California is the only state that has all three types of plate tectonic boundaries (subduction zone in the north, transform boundary along the San Andreas fault zone, and spreading ridge in the Salton Trough and Gulf of California) within it.

There are wild sea turtles living in a concrete river in Los Angeles County. Green sea turtles, in the San Gabriel River, drawn by warm water from nearby power plants. Most people driving over it have no idea they're there.

The Walls of Yosemite Are Coming Down Exfoliation helped create Yosemite’s famous rounded granite domes and continues to peel the cliffs apart in massive sheets of rock. californiacurated.com/blog/t…

A stark new global report finds that 45% of migratory bird species are declining, with one in nine threatened with extinction. That makes places like Upper Newport Bay, a vital stop along the Pacific Flyway, more important than ever. Here’s our story: californiacurated.substack.c…

Happy birthday, California!!! From California Curated! California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. Its unusually rapid transition from Mexican territory to U.S. statehood followed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the discovery of gold and an influx of newcomers.

California Gave the Ocean Room to Heal. Now It’s Recovering. How California’s network of marine protected areas is beginning to pay off, assuming we don’t mess things up. californiacurated.substack.c… @healthebay @Scripps_Ocean

Blue whales' length is routinely exaggerated. Extreme and questionable historical figures are repeated as though they describe typical whales, including much smaller blue whales seen off California. They are magnificent enough without stretching the truth. californiacurated.substack.c…

Hidden at Occidental College, the Cosman Collection holds nearly 117,000 shells, possible undiscovered species, preserved DNA, and some of nature's deadliest venom. californiacurated.substack.c… – at Pasadena, CA

Again, for the record, this is what the inside of JPL actually looks like.

A scene from the Martian with Matt Damon. For the record, this is not JPL. JPL looks nothing like this. Also, JPL is in La Cañada Flintridge. It is a fabulous movie though. – at La Canada Flintridge, CA

One of the unusual sights at Rae Lakes in Kings Canyon National Park is Painted Lady. This striking peak exposes older, darker igneous rocks alongside lighter granite, revealing some of the complex magmatic history that built the Sierra Nevada more than 100 million years ago.

I recently interviewed microbiologist Jeff Marlow, author of The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea, a fascinating exploration of the hidden ecosystems that cover most of our planet. californiacurated.substack.c…

How dark-eyed juncos are evolving in plain sight...says a @UCLA study: californiacurated.substack.c…

How is a moment in time stored in squishy meat? The magnificent @kurzgesagt does it again. youtu.be/PqtggjVAi8M

Another animal story! The Gibbon Conservation Center in Santa Clarita is one of California's hidden scientific treasures. My latest piece: californiacurated.substack.c…

Few people realize that just outside Los Angeles sits one of the world's leading centers for endangered apes. The Gibbon Conservation Center is quietly doing globally important conservation work. californiacurated.substack.c…