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.| California Curated
Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The ocean covers about 70 percent of Earth’s surface and holds 96 percent of its water. But because it’s saturated with salt, it isn’t drinkable. Sailors have known this for centuries, and that’s a profound … Continue reading California’s Precarious Future and the Promise—and Limits—of Desalination→| California Curated
Launching a Triton 3300/3 submersible from a scientific support ship in the Bahamas. (Photo: Erik Olsen) It’s time for California to put people back in the deep. A human-occupied submersible belong…| California Curated
1 post published by California Curated during August 2025| California Curated
How Smart Policy and Collaboration Brought Groundfish Back From the Brink Vermillion Rockfish scientific illustration Recently, I wrote a more personal essay than I usually would, one in which I re…| California Curated
4 posts published by California Curated during July 2025| California Curated
I’m going to keep this week’s newsletter shorter than usual. (I heard that! And no, “Yay” is not the appropriate response. JK ;-). I want to talk about the ocean. I know I do this a lot; many articles on California Curated are ocean-related (please explore, I think you’ll enjoy them). But that’s because I … Continue reading What David Attenborough Reminded Me About the Sea→| California Curated
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 square miles, it’s the state’s largest lake. But it wasn’t created by natural forces. It was the result of a major engineering failure. I’ve long been fascinated with the place: its contradictions, … Continue reading The Salton Sea Was California’s Strangest Catastrophe→| California Curated
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 f…| California Curated
As an avid hiker in Southern California, I’ve become a deep admirer of the chaparral that carpets so many of the hills and mountains in the region. When I was younger, I didn’t think much of these plants. They seemed dry, brittle, and uninviting, and they’d often leave nasty red scrapes on your legs if … Continue reading Manzanitas are California’s Sculptured Survivors→| California Curated
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 Observator…| California Curated
The Channel Islands of California, an enchanting archipelago, offer a fascinating natural laboratory for the study of island biogeography. This field of biology, which explores the distribution of …| California Curated
