Explanation: What is so micro about tonight’s blue micromoon? Just after sunset, a full moon will appear slightly smaller and dimmer than usual. The reason is that the Moon’s fully illuminated phase occurs within a short time of apogee – when the Moon is farthest from the Earth in its elliptical orbit. In fact, tonight’s micromoon will be the farthest, smallest, and dimmest Moon this year. But tonight’s micromoon is notable for yet another reason: it is also a blue moon, meaning that it is the second full moon in the same month (moon-th). Pictured here, a supermoon — when the full moon appears near its largest — is compared to a micromoon as photographed from Kolkata, India in May and December of 2021. Although the next micromoon occurs next month, and the next blue moon at the end of 2028, the next blue micromoon will not occur until 2053.
(And in case you got an unwanted earworm from the title, maybe try this lively one, instead! – Ali)
The Nashville Warbler is a lively songbird with elegant, understated plumage and a special fondness for sunny forests, brushy undergrowth, and juicy caterpillars. It is also one of several birds in the Western Hemisphere with a rather misleading name. This bird is only in the southeastern United States for a few weeks during migration on its way between the northern forests where it breeds and its wintering grounds in Mexico, Central America, and the California coast. The species was first documented in Tennessee, and the โNashvilleโ name stuck, although it only stops over in the area during migration.
The Latin name is also rather misleading to anyone watching this bird in the field โ the species epithet ruficapilla refers to a small patch of reddish feathers on the birdโs crown, usually invisible among the gray feathers of the rest of the head. Like the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Yellow-rumped Warbler (scientific species name coronata, for the rarely seen yellow crown), this name may be mystifying to beginning birders, but it might also provide an avenue into the secret social life of the bird.
The ability to hide and reveal this bright, contrasting color patch allows these birds to produce a striking visual signal, which they use to communicate agitation and excitement, particularly in aggressive interactions between males at close range. The closely related Lucyโs and Virginiaโs Warblers also have hidden reddish crowns, apparently used in similar contexts. In fact, colorful hidden crown patches have also evolved in distantly related species, like the Western Kingbird, suggesting they may play important roles in these birdsโ lives. However, birds are rarely seen actually raising their crowns, and our understanding of their social use is only rudimentary.
Nashville Warblers are quite social. Once the young of the year are independent from their parents, these warblers begin to form large foraging flocks, numbering up to 100 birds. On their nonbreeding grounds, these birds are often at the center of equally large flocks with dozens of species, their persistent contact calls allowing other birds โ and birders โ to locate them in the forest canopy. In fact, Nashville Warblers may be a โnuclear species,โ facilitating the formation of these large and diverse flocks with help from another energetic northern migrant, theย Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Typically, nuclear species are resident birds, not migrants. But when this warbler-gnatcatcher pair comes to town, they bring the party. (snip-MORE)
Imagine being a scientist scanning the ocean floor when suddenly a powder blue, golf ball-sized, eight-legged critter that looked like itโs been put through a kawaii filter shows up. Obviously, all professionalism goes out the proverbial window.
That is exactly what happened for the Charles Darwin Foundation when they unexpectedly discovered a brand new species of (very cute) octopus deep below the waterโs surface near the Galapagos Islands.
A tiny scene-stealer enters the underwater chat
โHeโs tiny!โ โItโs blue!โ These are the remarks that can be heard over the audio of footage captured by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) camera as the cerulean cephalopod made its grand entrance.
Unsure which species this mysterious and adorable creature belonged to, the team sent octopus expert Janet Voight, who immediately knew โit was something really special.โ
โIโd never seen anything like it,โ noted Voight, who used X-Ray images from CT scans to make a 3D model of the octopus, revealing its insides, rather than cutting open the one specimen she had.
A built-in survival superpower that feels like a fashion statement
While its top side features blue, natureโs rarest hue, the new species, dubbed Microeledone galapagensis, has a โvery deep purpleโ underside, which researchers believe is to camouflage itself while eating.
“We think this color pattern helps keep it safe. If the octopus grabs a prey item that emits light, that light may attract predators that might then eat the octopus. So the octopus puts its dark-colored web over the prey item, keeping itself safe,โ explained Voight.
This little guy showed up where nobody expected it
But unusual coloring aside, whatโs also remarkable about this newly discovered octopus is that no other similar species lives anywhere near it. Members of the Megaleledonidae family, distinguished by their single row of suckers, are normally much larger and inhabit cold Antarctic watersโฆa little ways away from the Galapagos.
The Microeledone galapagensis joins the four new species of octopus that were discovered in Costa Rica in 2024, all of which are part of a 300-ish species of octopus family living throughout all of the worldโs oceans.
The ocean still has plenty of surprises left
The wild thing about ocean exploration is how much remains hidden from us. Scientists estimate that huge portions of the deep sea are still largely unexplored. Entire landscapes, unusual animals, and species no one has documented yet may still be waiting below. (snip-a bit MORE)
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is appealing to the public for help after launching a website to report data center concerns as the rapid expansion of AI-driven facilities across the United States increasingly clashes with local communities.
The appeal threatens to thrust an iconic anti-corporate activist into the heart of the battle to expand AI infrastructure at a time of growing public skepticism about the technology’s impact on jobs, safety and the environment.
The website, brockovichdatacenter.com, lists several โkey concernsโ surrounding such data centers, including high energy consumption that drives environmental impacts and costs, substantial water use for cooling that can strain local supplies, increased eโwaste from frequent hardware upgrades, exposure to location risks such as natural disasters or geopolitical instability, growing scalability pressures that can outpace local infrastructure, and constant noise from cooling systems and generators that can disrupt nearby communities.
โThese challenges highlight the need for sustainable, secure, and efficient AI data center practices,โ the website says. “Self-reporting is the best way we can get this information out to the public!โ
A map on brockovichdatacenter.com shows major AI data centers in the U.S. that are either operational or under construction, overlaid with locations w…Read More ย |ย brockovichdatacenter.com
There are now more than 4,200 data centersโbuilt to train, deploy and deliver AIโacross the U.S., according to Data Center Map.
According to the websiteโs statistics, more than 2,716 reports have been submitted, with the most in Texas (612), as of Monday. The state is home to more than 460 data centers, according to Data Center Map.
The greatest concern among communities was water, followed by electricity, health and wildlife.
โThe race to build AI infrastructures is unfolding town by town across America. In some places, data centers are welcomed. In others, they are delayed, contested or abandoned altogether. This map captures the real-world footprint of that raceโrevealing patterns of growth, conflict and uncertainty,โ Brockovich said.
Virginia Long a hub for government contractors and cloud infrastructure, Virginiaโparticularly Northern Virginiaโs โData Center Alleyโโoffers proximity to federal agencies and one of the worldโs densest fiber networks. Established infrastructure reduces build times and attracts hyperscalers looking to scale quickly.
Texas Texas combines vast, inexpensive land with a deregulated energy market that gives companies flexibility in securing large power loads. Cities like Dallas and Austin also bring a growing tech workforce and business-friendly policies that appeal to major AI investors.
Ohio Ohio has positioned itself as a Midwestern data hub, with strong incentives and central geographic access to U.S. population centers. Its legacy industrial sites are often repurposed for data centers, offering space and existing infrastructure at competitive costs.
Arizona Arizonaโs dry climate is favorable for certain cooling technologies, while its abundant land and aggressive economic development incentives have drawn major tech firms. Phoenix, in particular, has become a key destination for new AI and cloud infrastructure builds.
Georgia Georgia, anchored by Atlanta, offers strong connectivity as a Southeast internet exchange hub. State and local tax breaks, combined with access to both talent and transport infrastructure, have made it increasingly attractive for large-scale data operations.
Utah Utah benefits from lower real estate costs, a stable regulatory environment, and access to renewable energy sources. Its growing tech sector, known as โSilicon Slopes,โ provides an emerging talent pool to support AI-focused expansion.
Why companies are choosing these states:
Cheap land:ย Large-scale AI data centers require vast footprints; these states offer space at significantly lower costs than coastal markets.
Power access:ย Reliable, high-capacity energy grids, often with options for renewable sourcing, are critical for AI workloads.
Tax breaks:ย State and local governments are competing aggressively with incentives to attract long-term infrastructure investment.
Fewer regulations:ย Streamlined permitting and business-friendly policies enable shorter development timelines and reduced compliance burdens.
As we like reminding you, with Donald Trump trying to kill clean energy, Europe has become the source of much of our clean energy Nice Times lately. Hereโs one more example: Spain is among the big sleeper hits on Europeโs energy transition pop chart. In just a decade, Spain has ramped up its use of wind and solar power, resulting in some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices on the continent.
In the first four months of 2026, the average wholesale electricity price in Spain was โฌ44 per megawatt-hour. In Italy, it was โฌ127. In Germany, โฌ96. In the UK, โฌ103. Spain is now cheaper than France, well below the central-European bloc, and within striking distance of the Nordic hydro-and-nuclear heavyweights that have always topped the cheap-power league.
The basic reason is pretty simple, Rosenow explains, although he also goes into further detail beyond this. โSpain increasingly pushed gas increasingly out of its electricity supply, and the price of electricity followed.โ
Over the last 25 years, Spain has gone from getting a third of its electricity from coal to effectively having zero coal power. Spain replaced most of that capacity with cheaper (and relatively cleaner but still climate-unfriendly) fossil gas, and itโs now replacing gas with renewables. Gas peaked at about 30 percent of Spainโs energy mix near the end of the 2000s, and is now down to about 19 percent. Another 19 percent comes from nuclear, which hasnโt changed over the last few decades and 14 percent is from hydro and bioenergy. The rest has been solar and wind, which combined are up to 42 percent of the mix in 2026. Hereโs a pretty chart, with cheerful yellow solar energy and cool blue wind energy growing, and icky grey coal rapidly fading into nothing.
Hereโs why the replacement of gas with renewables matters so much: Because wholesale electricity prices at any given time are set by the most expensive energy plants needed to meet demand, and gas is usually that most expensive source, getting more solar and wind on the grid during high-demand daylight hours brings down wholesale prices a lot. (snip-MORE)
Go and read, and click the links if you have time. It is heartening, even though it’s not happening here.
The seahorse cousin is named for its ‘uncanny’ resemblance to the Sesame Street character
Sheena Goodyear ยท CBC Radio ยท Posted: May 21, 2026 4:01 PM CDT | Last Updated: May 21
Solenostomus snuffleupagus, a newly described species of fish, is named after the beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus.ย (David Harasti)
Scientist David Harasti never had any doubt what he would name the tiny orange creature he first spotted on a diving expedition in Papua New Guinea in 2003.
But it would take another two decades for Harasti and his colleague Graham Short to find the elusive fish again, study it, and officially designate it a new species.
Meet Solenostomus snuffleupagus, namedafter the beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus.
“Snuffy for short,” Short, an ichthyologist at the California Academy of Sciences and the Australian Museum, told As It Happens host Nil Kำงksal. “The resemblance was quite uncanny.”
Short and Harasti have now written a new paper, published in the journal Fish Biology, describing S. snuffleupagus as a new species of ghost pipefish that makes its home along coral reefs, and disguises itself as red algae.
‘The awesome power of natural selection’
The fish has quite a few things in common with its namesake โ mainly its orange-brown colouring, the long filaments that look like shaggy hair, and its elephant-like snout.
Milton Love, a marine biologist at the University of Californiaโs Marine Science Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., says the fish’s muppet-like appearance demonstrates “the awesome power of natural selection.”
“Clearly, all of the morphological features that we find endearing are of some value to the animal,” Love, who was not involved in the research, said in email.
“Or, and here is another hypothesis, Gaia created this fish after having one too many of those rum drinks that come with those little umbrellas.”
But its similarity to Snuffleupagus goes deeper than meets the eye.
It’s also extremely elusive, much like Mr. Snuffleupagus, who, in his early appearances on Sesame Street, was only ever seen by Big Bird, leading the other characters to mistakenly suspect he was imaginary.
Harasti and Short tried for years to spot a snuffy fish again after that first 2003 sightingto no avail.
Their luck changed in 2021 when some scuba diver buddies started seeing the little creatures on the Great Barrier Reef and got in touch. The scientists headed to Australia to see for themselves, and on their second dive, they found the fish.
“It’s an understatement to say that we screamed under water,” Short said. “We high-fived, gave each other a hug, and we were just so excited.”
An itty-bitty carnivore
In order to describe the fish and confirm it as a previously undocumented species, the scientists looked at CT scans of specimens first collected in 1993 during exhibition to far north of Queensland, Australia, in the Torres Strait.
Short says they were collected alongside several hundred other fish specimens and tucked away until he and his colleague came looking. But even back then, he says ichthyologist Helen Larson, who was part of the expedition, suspected it was a new species.
S. snuffleupagus, like other ghost pipefish, is a cousin of the seahorse.
The newly described Snuffleupagus fish is smaller than a matchstick.ย (Darren Rice/Matafonua Lodge)
Using iNaturalist, the citizen science platform, the scientists confirmed sightings of it in Tonga, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, suggesting distribution across the southwestern Pacific.
And while it may look like Big Bird’s beloved bestie, there are a few significant differences between S. snuffleupagus the fish and Snuffleupagus the muppet.
While Snuffleupagus is famously big โ bigger even than Big Bird โ S. snuffleupagus is roughly four to five centimetres long, about the size of an airpod.
And while Snuffleupagus would never harm a fly, S. snuffleupagus is a natural-born killer.
“They look adorable, very cute. They’re very delicate and slow moving in the water. And it’s been assumed that they only eat small crustaceans like small shrimp,” Short said.
Not so, he says. The CT scans found tiny fish skeletons in the specimens’ stomachs.
“Every fish has a role, and they are either eating or being eaten. It turns out, ghost pipe fish and in particular, snuffy โฆ they’re just like other fish,” Short said. “They’re predators.”
Short says the widespread interest in S. snuffleupagus has been a delight, and he hopes it won’t be the last fish he brings attention to.
He and his colleague already have their eyes on another species of ghost pipe fish that is known to divers around the Pacific, but hasn’t been formally described.
If it works out, they plan to name it after another muppet, but Short wouldn’t say which one.
“Not yet, because I need approval,” he said.
Interview with Graham Short produced by Leslie Amminson
It was actually some Canadian-made little-kids’s science TV show on The Learning Channel (when it actually was!) that first got me acquainted with Dr. Suzuki, then I read more in a “The Nation” interview. I’m glad he’s still out here kickin’.
Dr. David Takayoshi Suzuki โ an author, environmental A-lister and original host of CBCโs long-running documentary seriesย The Nature of Thingsย โ marked his 90th spin around the sun at a star-studded gala Friday night in Vancouver. Jane Fonda and Al Gore were among the VIPs who flew in to show the old tree-hugger some love and enjoy performances fromย Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, and even a surprise set from Neil Young.
Dr. Suzuki may not be a household name outside of Canada and maybe Japan but he came in a solid fifth place in a big CBC contest back in the early aughts to name theย best Canadian ever, ahead of the more problematic Don Cherry andย Wayne Gretzky, the only other living finalists to make the top 10.
Imagine if Bill Nye the Science Guy and Sir David Attenborough had a baby and youโre on the right track. The hot ticket event was livestreamed for free but hasnโt yet been uploaded anywhere, presumably to cut down on the footprint from permanent data storage, so we may never know if he had anything interesting to say about attending a lavish celebration of his lifeโs work when it has widely fallen on deaf ears.
He was pretty blunt when asked about his hopes for the future in a recent interview with Piya Chattopadhyay where he said hunkering down in communities is our best shot at survival now that weโve reached the point of no return:
For years I was told on The Nature of Things, โyou canโt say that, thatโs too depressing.โ So Iโve been held back from telling the truth. And now, when the science has said โwe have passed a tipping point, we cannot go back,โ people are going โoh well, what the hell, itโs too late.โ Itโs true we are now headed for a catastrophic way and itโs unavoidable. The science is telling you that. So do you just throw up your hands? If you have children or grandchildren, you canโt do that. So you have to hunker down and say โitโs coming.โ Because when the emergency comes, we donโt know what it will be. Government wonโt be able to respond with the speed and the scale that youโre going to need so get your act together. The reality is the science says weโve come to that point, and so I believe that the unit of survival is going to be your local community.
This is coming from a father of five who watched Justin Trudeau sign the Paris Climate Accords to limit the rise of global temperatures and then turn around to buy a new frickin pipeline two years later. And now the new prime minister has essentially declared war on the environment by tossing regulations aside to fast-track new projects because Donald J. Trump poses a more immediate threat to the country than Mother Nature does.
Mark Carney recently announced plans for a potential new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to somewhere in the Pacific, with construction expected to begin as early as September 2027 if they can find anyone to put build it. โThis is Canada working, this is co-operative federalism, this is Canada building,โ he told reporters at a press conference with Alberta preem Danielle Smith. โIn effect, it creates an energy transition โ all aspects of energy โ but really sets the stage for an industrial transformation.โ
The Red-naped Sapsucker is one of four species in the genus Sphyrapicus, the sapsuckers, which are a distinctive group of North American woodpeckers with a peculiar and unique foraging strategy. The sapsuckers are accurately named in that they do, in fact, drink sap, but not by sucking. Rather, these industrious birds create rows of small openings in the bark of specific trees to allow the sweet, nutritious sap to flow, much like a syrup maker tapping a maple tree. They then drink the sap directly from these wells, lapping it up with their specialized feathery tongues. Sapsuckers maintain these openings or โwellsโ throughout the breeding season, regularly expanding existing holes and opening new ones to take advantage of changes in sugar flow through the season. Their sign on trees is conspicuous: Neat grids of shallow holes that create rings around the trunks of thin-barked trees such as aspen, willow, alder, birch, lodgepole pine, and young Douglas-fir.
In creating these wells, Red-naped Sapsuckers also open an irresistible opportunity for other animals with a taste for sweets. Many birds, especially warblers and hummingbirds, are drawn to sapsucker wells. Researchers have also reported a range of mammals visiting wells, including chipmunks, squirrels, mice, deer, and even bears. Insects feed at these wells too, especially butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, and ants. In turn, the insect activity can attract additional birds that prey on insects, such as flycatchers. (snip-MORE)
More than two-thirds of adults oppose the construction of the massive and costly complexes used to power artificial intelligence, with a majority saying theyโd prefer to have a nuclear power plant in their backyard instead. While women and men overwhelmingly expressed opposition, women did so more intensely. Out of 1,000 adults surveyed, 55 percent of women said they strongly oppose data centers, compared to 43 percent of men. In fact, men were more likely to favor data centers, citing their economic benefits and job opportunities.
Jeffrey Jones, a senior editor at Gallup and the studyโs author, attributed the distinction to women having more empathy for public-facing issues like the environment and healthcare, and favoring Democratic policies that protect the environment. Resistance to data centers often focuses on the imposition of environmental and financial problems, like water scarcity, noise and air pollution, and excessive energy use that can result in higher utility bills and increased health complications for the low-income communities of color who live near where they are usually built.
โA lot of the opposition is based on environmental concerns about using too many resources, especially water,โ Jones added. โCenters need a lot of water to cool the computing machines that they’re using. Land, electricity, and resources are the most common concerns people have.โ
Gendered fears about the environment are nothing new, experts say. Women are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation and at higher risk of poverty, food insecurity and gender-based violence when displaced by climate change, the United Nations reports. Studies have consistently shown that women are also key to driving inclusive, effective action to address the impacts of climate change.
โIโve been organizing for 15 years, and itโs always been the case that women are leading our fights,” said Danny Cendejas, a campaign specialist for MediaJustice, who works with grassroots movements across the country that are opposing data centers. โWe are definitely seeing everyone join the fight, but we have to recognize the truth, and itโs women, trans, queer and nonbinary people leading the work.โ
Cendejas pointed to environmental justice movements in places like Memphis, Tennessee, and Amarillo, Texas, which have already been overburdened by environmental pollutants and health impacts from gas and oil industries. Those impacts are now being exacerbated by data centers.
โThereโs a big connection where big tech is targeting Black, Brown and Indigenous communities,โ Cendejas said. โThe progress that has been made over the years to shut down coal plants or gain protectionsโฆ a lot of that is being undone, by big tech and the demand for data centers.โ
Data centers have become an increasingly pressing issue for candidates and their campaigns heading into the midterms in November. Theyโre also a rare source of bipartisan concern in a polarized political environment.
โThere are really strong feelings about this. I see this playing out as a political issue, and now people who are running for governor, Senate, or local offices, are having to take a position on this, whereas this is not something people were talking about two years ago,โ Jones said. โAnd now politicians across both parties are coming out as against data centers, which seems like the more popular viewpoint.โ
During a House hearing on Wednesday featuring the Environmental Protection Agencyโs Assistant Administrator for Water Jessica Kramer, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York held up jars of an opaque, brown liquid that she said had come out of a rural community east of Atlanta where Donald Trump got 70 percent of the vote in the last election. Meta has disputed the claim.
โThis is the current drinking water in Morgan County, Georgia, right after a data center was constructed, the Meta data center was constructed,โ Ocasio-Cortez said. โThe only difference between the clean water and this was that data center.โ
In New Mexico, first-time candidate Daisy Maldonado is running for county commissioner in Doรฑa Ana County on a platform that includes opposition to Project Jupiter, a $165 billion mega data center under construction in the area. Maldonado was recently endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a proponent of data center regulation, adding to the national conversation about community resistance to AI infrastructure and environmental accountability.
โI see a lot of moms concerned,โ said Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes, a researcher at the nonprofit Data & Society Research Institute who studied Pittsburgh’s data center industry. โItโs very connected to โI want a good future for my kids and if things go this way, I don’t know what world we will have for them in 15 years.โโ
To Nunes, the Gallup pollโs results serve as a reminder and reflection of the gendered impacts of AI in society.
โA lot of the interviewees we had in Pennsylvania, when it comes to developers, or people in government, are mostly men, but people who are activists and doing work on the ground, they are mainly women,โ Nunes said.
Scottie's Playtime 
