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Tropical storms, tornadoes and flooding are among the extreme weather events causing destruction around the world.

Extreme weather

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

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Tropical Storm Ophelia is bringing heavy rains, strong winds and coastal flooding Saturday from the Carolinas to the Jersey Shore.

The big picture: The storm made landfall early Saturday morning near Emerald Isle, N.C., with top sustained winds of 70 mph. It was steadily weakening Saturday afternoon, and forecast to become a tropical depression Saturday evening.

The National Hurricane Center is warning of life-threatening storm surge flooding along coastal areas of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey Saturday afternoon and evening. 

Storm surge refers to a rise of water, typically driven by a storm's winds, above the predicted astronomical tide levels. 

Heavy rains are also expected to worsen from Washington to Wilmington,   north to Philadelphia, Atlantic City and New York City through Saturday night.

Zoom in: In parts of the Carolinas, more than 6 inches of rainfall has fallen, and flood warnings have been issued. As the core of the storm spins north-northeastward, areas that have seen about 2 inches of rain so far, including the I-95 corridor, may pick up another 2 to 3 inches. 

Moderate to major coastal flooding is forecast for the Mid-Atlantic coastline as the storm's strong onshore winds bring high waves along with a surge of water on top of typical tide levels.  

Between the lines: The storm began as an area of low pressure along a slow-moving cold front, but gradually took on tropical characteristics. Friday night, Ophelia took advantage of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream to intensify nearly to hurricane strength before crossing the coast. 

Throughout Saturday, bands of heavy rains have been pushing outward, far-removed from the core of the tropical storm, all the way into southern New England. 

There have been scattered reports of trees and power lines down in the Richmond and Washington, D.C. areas, with more abundant damage reports further south and east. 

So far, wind gusts to hurricane force have been noted in North Carolina, including 80 mph in Wrightsville Beach, 64 mph in Lewes, Delaware, 58 mph in Dewey Beach, Delaware, and 54 mph on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 

Our thought bubble: Ophelia came ashore as a stronger storm than initially expected, which may surprise some of the nearly 7 million people under tropical storm warnings as of Saturday afternoon. 

Go deeper: El Niño amplifies 2023's extreme weather

Editor's note: This story was updated with new information from the latest forecast.

El Niño amplifies 2023's extreme weather

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Tropical Storm Ophelia drenches Carolinas, Mid-Atlantic

The storm is also bringing flooding rains and damaging winds to millions.

Satellite view of Tropical Storm Ophelia on Saturday, Sept. 23. Credit: NOAA/GOES

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Energy & Environment

Axios Space

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to sample an asteroid is bringing its rubbly haul back to Earth Sunday. 

Why it matters: Scientists hope to use high-powered lab equipment to study the sample of asteroid Bennu to learn more about how our solar system has evolved over billions of years. 

What's happening: The OSIRIS-REx sample is expected to come back through the atmosphere Sunday, landing in the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. 

After its release from the spacecraft, the capsule containing the sample is expected to land under parachutes on Sunday at about 10:55 am ET. 

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fire its thrusters 20 minutes after capsule release to meet up with its next target of study: asteroid Apophis.

You can watch live NASA TV coverage of the recovery of the capsule Sunday starting at 10 am ET here.

Catch up quick: OSIRIS-REx launched in 2016, and NASA nabbed its sample of Bennu in 2020.

The researchers behind the mission were surprised to find that the material on the outer part of Bennu where the spacecraft collected its sample was "loosely packed" and would feel like "stepping into a pit of plastic balls that are popular play areas for kids," NASA said.

The roughly half-pound sample is expected to be the largest ever returned to Earth at about half a pound. 

The big picture: Asteroids and comets are thought to be leftovers from the dawn of the solar system. 

Scientists hope that by learning more about them, they can shed light on some of the mysteries of our universe — including how water, and even life, took hold on Earth.

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Watch NASA return its largest asteroid sample to Earth this weekend

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample is expected to touch down in Utah on Sunday.

Two side by side black and white pictures showing the arm of a spacecraft touching the surface of an asteroid and kicking up particles

One of OSIRIS-REx's arms touching the surface of asteroid Bennu. Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin

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Axios Science

A new generation of powerful X-ray lasers is being aimed at some of nature's fastest — and most fundamental — processes to try to reveal the atomic intricacies that drive them.

Why it matters: The details of how atoms interact in chemical reactions and electrons behave in materials could help scientists learn how to better mimic nature's abilities and efficiencies — from the energy-generating reactions of plants to the unique properties of minerals that power electronics.

"We'll be able to do experiments that were impossible before," says Matthias Kling, a professor of photon science at Stanford University. 

"This type of information that you can get with laser-like X-rays, you just can't get by any other means."

Driving the news: The world's most powerful X-ray laser produced its first pulses last week.

The upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS-II) X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory can generate almost one million X-ray flashes per second — almost 8,000 times more than its predecessor.

SLAC is run by Stanford University and funded by the Department of Energy. 

How it works: The instrument accelerates electrons to near the speed of light. The electrons are then oscillated, causing them to emit X-rays.

Those X-ray pulses can be focused onto tiny areas and produce high-resolution snapshots of molecules that can be strung together to create movies that show how molecules interact with one another.

LCLS-II uses superconductors cooled to 2 degrees Kelvin — colder than the temperature of outer space — to accelerate electrons along a 2-kilometer-long tunnel.

LCLS-II is currently producing soft "lower-energy" X-rays with plans to upgrade the instrument even more to produce hard X-rays. Hard X-rays have a wavelength on par with a bond between two atoms and can show details about bonds and the angles between atoms.

Zoom in: The reactions the X-rays can capture are happening in femtoseconds (one billionth of one millionth of a second) — or even attoseconds.

LCLS-II's predecessor was able to capture the contours of how an arrangement of molecules in plants changes as it splits water to form oxygen during photosynthesis.

The upgraded instrument could reveal important finer details about the other molecules that catalyze the photosynthetic reaction — for example, how the electrons on those catalysts move, says Kling, the director of science, research and development at the LCLS. These movements are key details for scientists trying to create artificial photosynthesis as an energy source.

The ability to produce so many pulses in a short time also allows scientists to study molecules that aren't stable for the long periods of time typically required to take enough images of them, he says.

High-powered X-rays can also be used to study the behavior of quantum materials whose properties defy classical physics descriptions, including graphene. Ultimately, X-ray science could help to invent new materials for electronic circuitry that currently depends on rare earth minerals. 

The big picture: There are several other high-energy X-ray lasers around the world, including the European XFEL, which has been operating since 2017, and China's Shanghai High Repetition Rate XFEL and Extreme Light Facility, which is currently being built.

Other groups are taking a different tack and trying to make ultra-fast X-ray sources smaller, less expensive and more accessible. 

Earlier this year, Arizona State University's compact X-ray light source (CXLS) produced its first X-rays. The device is part of a larger project called the compact X-ray free-electron laser, or CXFEL.

"The goal is to get these machines into more places," including universities, semiconductor fabrication plants and hospitals, says Sam Teitelbaum, a condensed matter physicist at ASU who is working on the design and building of the CXFEL. 

Details: ASU's instruments don't produce as many pulses per second as LCLS and instead focus on better controlling the ones they do generate, Teitelbaum says. It is well-suited for looking at magnetic materials and, because of the specific way it diffracts light, can be used to watch electrons move. 

One potential application for the much smaller device — it will be about 10 meters long — is measuring the diffraction of light in different layers of semiconductor chips, a measurement used to assess a chip's performance. The instrument could allow an in-house measurement that typically involves sending a chip off to a synchrotron.

Between the lines: Existing tools could measure only pure, stable molecules  — which don't reflect the messiness of nature.

With the new instruments, "we can see living things the way they wiggle and jiggle in our bodies in real time and the way [materials] wiggle and jiggle in a real device," Teitelbaum says.

Instead of eliminating the messiness, scientists can now consider its importance.

The bottom line: "X-ray light sources allow us to have X-ray vision into the microscopic world," Kling says.

Powerful X-rays are opening up "impossible" science

Powerful X-ray lasers are being aimed at some of nature's fastest — and most fundamental — processes.

Illustration of an atom shape made my lasers

Physics

Earth's sixth mass extinction is already happening — and it is rapidly accelerating, researchers warned in a study out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. 

Why it matters: The study adds to a growing understanding of how humans have — often negatively — impacted Earth's trajectory.

What they found: The study noted that animal species are going extinct at rates 35 times faster than the historical norm over the past million years.

Researchers highlighted the role of humans in the phenomenon, noting that animal species lost in the past 500 years would have taken about 18,000 to go extinct in the absence of humans.

Habitat destruction, illegal trade and climate disruption will likely continue to drive extinction rate acceleration in the coming decades, the study added.

The mass loss of animal species means losing a record of the planet's evolutionary history and potential, and will have ramifications for humans, Gerardo Ceballos, the study's lead author, told Axios. 

"There is life on the planet because of the plants and animals — wild plants and animals — and the ecosystems that they form," Ceballos said.

The crops humans use, the combination of gases of the atmosphere that make it suitable for life on Earth, and active compounds used for medications, are all in some ways dependent on plants and animals, he added.

By losing entire branches of genera, "we're losing the capability of the planet to maintain life in general, and to maintain human life in particular," Ceballos said.

State of play: The new research builds on a number of studies from past years that warned Earth is experiencing a sixth mass extinction.

Scientists have previously warned that up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction and some could be lost within decades.

A separate study published earlier this summer in the journal Biological Reviews noted that the sixth mass extinction, currently underway, is the first mass extinction "directly induced by a single species – humans."

Researchers in June proposed the demarcation of a new epoch to reflect humans' impact on Earth.

Yes but: Not all scientists are convinced that the current wildlife loss constitutes a sixth mass extinction.

"We have no idea how to identify a sixth mass extinction," Stuart Pimm, the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, told Axios.

Disagreeing with the premise of a sixth extinction doesn't mean disputing the fact that the Earth is experiencing wildlife loss that's much faster than in the last few million years, he stressed. 

"When you start saying, 'Well, how does this compare to what happened 65 million years ago?' That's when it gets really difficult," Pimm said.

Ceballos defined mass extinction as a catastrophic event that happens relatively quickly, is caused by a natural catastrophe, and wipes out 70% of the plants and animals on Earth.

The debate over whether a sixth mass extinction is occurring "doesn't really matter," Ceballos said.

Regardless of what you call it, Earth is facing massive biodiversity loss, climate change, and the toxification of the environment, he added.

Background: The last mass extinction occurred after an asteroid struck the earth roughly 66 million years ago.

Researchers found that the impact fundamentally changed the diversity and structure of tropical forests in South America.  

The bottom line: The new study notes that "immediate political, economic, and social efforts of an unprecedented scale" are necessary in order to prevent these mass extinctions and their impacts.

Humans have the science, technology, and knowledge "to do much better," Ceballos said.

Earth's sixth mass extinction is underway and "rapidly accelerating," study warns

The study adds to a growing understanding of how humans have — often negatively — impacted earth's trajectory.

Wild Puku antelopes in Botswana. Photo: Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images

Extinction

After three attempts, NASA's Curiosity rover reached a Martial ridge believed to have been partly formed by ancient muddy landslides around three billion years ago, the space agency announced this week.

Why it matters: The ridge likely contains some of the youngest evidence of liquid water in the rover's part of Mars, as it was among the the last geographic features to form in the area.

Details: The months-long journey up to the the Gediz Vallis Ridge was one of Curiosity's most difficult climbs, having to navigate a sharp 23-degree incline, slippery sand and rocks around the size of its wheels.

After reaching the ridge in August, the rover spent 11 days taking photos and studying rocks in the area, some of which were as large as cars.

The ridge was a stop along Curiosity's ascent of through the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that was once covered in lakes and streams.

The intrigue: Researchers discovered that, based on their composition, many dark rocks and boulders in the area likely originated elsewhere on the mountain and were washed down in debris flows.

Scientists were intrigued by the ridge because it would give them an opportunity to study rocks from higher regions of the mountain where Curiosity likely won't be able to reach. 

The big picture: On Aug. 19, Curiosity captured over 130 images of a section of the ridge and the wider landscape and stitched them into a 360-degree mosaic.

In the distance, the upper region of Mount Sharp can be seen behind a prominent butte in the foreground, which Curiosity captured in a separate image.

A screenshot on Twitter of the part of the moon where NASA's rover is with the comment: " What a beaut! (Get it?)  Just sharing this lovely view of Kukenan, a butte I recently drove by as I continue to explore different areas of Mount Sharp."

The rover marked its 11th year on the Red Planet last month, and will next attempt to find a path up a channel above the ridge that could help researchers understand how and where water flowed down the mountain.

Throughout their years on the planet, NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance and rovers have helped reveal Mars' more hospital past, though scientists have not discovered evidence that it once supported life.

Go deeper: NASA shares unprecedented view of moon's south pole region

NASA shares unprecedented view of moon's south pole region

NASA's Curiosity reaches ridge formed in Mars' watery past

It likely contains some of the youngest evidence of liquid water in the rover's part of Mars.

A panoramic view of the Martian surface viewed by Curiosity in August 2023.

A panoramic view of the Martian surface viewed by Curiosity in August 2023. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/UC Berkeley

Mars

NASA released a highly detailed photo of the interior of a large lunar crater that's permanently shadowed in the moon's south pole region on Tuesday.

Why it matters: The new mosaic, created by two different NASA cameras orbiting the moon, gives an uncanny look at terrain that could host future lunar missions.

Details: It depicts the interior of the around two-miles-deep and 12-miles-wide Shackleton Crater, which was selected as a candidate landing site for Artemis III.

Named after the Anglo-Irish Antarctic adventurer Ernest Shackleton, the uncharted cavity is home to extreme — but contradictory — conditions.

Like many other polar lunar craters, Shackleton's interior is always in the dark because the moon is slightly tilted on its axis. This also causes the peaks along the crater's rim to receive almost continuous sunlight.

How it works: The photo is the product combined imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) and a new instrument called ShadowCam.

LROC has been gathering stunning images of the moon since 2009, but it was never designed to photograph the surfaces under permanent shadow.

However, ShadowCam is 200 times more light-sensitive LROC and has been gazing through the perpetual lunar darkness since being launched aboard a South Korean orbiter just over a year ago.

The big picture: Shackleton's name is apt, as scientists have for years been intrigued by the southern crater's frigidness.

Because its interior never receives sunlight, it's extremely cold, averaging around -297° Fahrenheit (−183 °Celsius). That's beyond cold enough to form ice and other frozen volatiles, which are thought to be held in the crater's floor.

The ancient materials — possibly dating back billions of years — could give researchers a glimpse into the evolution of the moon and our solar system. 

Being comprised of hydrogen and oxygen, the ice could also be a valuable resource for rocket fuel or life support systems for astronauts.

One of Artemis III's goals is to journey into and explore one of the moon's cold-shadowed regions and collect samples.

Go deeper: NASA releases new UAP report, and finds no evidence of aliens

NASA releases new UAP report, and finds no evidence of aliens

Some of the lunar areas revealed in the image never receive sunlight.

A composite image of the Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole.

A composite image of the Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole. Photo: NASA/KARI/ASU

Moon

Funding for research that could help NASA keep astronauts healthy and safe while living sustainably in space needs a major boost, according to a landmark report.

Why it matters: NASA plans to send astronauts to far-afield destinations like the Moon and Mars, but to make that happen, the space agency needs to figure out how to mitigate any risks they might be exposed to during their time in space — from radiation to the effects of zero gravity.

Driving the news: The new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says NASA's Division of Biological and Physical Sciences is "severely underfunded" and needs to see its science budget increased by a factor of 10.

"Research in the space environment has taken remarkable steps over the last decade, but NASA, the rest of the U.S. government, and the wider space community globally have bold exploration plans that require commensurate investments in biological and physical science research," Krystyn Van Vliet, co-chair of the report's steering committee said in a press release.

The study suggests research is needed into how a person's history and genetics could affect their response to a mission in space, how reproduction and growth are influenced by the space environment, and other issues. 

The study also recommends more resources are allocated for two major lines of research — one focusing on building "biological support systems" that would let people live in space for more than three years and another that would develop a "sustainable ecosystem" to reduce wasted resources in space.

Between the lines: Biological and physical sciences disciplines can often be siloed, making it harder to solve these problems that cross fields. 

"These communities don't always talk with each other to connect the dots or be inspired by techniques developed in other areas," Van Vliet tells Axios. 

The team behind the report tried to ask questions that would require a cross-disciplinary approach. "They're going to need to take expertise across all of those disciplines that are more traditionally siloed," she added. 

How to live in space

NASA's Division of Biological and Physical Sciences is "severely underfunded," according to a new report.

Illustration of an astronaut with luggage 

Astronauts

Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to travel to space, tells Axios Latino she hopes having her life story featured in a video game can motivate more Latinos to explore a STEM career.

Driving the news: Ochoa was added last week as a character in the Minecraft Education suite, a learning version of the block-building game. Other characters include Gloria Estefan and civil rights activist Monica Ramirez.

Ochoa has also been featured in two recently published books about important U.S. Latino figures.

Why it matters: Around 35 million people worldwide are signed up to use Minecraft Education.

Studies have found that these types of games get students interested in science, tech, engineering, math and arts careers because players build worlds, apply math formulas and can develop a curiosity for coding. 

Research also shows that seeing more Hispanic people working in STEM fields could improve representation.

What she's saying: Ochoa, the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, says many Latino children don't know about the opportunities in STEM fields, but that having role models, mentors and accessible hands-on activities can make a difference.

Students "may not have seen anybody like themselves do something that to them seems sort of incredible if not impossible," Ochoa says.

If they come across stories of people who have done such work in a video game, books, TV series or movie, "It can really change the whole way they think about their future and how they might want to achieve that," she says.

Background: Ochoa was always interested in science, but she says as a child she did not consider being an astronaut because she didn't see a lot of women or Hispanic scientists.

After getting her doctorate from Stanford University, she applied to NASA  and was rejected twice. She was chosen on her third try in 1990.

First Latina in space hopes video games inspire STEM interest in kids

Ellen Ochoa says many Latino children don't know about the opportunities in STEM fields.