Ana winds and climate change

Science, insight, inspiration January 8, 2025: Today we're covering the explosive Southern California wildfires, Pluto's gentle capture of Charon and the impact of a recent federal ruling against net neutrality. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor The Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025. ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo TODAY'S NEWS • Strong, dry Santa Ana winds are driving explosive wildfires in Los Angeles and other areas of Southern California this week, causing embers to rain onto the tops of trees and residences. | 3 min read • Nature can affect our nervous system and diversify our microbiome—and you don't need to go on a hike to reap the benefits. | 18 min listen • How periods can affect ADHD symptoms and treatment. | 3 min read • Games: Today's Mini-crossword.  More News TOP STORIES A composite enhanced-color image of Pluto (right) and Charon (left) as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it passed by in 2015. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute Pluto Kissed Charon Billions of years ago, a grazing collision allowed the dwarf planet Pluto to merge with its largest moon Charon before the pair parted and settled into its current binary configuration. In newly published research, astronomers have described the episode as a "kiss-and-capture" event. Now orbitally linked, the Pluto-Charon system orbits in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of space objects near the edge of our solar system. Theorists now hope to study whether "kiss-and-capture" events yielded other large moons around large Kuiper Belt Objects, such as the moon Dysnomia at dwarf planet Eris and the moon Vanth at dwarf planet Orcus.  What the experts say: "We were definitely surprised by the 'kiss' part of kiss-and-capture. There really hasn't been a kind of impact before where the two bodies only temporarily merge before re-separating!" says lunar and planetary researcher Adeene Denton, who headed up the new study. Why this matters: Moons more typically result when a planet's gravity hauls in small bodies, as with the many moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Pluto's relatively gentle "collisional capture" of Charon might have played a role in it gaining a relatively larger body (Charon is about half Pluto's size), a process that more closely resembles how theorists think Earth captured our moon. Net Neutrality Dies Again A U.S. federal appeals court panel last week ruled against net neutrality, ending a Federal Communications Commission classification that was been meant to protect against throttled online network speeds. However, the equal-access principle behind net neutrality is not dead, computer scientist David Choffnes tells Scientific American editor Ben Guarino in a recent interview. Since 2017, anyone can use an app, called Wehe, created by Choffnes and colleagues, to detect Internet traffic throttling. And that Wehe data, which Choffnes and others have analyzed, could provide a case for Congress to pass laws supporting net neutrality and its enforcement. What they found: From January 2018 to January 2019, some 30 Internet service providers out of a total of 144 operating in the U.S. or a handful of other countries were found by Wehe users to have throttled streaming data at sites including YouTube, according to research Choffnes presented. What the experts say: Choffnes, who has studied net neutrality breaches for nearly a decade, says, "I've seen net neutrality rules created, rescinded, challenged in court, put on hold. I've seen it all at this point.... [My response is] more ... "'I'm tired of this being how things are going.'" If you want to dive deeper into the science that interests you most, consider a subscription to Scientific American. Take advantage of special discounts for Today in Science readers! EXPERT PERSPECTIVES • A number of theories attempt to explain the strange experience of time passing more slowly than usual. Leeds Beckett University psychologist Steve Taylor explores these theories in his recent book, Time Expansion Experiences. In a synopsis of his book, he states that time often feels like it slows in new, unfamiliar environments (e.g. childhood) or when we process more perceptions, sensations and thoughts (e.g. during accidents or emergencies). Sudden shocking events tend to precipitate "super-absorption," which triggers an "abrupt shift in consciousness," Taylor writes. | 5 min read More Opinion WHAT WE'RE READING • These guys hacked AirPods to give their grandmas hearing aids. | Wired • Siri 'unintentionally' recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M. | Ars Technica • Do dogs need winter jackets in the cold? In most cases, yes. | Washington Post When I lived and worked as a reporter in Southern California, some time ago, most disaster news centered on earthquakes and mudslides. In more recent times, wildfires seem to predominate, as the impacts of climate change accumulate. Some reliable sites that show U.S. current wildfires and smoke-inhalation risks include the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, InciWeb and AirNow. Scientific American's excellent recent reporting on science and health issues related to wildfires includes "Wildfires threaten more homes and people in the U.S. than ever before," "How to protect yourself from smoky wildfire air," and "The worst wildfires are started by people. Here's how."  Please send any comments, questions or wildfire insights and experiences to: newsletters@sciam.com.  —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters here. 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