Explore the latest insights from top science journals in the Muser Press daily roundup, featuring impactful research on climate change challenges.
Table of Contents
Ozone exposure linked to hypoxia and arterial stiffness
American College of Cardiology – Ozone (O3) exposure may reduce the availability of oxygen in the body, resulting in arterial stiffening due to the body’s natural response to create more red blood cells and hemoglobin, according to a study published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“Researchers found that even brief exposure to elevated ozone levels reduced blood oxygen saturation, triggered hypoxia-related biomarkers, and increased arterial stiffness, highlighting the novel connection between ozone exposure and arterial stiffness, demonstrated through comprehensive biomarker analysis in a high-altitude setting,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM, Editor-in-Chief of JACC.
“This study uniquely isolates ozone’s effects from other pollutants, providing a critical step forward in understanding its independent role in cardiovascular injury.”
Ozone pollution is becoming a worldwide health issue. Recent studies have linked O3 exposure with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including ischemic heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and atherosclerosis.
Hypoxia, or the deficiency of oxygen in the body, is recognized as a pivotal factor in O3-associated CVDs.
Journal Reference:
Hua, Q, Meng, X, Chen, W. et al. ‘Associations of Short-Term Ozone Exposure With Hypoxia and Arterial Stiffness’, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2024.11.044
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by American College of Cardiology
Here’s what’s causing the Great Salt Lake to shrink, according to PSU study
Portland State University – The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, reached historic low levels in 2022, raising economic, ecological and public health concerns for Utah.
New research from Portland State is believed to be the first peer-reviewed study that quantifies the contributing factors to the record low water volume levels, which the researchers say is important for anticipating and managing future lake changes.
“The lake has a lot of social and economic relevance for the region and Utah,” said Siiri Bigalke, the lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in PSU’s Earth, Environment and Society program who built on research she started while a master’s student at Utah State University. “It provides over $1.9 billion in annual economic revenue, serves as a vital feeding ground for millions of migratory birds and enhances snowfall over the Wasatch Mountain Range” — home to 11 world-class ski resorts which are a big reason why the 2034 Winter Olympics are returning to Salt Lake City.
Bigalke and co-authors Paul Loikith, an associate professor of geography and director of PSU’s Climate Science Lab, and Nick Siler, an associate professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, developed and applied a model that simulates lake volume change year over year from water inputs primarily from streamflow into the lake and precipitation onto the lake and output from water evaporating off the lake.
“We developed a model that created alternate scenarios where only one of the input or output variables changed as observed in order to isolate the relative contributions of streamflow, precipitation and evaporation to the record low volume in 2022,” Bigalke said.
The decline in lake levels leading up to 2022 has been widely attributed to low stream flows from the lake’s three major tributaries, likely due to some combination of drought, water diversions, and climate change. However, the present study found that lower streamflows only accounted for about two-thirds of the total decline in lake volume. The rest primarily came from an increase in lake evaporation due to warmer temperatures, which will only get worse as temperatures continue to rise.
“As the climate is warming, evaporation off the lake increases, so the contribution from warming to the evaporation is significant,” Loikith said. “Without the warming trend, 2022 wouldn’t have been record low. Even though streamflow is dominant, the increase in evaporation was necessary to reach the record low.”
The researchers said that the findings suggest that increased streamflow can lead to rapid volume recovery in the short term, but under continued warming, evaporation is expected to lead to additional long-term water loss.
In addition to ecological and economic loss, the shrinking lake also poses health risks as a source of toxic dust for the 1.2 million people in the Salt Lake City metro region.
“As the lake shrinks, it’s exposing this dry lakebed that could possibly increase dust events into the metropolitan area, affecting the air quality for nearby residents,” Bigalke said.
The authors suggest further research into determining the degree to which local increasing evaporation, precipitation changes and/or human-caused diversions is affecting streamflow into the lake.
Journal Reference:
Bigalke, S., Loikith, P., & Siler, N., ‘Explaining the 2022 record low Great Salt Lake volume’, Geophysical Research Letters 52, e2024GL112154 (2025). DOI: 10.1029/2024GL112154
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by Portland State University
Severe weather and major power outages increasingly coincide across the US
PLOS – An understanding of the relationship between severe weather and power outages in our changing climate will be critical for hazard response plans, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Vivian Do of Columbia University, New York and colleagues.
Throughout the United States, large-scale power outages commonly occur alongside severe weather events. These combined events can be associated with major economic costs and health risks, as loss of power can disrupt medical equipment, heating or air conditioning, and other important systems. As severe weather events increase in severity and frequency due to climate change, understanding the patterns and distribution of these outages is critical for community preparation and resource allocation.
In this study, Do and colleagues compiled data from 2018-2020 on severe weather events (including rain, snow, heat, cold, cyclones, and wildfire) and large-scale power outages lasting eight hours or more for over 1600 counties across the United States. The data reveal that nearly 75% of these counties experienced major power outages alongside severe weather events during this three-year period, and over 50% of counties experienced outages alongside multiple simultaneous weather events.
Outages most commonly occurred alongside severe precipitation and heat, but the events are not distributed evenly, with precipitation-associated outages more common in the Northeast US and heat-associated outages more common in the Southeast. This study also found that co-occurring outages and wildfires along the West Coast became increasingly common from 2018 to 2020.
The researchers note that reliable data was not available for all US counties, so information is limited in regions such as the Southwest and Mountain West. Do and colleagues suggest that further research providing additional data, along with simulations of severe weather combinations in different locations will be useful for developing mitigation and response tactics.
First author Vivian Do adds: “Power outages frequently co-occur with severe weather events like heavy precipitation, tropical cyclones, or multiple severe weather events simultaneously. Understanding patterns of where and when power outages and severe weather events co-occur is crucial for informing strategies to minimize societal consequences, especially as the electrical grid ages and climate change drives more severe weather events.”
Journal Reference:
Do V, Wilner LB, Flores NM, McBrien H, Northrop AJ, Casey JA, ‘Spatiotemporal patterns of individual and multiple simultaneous severe weather events co-occurring with power outages in the United States, 2018–2020’, PLOS Climate 4 (1): e0000523 (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000523
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by PLOS
Anti-climate action groups tend to arise in countries with stronger climate change efforts
A new study suggests that countries with stronger commitments to protect the natural environment — regardless of national oil dependence or other economic interests — are more likely to see the establishment of counter climate change groups that aim to obstruct climate change action.
Jared Furuta and Patricia Bromley of Stanford University, U.S., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Prior research has highlighted how the fossil fuel industry and conservative think tanks and philanthropists have stoked climate change skepticism in the U.S. in order to serve their economic and political interests. However, in the past several decades, the counter climate change movement has become international and now includes eclectic organizations whose views are not straightforwardly tied to economic or political self-interest.
To better understand the factors influencing the growing international counter climate change movement, Furuta and Bromley conducted a statistical analysis of data on more than 160 countries and hundreds of counter climate organizations around the world.
Their analysis suggests that counter climate organizations are more likely to arise in countries that have stronger policies and structures aimed at protecting the natural environment.
Notably, factors related to a country’s economic interests — such as greenhouse gas emissions or reliance on oil resources — did not have a significant association with the development of counter climate change organizations. Nor did several other alternative factors also explored by the researchers, such as a country’s level of economic development, level of income inequality, its ties to the U.S., or the ideology of its political leadership.
These findings support the idea that reactionary and oppositional dynamics shape counter climate change movements as part of a process that is intertwined with the evolution of pro-environmental efforts.
On the basis of their findings, the researchers outline potential directions for future research and policymaking, suggesting, for instance, that climate change policymakers and environmental organizations might consider routinely investigating the ways in which their efforts could possibly trigger counterproductive reactionary movements, and adjust their efforts accordingly.
The authors add: “More than fifty countries around the world are now home to at least one counter climate change organization: nonprofits that work to undermine climate science and policy. These organizations have long been active in the US, but in recent years they have evolved to form a global movement; they arise especially in countries with the strongest environmental policies and institutions, rather than in countries with the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions or industrial activity.”
Journal Reference:
Furuta J, Bromley P, ‘Globalizing opposition to pro-environmental institutions: The growth of counter climate change organizations around the world, 1990 to 2018’. PLoS ONE 20 (1): e0315012 (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315012
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by PLOS
Featured image credit: Gerd Altmann | Pixabay
