Click the link below the picture

.

Microplastic particles flowing through Earth’s atmosphere may be quietly driving up global temperatures, a new study suggests.

Microplastics and nanoplastics—tiny bits of broken-down plastic pollution—litter the planet’s rivers, oceans, land, and air. But until now, researchers weren’t sure what effect all those plastic particles were having on an already warming climate.

A new study led by researchers at Fudan University in China suggests that the particles may significantly affect warming—for comparison, microplastics’ warming effect equates to about 16 percent of that of black carbon, or soot.

“This article shows a very worrying truth about the dangers of micro- and nanoplastics,” says Steve Allen, a microplastics researcher at the environmental advocacy organization Healthy Earth, who was not involved with the study.

If you’ve ever walked barefoot on asphalt, you know black material absorbs heat. White paint on asphalt, however, reflects it. The same thing happens with airborne microplastics—darker colors warm the atmosphere, while lighter colors help cool it. By analyzing the optical properties of various microplastics in the lab and simulating their effect on a global scale, the new study’s authors estimated that microplastics’ warming abilities outweigh their potential cooling effects—something current climate models don’t account for.

The results were published on Monday in Nature Climate Change.

The findings reveal “a long-overlooked link” between plastics and climate change, said study co-author Hongbo Fu, a researcher at Fudan University in China, at a press conference. Plastics are not just an environmental pollutant. “They can also act as a heating agent in the atmosphere,” he said.

“We still have a lot to learn about exactly how many of these [microplastics] are in the atmosphere and how they’re distributed, both horizontally and vertically,” said Drew Shindell, the study’s senior author and a professor of Earth science at Duke University, at the same press conference. “This is not the final word.”

It’s unclear how many microplastics are actually in the atmosphere. But the study team argues global climate assessments, such as those published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), need to factor in these particles. “Our work suggest that climate models need to be updated,” Fu said. “IPCC should take notice.”

More broadly, Allen says the results underscore the need to reduce our reliance on plastics—which are often made from the by-products of fossil fuel production.

“What needs to be looked at is the carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of plastic production, adding to the total climate change effect,” he says. The “takeaway message” is “that we can reduce climate change by removing plastic from our lives.”

.

Alistair Berg/Getty Images

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

From

Click the link below the picture

.

Babies are on the way!

And some are already here. Every year, one of our favorite roundups to do is the list of well-known women who are expecting. The lists always start small and blossom to more than 30, 40 ladies by the end of the year.

To kickstart the list, we’ve gathered up big screen stars, football wives, the partners of hip-hop stars, and more.

The latest mama-to-be is attorney and TV personality, Judge Faith Jenkins. She shared the news, alongside her husband, singer Kenny Lattimore, that the couple is expecting their second child in May. In their announcement, they previewed a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” sung by Lattimore, which Jenkins noted is “one of the baby’s favorite songs.”

.

Be sure to click the link below the picture to view all of the ladies. Turn on the sound to listen to this post also.

.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 06: Judge Faith Jenkins (L) and Kenny Lattimore attend The National Urban League’s 2024 Women in Harmony Award at The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans on July 06, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article (sound on to listen):

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

Democrats are struggling to respond to a major redistricting setback in Virginia, with some party leaders discussing an audacious and possibly far-fetched idea for trying to restore a congressional map voided by the court but showing little indication they have a clear plan.

During a private discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway, according to three people who participated in the call and two others who were briefed on it.

They did not land on a specific course forward, and Mr. Jeffries and the other members of Congress agreed to consult with their lawyers about the most prudent way to proceed, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private talk.

The conversation reflected the desperation and fury that have gripped the party after the state Supreme Court struck down a favorable map that had been ratified by voters. The most dramatic idea they discussed — which would involve an unusual gambit to replace the entire state Supreme Court, with a goal of reinstating their gerrymandered map — drew mixed reactions on the call, said the people, and it was not clear that it would even be viable, or palatable to Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly.

After Democrats had fought Republicans to a rough draw last month in a nationwide gerrymandering war, a pair of recent court rulings quickly gave the G.O.P. the clear upper hand in the race to redraw maps ahead of the midterm elections. Facing stiff headwinds, including President Trump’s low approval ratings and high gas prices, Republicans are looking for every advantage they can find to defy the odds and hold on to their narrow majority.

Any plans to enact a new congressional map for this year’s midterm elections would require action in the next few days. In a court filing last month, Steven Koski, the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, said any changes to the maps after Tuesday, May 12, “will significantly increase the risk” of his agency being unable to properly prepare for the state’s scheduled Aug. 4 primary election.

A spokesman for Mr. Jeffries declined to comment.

Scott Surovell, the majority leader of the Virginia Senate, declined to comment on Saturday evening. Don Scott, the speaker of the state House of Delegates, said in an interview that he had not spoken to Mr. Jeffries or members of the congressional delegation about the multistep proposal that came up in the discussion.

One key to the plan would be having Democrats in Richmond lower the mandatory retirement age for state Supreme Court justices, an idea that began circulating among state lawmakers and members of Congress after a column proposing a version of the idea was published on Friday night in The Downballot, a progressive newsletter.

Ms. Spanberger would have to sign off on any legislation that lowered the judicial retirement age. She has not been briefed on the proposal, the people involved in the discussion or briefed on it said. Her spokeswoman, Libby Wiet, declined to comment.

The first step in the process, as discussed on the delegation’s call, would be to invoke a January ruling by a circuit court judge in Tazewell County, Va., that said the 2026 constitutional amendment effort to redraw the maps was invalid because county officials did not post notice of it at courthouses and other public locations three months before a general election.

Democrats would aim to use that ruling to seek to invalidate the earlier constitutional amendment that created the state’s independent redistricting commission by arguing that courthouses across the state did not post notice of it at the time. That would give the legislature the authority to enact a map of its choosing.

Ensuring the plan proceeds would involve the General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, lowering the mandatory retirement age for Virginia’s Supreme Court from 75 to 54, the age of the youngest current justice, or less. Virginia judges are appointed by the General Assembly, where Democrats hold majorities in both chambers and could then fill vacancies on the court with sympathetic Democratic lawyers.

Mandatory retirement ages are in place for judges in 32 states and Washington, D.C., according to a 2015 law review article from the Duke University Law School. The article said the most common retirement age set by states is 70.

In states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Utah, Republican lawmakers have expanded state Supreme Courts in order to make them more conservative. But the Virginia proposal, which would get rid of all the sitting judges, would go considerably further.

Former Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, said a move to stack the Virginia Supreme Court would be “just a bridge too far” and could backfire on his party.

He said he understood that many Democrats felt that their party “needs to fight back and not just be victims of unparalleled aggression.” But, he added, “We do have to keep our credibility. We have to do things that pass the legitimacy test.”

.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, speaking at the Capitol in Washington last month. Credit…Kenny Holston/The New York Times

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

Archaeologists are hailing the discovery of a “spectacular” hoard of roughly 3,000 Viking coins found in a field in eastern Norway. More could yet be uncovered—the search is ongoing.

“This is a historic find. The fact that it is also from the Viking Age makes it even more spectacular,” said Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, the country’s minister of climate and environment, in a statement.

The coins were initially discovered by two metal detectorists in a field near the Norwegian city of Rena in the region of Østerdalen, according to the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. On April 10, the pair uncovered 19 silver coins; they immediately informed local officials.

The hoard includes specimens from the 980s to the 1040s C.E.—the height of the Viking Age. Notably, many of the coins were foreign-made, originating from England and Germany and including elements of coins from Denmark and Norway. The Vikings dominated much of what is now Scandinavia, but they ventured by sea to many other regions, including Britain, Iceland, and even the Americas.

“Foreign coinage dominates the circulation of money in Norway up until Harald Hardrada (1046–1066) established a national coinage,” said Svein Gullbekk, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo, in a statement from the university’s Museum of Cultural History. Hardrada, also known as Harald III, served as king of Norway from 1046 to 1066. During his tenure, the king’s mint replaced most of the foreign currency in circulation, according to Gullbekk. “The hoard was deposited right at the beginning of this development,” he said.

It’s possible that the coins are related to iron works in the area, said archaeologist Jostein Bergstøl of the Museum of Cultural History in the same statement.

“From the 900s until the late 1200s, there was an enormous iron production in this area. Ore was extracted from the bogs, and the processed iron was exported to Europe,” he said.

Archaeologists are still probing the site because they hope to gain more insight into what the extent of the treasure is and why it has lain there for so long.

“This is a truly unique discovery of the kind one might only experience once in an entire career. To be present when something like this comes to light is simply a great experience, both professionally and personally,” said local archaeologist May-Tove Smiseth in the same statement. The last time a large stash of Viking coins was discovered in Norway was in 1950, according to the Museum of Cultural History’s statement.

.

Innlandet County Authority

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

But what you really wanted to ask is: What’s something about birth and postpartum that surprised you? What do you wish your partner understood? How did becoming a mother change your marriage?

Those are the conversations that actually matter, because they deepen relationships and allow mothers to pass their wisdom to one another. But they feel impossible to start without seeming intense or intrusive.

Spread the Jelly, an 18-month-old media platform, wants to help. It has just launched a deck of cards called The Sticky Stuff, meant to prompt mothers to have deeper conversations faster. “Everything we’ve been doing is about like breaking people open, allowing people to be their messiest or their happiest selves at the same time,” says Amrit Tietz, who founded the company with Lauren Levinger in late 2024.

The Sticky Stuff, which is available on the Spread the Jelly website for $45, joins a growing number of conversation cards that have entered the market, including therapist Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin? cards that launched in 2021, Tales, which facilitates conversations with kids, and even the fast food chains Chick-fil-A, which gives out cards meant to prompt conversations around the meals.

“The popularity of the cards highlights how we desperately want to talk about deep issues,” says Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who has been studying conversation for two decades.

Modern Motherhood

The idea for Spread the Jelly’s conversation cards didn’t start with market research or a business plan. It started with two women in Los Angeles who desperately needed someone to talk to. Lauren Levinger had recently had her son when Amrit Tietz, pregnant and without mom friends in her life, reached out via social media. “From social media, you look like you’re doing motherhood pretty well,” Tietz wrote to her. “Can we connect?”

When they finally sat down together months later, they were surprised by how good it felt to have an honest conversation. They quickly began to discuss the things that nobody talks about, from how lonely it can be to spend your days with a non-verbal human, to postpartum sexuality. “We realized how starved we were for community,” says Levinger.

This prompted them to launch Spread The Jelly, as an online magazine for radical honesty about modern motherhood. The conversation cards came later, as a natural extension of that mission. Tietz and Levinger began to build out a deck of questions, and tested them out with their partners, families, and friends. They ended up encompassing four different categories: foundation, identity, belonging, and intimacy. They included prompts like, “Describe your childhood in one sentence;” “Describe a moment you’re not proud of,” and “How do you show up for your loved ones?”

Levinger points out that everyday conversations at the dinner table have a way of becoming stagnant. The cards suddenly unlocked a way to venture into new territory with the people in our lives.

.

[Photo: Spread the Jelly]

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the bbottom picture

.

Babak’s experience has become increasingly common throughout Iran as companies have instituted round after round of layoffs in recent weeks, according to interviews with businesses and employees and Iranian news reports.

.

Crowds inside the sprawling Grand Bazaar in Tehran on Saturday. Imports of goods have been affected by the war.

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

Are you tired? If so, you aren’t alone. An alarming number of the country’s adults are tired most days, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that could have significant implications for public health.

In 2024, the year the data were collected, nearly a third of all U.S. adults slept fewer than the recommended seven hours per night on average. Only a little more than half of U.S. adults said they woke up feeling “well-rested” on most days.

It’s hard to overstate how important sleep is for your health: Research shows that getting enough rest can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, help regulate hormones, and keep blood sugar under control, and that it may even help fight dementia. It can also affect your mood and mental health.

That is why health experts are worried that so many adults seem to be missing out on those z’s. “Our need for sleep parallels our need for air and water,” said Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, in an interview about the report with MedPage Today.

According to the report, around 40 percent of Black adults are getting fewer than seven hours of sleep per night on average and are less likely to wake up feeling well-rested than their Asian, white, and Hispanic peers. Asian adults were the most likely to report feeling well-rested—about 62 percent. The report is part of the National Health Interview Survey, a poll involving thousands of U.S. adults.

Men and women reported about the same rates of undersleeping, but men tended to say that they woke up feeling well-rested more often than women did. Women were also more likely than men to say that they found it hard to fall asleep at night—with the experience reported by about 19 percent of women versus about 12 percent of men.

Broken down by age, adults aged 65 and older reported that they woke up feeling well-rested on at least most days, with the impressive frequency of about 64 percent of the time. Adults aged 18 to 34, on the other hand, had the hardest time falling asleep of any age group.

If you are struggling to fall asleep, experts recommend techniques such as getting out of bed to do a calming activity, such as reading or breathing exercises, avoiding phone scrolling and snacking, and seeing a doctor if the problem persists.

.

Deagreez/Getty Images

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

The note was reportedly discovered by the cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in July 2019 after Epstein first attempted suicide weeks before his death.

“They investigated me for month[s] — found nothing!” the note reads. “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.”

The note continues: “Watcha want me to do — burst out cryin! No fun – not worth it.”

The words “no fun” were also included in a separate note obtained by CBS from Epstein’s cell after his death. In both notes, the words are underlined. Epstein also appears to have used the phrase “watcha want me to do- burst out cryin” in an email from 2016, released by the Justice Department. 

Epstein’s first apparent suicide attempt

The note has no signature. TIME has been unable to independently verify if it was written by Epstein, and has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. 

Records released by the Justice Department show that on July 23, 2019, Epstein was found “unresponsive” in his cell, and that Epstein claimed later that same day that Tartaglione, who was awaiting trial in a quadruple murder case, had assaulted him. The sex offender was then put on suicide watch. 

The document then shows that Tartaglione appears to have found the note in the days that followed. Epstein was later moved to a separate cell following the alleged assault, where he was later found dead on August 10, 2019. A medical examiner later determined that the cause of death was suicide. 

Tartaglione was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in June 2024, one for each murder he carried out. 

The push to unseal the document

Judge Kenneth M. Karas of Federal District Court in White Plains, New York, released the note on Wednesday, after a request from the New York Times for it to be released was sent on April 30.

Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois also requested for the release of the note, writing to the Justice Department on May 4 calling for it to be unsealed. 

“The survivors of Jeffrey Epstein deserve a full and transparent accounting of all pertinent information,” Krishnamoorthi wrote. 

Speaking to the Times, Tartaglione said he found the note tucked into a graphic novel after Epstein was transferred from the cell. He said he then gave the note to his lawyers.

The former cellmate of Epstein had already mentioned the note, speaking on a podcast with Jessica Reed Kraus in July of last year. 

Tartaglione previously discussed the alleged note

Tartaglione claims on the podcast that the note read along the lines that the FBI had investigated Epstein “for months and found nothing” and “what do you want me to do – cry about it?”

Over the last year, questions about alleged relationships between Epstein and prominent global figures have emerged, including with President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department has released several batches of the so-called ‘Epstein files’, most recently in January, when more than 3 million documents were published. 

First Lady Melania Trump is the latest prominent figure to address allegations of association with Epstein. In early April, the First Lady said in an address that “lies” tying her to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell “must end.”

“To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell,” Melania said. “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note,” she added in reference to a message sent to Maxwell in 2002, released by the Justice Department.

Scrutiny over Epstein associations continues

Since January’s release, several high-profile names have resigned from positions following questions about alleged association with Epstein. 

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced continued scrutiny over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S., despite being aware of continued correspondence between Mandelson and Epstein. 

The former ambassador was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in February, though he maintains no wrongdoing. 

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, has also been put in the spotlight in recent months after the Justice Department files appeared to show alleged communication between Epstein and the brother of King Charles. 

.

Jeffrey Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell at the Wall Street Concert Series in New York City on March 15, 2005.

Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Hmmmm … Really!

Click the link below the picture

.

In the balmy cloud forests of Central America, the operatic calls of Alston’s singing mouse, a small, short-tailed rodent famous for its courteous communication, can often be heard echoing through the trees.

These minuscule mice, each of which weighs less than a lightbulb, sing unique, chirp-filled songs to one another that can last as long as 16 seconds. Both sonic and ultrasonic sounds flow from the mouse’s mouth, creating a song reminiscent of the buzzing of a cicada. What’s more, the mice never interrupt each other; they hold their tiny tongues until their conversational partner is done singing.

Scientists have long wondered what enables these mice to have such uncannily complex conversations without the help of human brains. But as it turns out, our brains may not be so different.

In a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers found that a simple expansion of existing neural pathways allowed these mice to broaden their vocal repertoire — the same mutation believed to have paved the way for the development of human language.

By studying the brains of Alston’s singing mice and their non-singing (but closely related) lab mouse cousins, researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island were able to determine what evolutionary changes in the brain had given rise to the singing mouse’s cordial and symphonic songs. Now, scientists are wondering if the same method can be used to figure out the neurological basis for other animal behaviors.

“This is relevant far beyond singing mice,” said Mirjam Knörnschild, a behavioral ecologist who studies bioacoustics at the Museum of Natural History Berlin. Dr. Knörnschild, who was not involved with the study, said it could “inform work on vocal turn-taking, vocal learning and vocal flexibility in other mammals, including bats, primates and humans.”

In 2019, Arkarup Banerjee, a biologist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and his colleagues discovered that the back-and-forth serenades of Alston’s singing mice sound strikingly similar to our conversations. But at the time, he couldn’t make sense of it. Dr. Banerjee had examined the brains of Alston’s singing mice and non-singing lab mice, and they seemed more or less identical.

Scientists once believed that complex behaviors, such as tool use and peer-to-peer communication, required specialized neural circuitry. But when Dr. Banerjee went looking for such dedicated neural hardware in Alston’s singing mice, he didn’t find any.

“It didn’t seem like things were that different,” Dr. Banerjee recalls.

This prompted Dr. Banerjee and colleagues to set out in search of what gave these singing mice their vocal prowess. In their effort to find out, the researchers used a technique called Multiplexed Analysis of Projections by Sequencing, or MAPseq. This method allows scientists to map thousands of individual neurons by infecting them with a virus that delivers unique RNA bar codes into each cell. When scientists genetically sequence tissue from across the brain, the bar codes reveal a detailed map of where each neuron connects throughout the brain.

When the researchers used MAPseq on the brains of dozens of mice from both species, the differences became clear. The singing mice had approximately three times the number of neurons sending signals from the motor cortex to two specific downstream regions of the brain. While that may sound like a stark difference, the scientists say it’s more akin to “a relatively subtle change in brain wiring,” said Anthony Zador, a neuroscientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and co-author of the study.

According to Dr. Zador, the fact that such subtle neural changes can result in the development of a whole new vocal behavior “raises interesting questions about how much rewiring was involved in the evolution of human language.”

In addition to challenging our understanding of the evolution of our most novel behavior, the findings of this study may help scientists learn more about the neurological basis for many animal behaviors.

“This work hits on an important unanswered question in neuroscience: What gives some animals exceptional abilities that others don’t have?” said David Schneider, a professor of neuroscience at New York University who was not involved with the study.

Before this study, scientists had never used MAPseq to compare the brains of two closely related species with remarkably different behavior. Experts say their success in doing so has opened up a world of scientific possibilities.

“This study gives us a road map for how to think about and quantitatively test ideas about the evolution of brain structure,” said Steven Phelps, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas, Austin, who was not involved with the study.

As the study came to a close, Dr. Banerjee said he couldn’t get a quote from Charles Darwin’s 1871 book “The Descent of Man” out of his head: “The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.”

“There’s increasing evidence that there may be some profound truth to this idea,” Dr. Banerjee said. As his study has demonstrated, even tiny changes in the brain can have profound impacts on behavior. When you keep that in mind, he said, “suddenly the development of things like language in humans doesn’t seem that mysterious.”

Explore the Animal Kingdom

A selection of quirky, intriguing, and surprising discoveries about animal life.

---

• Birds of a Feather Learn Together: In a study, Australian cockatoos figured out that a new food was OK to consume by observing one another, a vivid example of “social learning” in animals.

• Swimming With Orcas: Only two places in the world allow tourists to enter the water with the ocean’s apex predator. But the safety of both species is a growing concern.

• Legal Protection for Snails?: Scientists are debating the classification of threatened mollusks that an Indigenous community in Mexico relies on for their way of life.

• Salmon High on Cocaine: Scientists in Sweden made an unexpected discovery when they exposed the fish to the illegal drug as well as another substance.

• Bruce the Parrot: In 2021, a disabled parrot made headlines worldwide for creating his own prosthetic beak. Now, he has become the alpha male of his group by learning to joust.

• Female Anglerfish: The deep-sea fish ended up with glowing lures not just to snag meals, but also to attract mates, a new study finds.

.

Scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island mapped the neurons of two species of mice to better understand how their brain wiring helps them vocalize. CreditCredit…Isko et al., Nature 2026

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

Iran has a drinking water crisis. And the war with the U.S. is making matters worse for Iran—and the entire Gulf region. That’s in part because of threats not only to water infrastructure, including dams and reservoirs, but also to desalination facilities, which millions in the broader region depend on for their drinking water.

For years, Iran’s reserves of potable water have been dwindling, thanks to a combination of climate change, mismanagement, and infrastructure problems. But the war has also put desalination—something that most of Iran isn’t reliant on—in the spotlight.

In March, Iran accused the U.S. of an attack on an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. denied responsibility for the strike, and just a day later, officials in Bahrain, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, accused Iran of damaging one of Bahrain’s desalination plants. By April, at least two desalination plants in Kuwait, another U.S. ally, had also been attacked.

Desalination plants are a critical resource—they convert seawater to drinking water. Around 70 to 90 percent of the population in most countries in the Persian Gulf region relies on desalination for drinking water, says Chris Low, director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah and author of the forthcoming book Saltwater Kingdoms. Targeting desalination plants is likely a war crime under international law because they are civilian infrastructure, he adds.

Direct attacks aren’t the only threat to the region’s drinking water, however. Hits to energy infrastructure by U.S.-Israeli and Iranian forces have sent untold amounts of oil into the Persian Gulf—enough for the spills to be visible from space—which risks clogging up desalination pipes and fouling filters, Low says. Radioactive waste from damaged nuclear facilities could further contaminate the water, too.

Smaller countries in the region, such as Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, are “exquisitely vulnerable,” Low says. “They only have a few days to a week, let’s say, of reserve capacity. There’s not much slack in the system.”

To understand how the war is affecting the region’s drinking water, Scientific American spoke with Low about how the conflict could spiral into a “long-term ecological disaster.”

How many people are dependent on desalination in the Persian Gulf region?

If we think about the Gulf as a relatively cohesive region, [there are] 60-million-plus people who are dependent in some way, shape or form on desalination.

If you break out desalination dependency for drinking water by country, you get Qatar somewhere around 99 percent—it’s completely dependent. Kuwait and Bahrain: 90-plus percent. Oman: 86 percent. Saudi Arabia: 70 percent. United Arab Emirates, the number comes in at 42 percent.

If we were to turn off the tap of the Jebel Ali plant in Dubai, [UAE], Dubai would not fare well. If we were to turn off access to the Al Taweelah plant in Abu Dhabi—it’s deeply dependent.

All of those major population centers—those skyscraper, glittering cities, they all are attached to very significant desalination facilities.

What about Iran? Is it reliant upon desalination?

No—that’s a key difference. Its desalination capacity only accounts for 3 percent of its water needs.

If you looked outside my window [in Salt Lake City] and see snowcapped mountains, that looks like Tehran. It’s a very similar kind of landscape. Snowmelt, rivers, dams, lakes—these are things that are not present in the Gulf. Iran has a much different ecological landscape as opposed to Gulf nations.

Now, Iran, of course, is acutely vulnerable to water risks. In 2025, President [Masoud] Pezeshkian announced that Iran was considering moving its administrative capital from Tehran to the southern coast, the Makran region, in part because the water is running out.

Have desalination plants come under attack in previous conflicts?

In the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq were at war, there emerged something called the tanker war. They basically started to fire on oil and commercial vessels with flags related to the other country.

The second, and I think most severe, issue related to desalination was Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990–91. When Saddam Hussein and Iraq occupied Kuwait, and the U.S. and coalition forces came in, what Hussein did was basically unfurl a kind of program of ecological terror.

They sabotaged power plants, desalination plants. They set the oil wells—some 700-plus oil wells—on fire, and they intentionally spilled oil into the Gulf. They basically just wrecked Kuwait’s environment, not just in the short term but for many, many years into the future.

It took weeks, if not months, to get water supply back on. In the interim, you had water tankers and water trucks coming from Saudi Arabia, bottled water from as far away as Turkey, [and] U.S. and European support for mobile diesel units and generators.

.

.

.

Click the link below for the complete article:

.

__________________________________________