Science

When Lucy Zhang first listened to recordings of humpback whale songs, she didn’t expect to hear the makings of a symphony. But while playing the recordings, the Saratoga High School senior recognized music patterns she had encountered while practicing piano sonatas. Zhang listened to these recordings as part of collaboration with John Ryan, a senior research specialist studying ocean soundscapes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and discovered structural similarities between whale songs and human sonatas. On Thursday, Zhang showcased their research as part of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual meeting in New Orleans. Related Articles Volunteers plant Bay Area’s first ‘living levee’ using treated wastewater New book highlights the particular joys of birdwatching in the Bay Area How a group tracking sounds beneath Bay Area waters hopes to protect whales from shipping lanes 550-pound bear settles in beneath an California home, thwarting creative eff...

By MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Saturn’s giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all. Related Articles Comet will soon make its closest approach to Earth this week; and last meteor shower for 2025 Volunteers plant Bay Area’s first ‘living levee’ using treated wastewater How a group tracking sounds beneath Bay Area waters hopes to protect whales from shipping lanes How a rare drug made from California scientists’ blood saves babies from botulism No rain is forecast through Christmas. Is it time to worry about drought? Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth’s polar seas, with pockets of melted water where life could possibly survive and even thrive, scientists reported Wednesday. The team led by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenged the decade-long assumption of a buried global ocean at Titan after taking a fresh look at observations made years ago by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around Saturn...

Fog clings to the Golden Gate, swallowing the booming horns of cargo ships as they attempt to warn other vessels of their presence. Onboard a small research vessel nearby, underwater microphones called hydrophones are lowered beneath the surface along with other sensors, ready to capture the hidden choir of San Francisco Bay — whales. Ray Duran, founder of BayQuest, the nonprofit behind this mission , peers through his binoculars, scanning for ripples or shadows that might reveal one. A container ship moves towards the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, near San Francisco, Calif. BayQuest’s SeaSounds Project will study the impacts of vessel interactions on the vocalization and behaviors of local whale populations. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)  This is a typical mission for the Aquarium of the Bay’s research vessel Mike Reigle , home to the SeaSounds Project. The project, which began its first missions in June, uses hydrophones to monitor h...

By JONEL ALECCIA, Associated Press When Alessandro Barbera was rushed to a California hospital with infant botulism in October, his father had barely heard of the disease, never mind the rare and costly treatment that likely saved the newborn’s life. Now, however, Tony Barbera is deeply grateful for BabyBIG, the sole antidote to the paralyzing and potentially deadly illnesses linked to contaminated ByHeart infant formula . “It is hugely remarkable,” said Barbera, 35, whose son is slowly recovering. Related Articles Pregnant immigrants held for months in detention despite rules against it Bullets in Luigi Mangione’s bag convinced police that he was UnitedHealthcare CEO killing suspect How will child vaccine rollback impact Bay Area families? US vaccine advisers say not all babies need a hepatitis B shot at birth East Bay health care executive charged with fraud arrested at SFO boarding flight to Nigeria The botulism outbreak tied to ByHeart formula has sickened at least 3...

Bay Area laboratories are set to play a central role in the Genesis Mission, a multibillion-dollar effort by the Trump administration to accelerate the nation’s artificial intelligence push in the face of technological advances in China. The involvement of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the SLAC National Accelerator Lab in Menlo Park could help ensure the region’s positioning in the AI boom as the project seeks to “double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade,” according to the Department of Energy. “China has fired their starter pistol and has organized what you would call the equivalent of their public sector. This is our answer to that,” said Brian Spears, the technical director of the Genesis Mission leading the scientific and engineering foundation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “This mission gives us a central, coherent and focused effort at scale in order to take advantage ...

Amid the eucalyptus groves at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, local bug enthusiast Sasha Hernandez squinted through the draping green leaves, searching for flashes of black and orange — the wings of migratory monarch butterflies traveling from west of the Rocky Mountains. Leone Brown, a professor at James Madison University, demonstrates the Project Monarch butterfly tracking app on a phone in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 12, 2025. Scientists used tiny new sensors to follow the insects on journeys that take thousands of miles to their winter colonies in Mexico. butterflies. (Kirsten Luce/The New York Times)  This year, the butterflies’ annual migration will carry a new kind of buzz as smartphones sync with the motions of the monarchs. For the first time in California, citizen scientists like Hernandez can join the effort to track monarch butterflies thanks to Blu+, a new generation of ultra-light tags that communicate using Bluetooth technology. Through the Project Mo...

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel that advises the agency on recommendations for vaccines delayed a planned vote Thursday on changes for the hepatitis B shot long recommended for newborns, putting off a decision with major implications for the Bay Area. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has scrutinized the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, as part of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to reduce the vaccinations that Americans receive. Kennedy argues that vaccines have health risks, including the development of autism, but respected medical associations call his assertions dangerous and not grounded in evidence. Related Articles A single shot of HPV vaccine may be enough to fight cervical cancer, study finds Waning immunity and falling vaccination rates fuel pertussis outbreaks Jarvis: Canada lost its measles elimination fight. The US could be next. ‘Scary as hell’: Sonoma County farmers confront new avian flu w...

SUNOL – For the first time in 70 years, adult Chinook salmon have been spotted swimming the 86 vertical feet needed to return to Alameda Creek in lower Niles Canyon – and it could be a turning point in the decades-long effort to restore the East Bay’s watersheds. Chinook salmon, along with the endangered steelhead trout, are considered indicator species for the environment, suggesting that other animals such as otters, eagles, beavers and bears may also return to the Sunol Valley region, which increases the diversity and resiliency of its “food web,” a term for interconnected food chains. Since the beginning of November, volunteers from the nonprofit group Alameda Creek Alliance — which has worked to remove dams and install fish ladders since 1997 — have recorded nearly a dozen specimens of Chinook Salmon. These sightings come just weeks after PG&E and the nonprofit CalTrout finished a $15 million project to remove a gas pipeline that was the last barrier impeding fish migration...