Starfish are making a comeback on the West Coast, four years after a mysterious syndrome killed millions of them. From 2013 to 2014, Sea Star Wasting Syndrome hit sea stars from British Columbia to Mexico. The starfish would develop lesions and then disintegrate, their arms turning into blobs of goo. The cause is unclear but researchers say it may be a virus. But now, the species is rebounding. Sea stars are being spotted in Southern California tide pools and elsewhere, the Orange County Register reported. "They are coming back, big time," Darryl Deleske, aquarist for the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in Los Angeles, told the newspaper. Similar die-offs of starfish on the West Coast were reported in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, but the latest outbreak was far larger and more widespread, according to a report by researchers at the University of Santa Cruz.
Eclipse crowd estimated at 88% of adults
Nothing brings people together like the sun hiding behind the moon. On Aug. 21, the country came to a pause as millions of Americans — even the president — put on eclipse glasses and stopped to take in the first eclipse to cross the United States since 1918. A study by the University of Michigan estimated that 88 percent of American adults — about 215 million people — watched the solar eclipse, either in person or electronically. Its path across the United States was a scientific bonanza for astronomers who were able to more easily point advanced equipment at the sun. It's not too soon to start making your plans for the 2024 solar eclipse. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will enter North America around Mazatlán, Mexico, and leave it just north of St. John's, Newfoundland. In between, it will traverse the United States from Texas to Maine.
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