Canadian flag with mountain and small town views in summergettyCanada just made history with the worlds first government-backed Direct Air Capture (DAC) offset protocol. This bold move legitimizes the DAC industry, sets a global precedent for carbon removal regulation, and positions Canada as a leader in climate innovation. With climate change accelerating and net-zero targets looming, this framework could unlock massive investments and drive global adoption of DAC technology. Heres why this matters.1. Monetizing Carbon Removal Through the Carbon Credit MarketThe business model for DAC today revolves around selling carbon credits in voluntary markets. Companies striving for net-zero buy DAC credits to offset their own emissions. This has driven investments from corporate buyers like major airlines and tech companies looking to neutralize their environmental impact. According to CDR.fyi, over 1.6 million tonnes of DAC carbon credits have been purchased to date at an average price of $470 per tonne.The Canadian protocol strengthens this market by ensuring DAC credits meet stringent standards for permanence, quantifiability, and transparency. Aligning with the International Standard Organizations greenhouse gas standard for emissions verification, it guarantees that each credit represents a measurable and lasting reduction in atmospheric CO.Sales of carbon credits mean more project development in Canada, which is uniquely positioned for DAC with an abundance of clean energy and geologic storage. These projects lead to job creation and economic opportunity in often remote locations.Additionally, as DAC credit prices continue to fall with increased adoption and improved technology, more customers may find DAC a viable and attractive offset solution, further expanding the market.MORE FOR YOU2. Raising the Bar for Carbon Offset IntegrityUnlike some offset programs with questionable long-term impactsuch as forestry credits vulnerable to wildfiresCanadas DAC protocol mandates that CO be permanently stored in underground geological formations for at least 100 years. It also requires continuous monitoring to prevent reversals, setting a high standard for durability and accountability in the carbon market.Additionally, the protocol bans the use of captured CO for enhanced oil recovery, ensuring that DAC remains a true climate solution rather than a tool for fossil fuel production. This is particularly important for ensuring DACs reputation as an independent decarbonization strategy rather than a license to operate for continued fossil fuel use.By setting stringent storage requirements and verification processes, Canada is demonstrating a commitment to making DAC credits highly credible, which could further bolster investor confidence and participation in the market.3. The First Step Towards a Compliance Carbon MarketCanadas DAC protocol isnt just about voluntary creditsits laying the groundwork for DAC to be integrated into compliance carbon markets, where credits are legally required rather than optional. Currently, compliance markets such as the EU Emissions Trading System and Californias Cap-and-Trade Program dominate global carbon trading.This transition would dramatically increase demand for DAC credits by allowing major emitters, from power plants to manufacturing facilities, to purchase DAC offsets to meet government-mandated reduction targets. This shift would significantly scale up investments in DAC infrastructure, driving costs down over time.The potential for DAC to become a major player in compliance markets could reshape the economics of carbon removal, providing a stable and reliable demand base that extends well beyond voluntary corporate buyers.4. Direct Air Capture is Essential to Hitting Net-Zero Targets2024 marked the first time global temperatures exceeded the critical 1.5-degree Celsius threshold. Reducing emissions alone isnt enoughwe need to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. DAC technology is one of the few solutions capable of eliminating legacy emissions and addressing hard-to-abate industries like aviation.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses that Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies are vital to meeting net-zero goals. However, DAC remains an expensive and emerging technology, largely due to a lack of policy frameworks and relatively high cost today. Canadas new protocol provides the structure needed to turn DAC from an experimental concept into a scalable climate solution.DAC also has the advantage of being location-agnostic. Unlike nature-based solutions, which require specific land use conditions, DAC facilities can be built anywhere with suitable energy sources and geologic storage, making it a more flexible carbon removal option in a wide range of environments.5. The Roadblocks and Opportunities AheadDespite this progress, DAC technology is still costly, ranging from $400 to $1,000 per ton of CO removed. For DAC to reach widespread adoption, it will require policy support, including tax incentives, public-private partnerships, and continued investment in research and development.Expanding renewable energy sources is also key. DAC facilities require significant energy inputs, and ensuring they are powered by clean energy sources is crucial for maintaining DACs overall climate benefits. Investments in low-carbon energy infrastructure, such as geothermal or nuclear power, could make DAC more viable in the long term.The success of Canadas protocol will depend on industry and public feedback, ensuring it is both effective and practical. If executed well, this framework could serve as a global model, accelerating DACs role in the global fight against climate change.With this draft protocol, Canada is making a bold bet on the future of DAC as a critical piece of the net-zero puzzle. By creating a transparent, high-integrity framework for DAC credits, the government is paving the way for new investments, international adoption, and the integration of DAC into compliance markets.The next few years will be pivotal in determining whether DAC can truly scale to meet its potential. Canadas leadership in defining robust regulations and high-integrity credits could inspire other governments to follow suit, setting a global standard for DACs role in tackling climate change.Disclaimer: I work for Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removals project developer.

TL;DR: Garmin devices recently began behaving erratically, with many entering an endless boot loop. The company acknowledged the issue and provided users with a temporary workaround to unlock affected devices while working on a permanent software fix. Windows users are all too familiar with the infamous blue screen of death. Now, Garmin users may need to get used to their own version: the blue triangle of death (BTOD).Since yesterday, smartwatches and other GPS-enabled devices from the US-Swiss company have been displaying an ominous BTOD icon before becoming completely unusable.Frustrated Garmin users quickly took to Reddit and other online communities to share their experiences. The issue affected multiple smartwatch models and GPS devices, often causing crashes or endless boot loops whenever users attempted to start a GPS activity.The BTOD epidemic became widespread enough for Garmin to issue an official statement. The company acknowledged that "some" devices were stuck on the start-up screen or showing a blue triangle. Garmin advised affected users to press and hold the power button until their devices turned off, then power them back on and sync with either the Garmin Connect app or Garmin Express a fix the company hoped would resolve the issue permanently.Upon further investigation, users on the Garmin subreddit discovered that the BTOD issue was caused by a faulty update to one of Garmin's smartwatch subsystems. When users synced their devices, the update installed a corrupted file (GPE.bin), rendering the devices unusable.A temporary fix involved factory resetting the affected device, manually deleting the corrupt GPE.bin file via USB, and disabling syncing to prevent reinstalling the broken update. Some users dubbed the meltdown "CrowdStrike 2.0," though a few bricked smartwatches are unlikely to bring the world to a halt. // Related Stories Google open-sources Pebble smartwatch software framework Fortunately, Garmin acted quickly to resolve the issue at its source. The company replaced the corrupted file on its servers and pushed a proper update through its synchronization service. However, users still stuck in a BTOD loop may need to follow the factory reset instructions to restore functionality.

WTF?! The open-source AI models from China's DeepSeek have caused turmoil across the billion-dollar artificial intelligence industry due to the cost-effective way it challenges OpenAI's o1. Over in France, the country's answer to ChatGPT, Lucie, has not been faring as well, refusing to answer questions and recommending people eat cows' eggs. As such, it's been taken offline after just three days. The Linagora Group, a company that is part of the OpenLLM-France consortium developing the model, launched Lucie last Thursday. The ChatGPT-like open-source bot was promoted as being "especially transparent and reliable." Unfortunately, it seemed closer to Google's old Bard chatbot or even Microsoft's infamous Tay than ChatGPT.Some of Lucie's responses were particularly bewildering. When asked what 2 + 2 is, it said "I am programmed to be neutral and objective," seemingly taking offense at the lack of diversity in the question.Some people did manage to convince Lucie to answer their math problems, but it didn't always get them right. The bot was also happy to offer up a recipe for making methamphetamine, and recommended cows' eggs as a food source.On Saturday, just three days after what has been described as a fairly extravagant launch, the Linagora Group made the wise decision to take Lucie offline. The company said it remains an "academic research project in its initial phase." // Related StoriesLinagora added that Lucie is a "raw" model that has not been optimized, works with minimal settings, and has no guardrails, hence the meth recipe. It also said that Lucie is primarily a language model and not a knowledge model, and acknowledged that the premature launch was the wrong decision."We should not have released the lucie.chat service without these explanations and precautions. We were carried away by our own enthusiasm."The company said it hoped the rollout would help raise awareness of the project, which it certainly has done, though not for the reasons Linagora would have hoped.There have been comparisons made between Lucie and Google's Bard, which the tech giant's own employees described as a liar, useless, and cringe-worthy in 2023. Google faced more problems a year later when Gemini created inaccurate, racially diverse historical images. At least Lucie wasn't as bad as Tay, Microsoft's chatbot with a personality of a 19-year-old American girl that turned into a hate-spouting racist just 24 hours after going online in 2016, thanks to it "learning" from the people it chatted with.

In a recentWindows Insider Blog post, Microsoft announced its adding the option for iPhone users to access their phones from the Start menu. Thanks to a special widget next to the Start menu, when you connect your phone, you can see data such as notifications, battery indicators, recent contacts, connection status, and more.To enjoy this feature, you must use the recent Windows 11 preview build from the Dev and Beta channels, and you must be a Windows Insider. You must also update the Phone Link app to version 1.24121.30.0 or higher, have a Microsoft account, and have a PC that supports Bluetooth LE. Microsoft said it does not support PCs running Pro Education or Education SKUs. Even if this doesnt affect you, the update is rolling out in phases, so reaching your PC might take some time if you dont already have it.Recommended VideosThanks to the updated Phone Link pane for the Start menu, iPhone users can now send and share files between an iPhone and an Android device. Last year, Microsoft also added Suggest Replies in the Phone Link app for quick replies. Now, iPhone users wont have to wait to get a piece of the pie.To enjoy this, go to the Start menu and choose whether to connect with an iPhone or Android. After that, follow the on-screen instructions to start using the feature. Microsoft first previewed the feature in December and is gradually rolling it out. If youre one of the lucky ones and have the feature, you can manage it by going to Settings > Personalization > Start.Microsoft has slowly updated the Phone Link app over the past several years, attempting to capture the seamless integration between a Mac and an iPhone. Phone Link isnt quite there yet, but its getting closer. Meanwhile, Apple is moving ahead with features like iPhone Mirroring on Macs.Editors Recommendations

When Nvidia announced its RTX 50-series GPUs, it was light on details about the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 two cards that could make it among the best graphics cards, and the only two Blackwell GPUs available for under $1,000 right now. Nvidia has revealed that the GPUs are set to launch in February, but no specific dates have been confirmed yet.The more expensive of the two, the RTX 5070 Ti at $749, is set to launch on February 20, according to VideoCardz. The outlet claims reviews will go live on February 19 for models set at list price, while cards priced above list will see reviews on Februrary 20. Nvidia has yet to confirm these dates publically, so treat this as a rumor for now.Recommended VideosThe RTX 5070 Tis list price is $749, lower than that of last generationsRTX 4070 Ti Super. Like that card, Nvidia wont release a Founders Edition design for the RTX 5070 Ti; instead, it will rely solely on board partners. As weve already seen with the RTX 5080, board partner models will likely come in above the $749 list price.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Although the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti are a more sensible option compared to the $2,000 RTX 5090, the cards might run into some performance issues. As we saw in our RTX 5080 review, Nvidias new Blackwell generation doesnt deliver significant performance gains across all games. The big gains instead come from Nvidias new DLSS Multi-Frame Generation feature, which comes through DLSS 4 and is exclusive to RTX 50-series GPUs.DLSS 4 is available to all RTX GPUs, but Multi-Frame Generation only works on Nvidias latest cards. It can generate up to three frames for each rendered frame using AI, and its already available in 75 games, includingMarvel RivalsandCyberpunk 2077. It can completely transform your gameplay experience, essentially quadrupling your frame rate, but you need to feed the AI algorithm with at least 60 frames per second (fps) to avoid visual artifacts.Thats the concern with the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti. Priced lower than their last-gen counterparts, signs point to Nvidia leaning on DLSS 4 to find performance improvements with these cards that arent present in hardware.Well have to wait until the cards are here to know for sure, though. Nvidia has confirmed that both GPUs are set to launch in February, so it shouldnt be long until we have confirmed dates from Nvidia.Editors Recommendations

The U.S. tried to slow Chinas advances, but the startup showed how hard that is.

Researchers are developing robots that promise to automate a process that has always relied on human workersand bees.

mildness incarnate Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 review: More like a 4080 Super Super A good 4K card, a decent value on paper, but not the upgrade it could be. Andrew Cunningham Jan 29, 2025 11:17 am | 0 Credit: Andrew Cunningham Credit: Andrew Cunningham Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreNvidia's GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card was faster than the RTX 3080 card it replaced. But it was also faster than the RTX 3080 Ti, 3090, and 3090 Ti. One of the good things about a new graphics card generation is that the new cards bring the last generation's inaccessibly expensive high-end performance down to cards that more people can actually afford.That's not the case with the new $999 RTX 5080, which beats the previous-generation RTX 4080 Super by a little bit and the older RTX 4080 by a slightly larger bit but doesn't come close to beating or even replicating the performance of the outgoing 4090.Nvidia points to its new DLSS Multi-Frame Generation technology as a mitigating factor here, leaning on its AI-generated frames to close the gap that the 5080's raw rendering performance can't close on its own. And sure, it's nice that this cardcan do that. On paper, the 5080 is also technically a good value compared to the flagship RTX 5090between 60 and 75 percent of the performance for half the price (though talking about the MSRP of any of these cards at launch is strictly theoretical, given allegedly short supply and the demand from both actual buyers and scalpers looking to make a buck).But the 5080 really feels a lot more like a 4080 Super Supermeaningfully better than the 4080 but still in the same general performance category. It's an upgrade, especially for anyone coming from a 30-series or older GPU, but it's a disappointing break from Nvidia's past precedent.What you need to know about the RTX 5080RTX 5090RTX 4090RTX 5080RTX 4080 SuperRTX 4080CUDA cores21,76016,38410,75210,2409,728Boost clock2,410 MHz2,520 MHz2,617 MHz2,550 MHz2,505 MHzMemory bus width512-bit384-bit256-bit256-bit256-bitMemory bandwidth1,792 GB/s1,008 GB/s960 GB/s736 GB/s717 GB/sMemory size32GB GDDR724GB GDDR6X16GB GDDR716GB GDDR6X16GB GDDR6XTGP575 W450 W360 W320 W320 WOf Nvidia's mid-generation Super refresh for the 40-series last year, the 4080 Super was already the mildest improvement over the original card, with just a few hundred extra CUDA cores and very mild clock speed increases. Its biggest and most important improvement was that it brought the old 4080's original $1,299 price tag down to a somewhat less offensive (and again, strictly theoretical) price of $999.The strategy with the 5080 looks pretty similar. You get a mild increase in core count (up 10.5 percent over the original 4080 and only 5 percent over the 4080 Super), plus the same 16GB of RAM on the same 256-bit memory interface. Switching from GDDR6X to GDDR7 does get you a decent bump to memory bandwidth, though, on the order of just over 30 percent compared to the 4080 and 4080 Super. As with the 5090, the 12-pin power connector is now slightly recessed and angled so it doesn't stick out as far in your case. Credit: Andrew Cunningham But all of that is incredibly mild and incremental compared to the big across-the-board jumps in core count, memory bus width, memory size, and memory bandwidth that you get when you go from the RTX 4090 to the RTX 5090. The 5080's core counts and memory bandwidth also stay well below the RTX 4090's. This has the benefit of not blowing up the 5080's power requirementsat 360 W, it's only 40 W higher than the 4080, and in our actual testing, the 5080 didn't actually consume that much more power on averagebut it also means that the 4090 and 5090 continue to stand apart from the rest of the lineup, inaccessible to anyone with less than a couple thousand dollars to spend on a GPU.As for the physical design of Nvidia's Founders Edition version of the 5080, it's identical to that of the 5090, just as the 4080 looked like the 4090. The 5080 does feel lighter than the 5090, which makes some sensea card with much lower power consumption and half as many CUDA cores doesn't need the same kind of cooling apparatus. But the dimensions and connectors on both cards are exactly the same. GPU temperatures measured during benchmark runs. Credit: Andrew Cunningham In our testing, the 5080 ran a little warmer than the 4080 did under load, but only by about 5 degrees Celsius. The 5080 Founders Edition runs 11 or 12 degrees cooler than the 5090 Founders Edition, so it should be a bit easier to keep your system cool with one of these installed.Testbed notesGaming testbedCPUAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (provided by AMD)MotherboardAsus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero (provided by AMD)RAM32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB series (provided by AMD), running at DDR5-6000Power supplyThermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050 WCPU cooler360 mm MSI MAG CoreLiquid I360CaseMontech XR ATX Mid-tower with three 120 mm cooling fans installed and side panel removedOSWindows 11 24H2 with Core Isolation on, Memory Integrity offDriversNvidia RTX 5090: Beta driver 571.86Nvidia RTX 5090: Beta driver 572.12Other Nvidia cardsAMD cards: Adrenalin 24.12.1Our gaming testbed is identical to the one we used for our RTX 5090 review. Compared to reviews from 2023 and 2024, we're using a faster CPU (the Ryzen 7 9800X3D) and a beefed-up power supply. We've also added some newer games to our test suite and discarded a few that weren't challenging the cards enough.As with the 5090, we focused on 4K tests for this review. The 5080 is half the price of the 5090, but you could still buy a good 1080p gaming PC or a pair of game consoles for the same moneyit ought to be capable of playing modern games smoothly at high settings and resolutions. (If you are curious about 1440p performance, look at the benchmarks we've run with DLSS enabledwe run these in "Quality" mode, which at 4K means a 1440p internal resolution).Performance and powerIn our 5090 review, we observed that its performance improvement over the 4090 generally scaled linearly with its CUDA core count and its power consumptionall three usually increased by between 30 and 35 percent, depending on the game.The 5080 did a bit better than this, with average frame rates that were generally between 10 and 20 percent faster than the regular 4080 and between 5 and 13 percent faster than the 4080 Super. A combination of cores, marginally higher clock speeds, and memory bandwidth increases help give it a boost.But especially compared to the 4080 Super, these numbers look less like a generational performance increase and more like what you could get out of a 4080 Super with a particularly good overclock. We point this out not because people are upgrading their GPUs every generation but because people with an older 30-series, 20-series, or even 10-series GPU who have been waiting to upgrade won't really be rewarded for waiting for this generation.DLSS Multi-Frame Generation is meant to bolster the card's performance numbers, and as with the 5090, they do look impressive on paper. As we covered in that review, Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) is exclusive to the 50-series, and it's an amped-up version of the Frame Generation technology that was introduced in the 40 series. Both versions take two rendered frames and use AI to interpolate extra frames in between, sort of like a supercharged version of TV motion smoothing. The 40-series cards can generate one frame this way; the 50-series cards can generate up to three. Multi-frame generation looks great on paper, but it's misleading to compare MFG frame rates to natively rendered frame rates. Credit: Andrew Cunningham Hardware Unboxed on YouTube has a good in-depth look at MFG and its trade-offs, which are mostly the same as the trade-offs with regular FG. It's useful when your rendered frame rate is already fairly high, giving the algorithm plenty of data to use when generating frames and making individual errors or artifacts harder for your eyes to spot. But it's not a cure-all for low frame rates. It can also increase latency because user input is only being polled at your actual rendered frame rate, and running the Frame Generation algorithm actually reduces that frame rate by a bit.The RTX 5080 is fast enough that it can hit the frame rates needed to make MFG look good, but it will still be game-dependent and scene-dependent. It's a good way to augment rendering performance, but contrary to Nvidia's messaging, it's still not a substitute for better rendering performance.Technically an upgrade The RTX 5080 isn't bad; it just doesn't move things forward a whole lot. Credit: Andrew Cunningham This is not really the generational leap that GPU buyers were probably hoping for from an RTX 5080. It is the third-fastest GPU on the market, but it's far short of the 4090, and it performs more like a second refresh of 2022's RTX 4080.The worst thing about the 5080 is that it suggests that every 50-series GPU other than the 5090 will be a very mild upgrade over its 40-series counterpart, with Nvidia leaning heavily on Multi-Frame Generation for the typical generational performance improvements. That will trickle down to cards like the 5070 and 5060 series, the kinds of cards that most people actually buy and use.Multi-Frame Generation can put up big frame rate numbers, but as with the old Frame Generation, you want a good base frame rate for the best results; improvements to traditional rendering performance still matter. This is OK for the 5080, which is still fast enough to deliver high base frame rates, especially with an assist from DLSS upscaling. But we'd expect this to be a bigger problem for the RTX 5070, which is the only card announced so far to come with fewer CUDA cores than its Super predecessor.The main takeaway is that the 5080 isn't the kind of generational upgrade that Nvidia has usually delivered up until now, where a new GPU could match or beat the rendering performance of previous-generation cards at higher performance tiers. The days when the GTX 1060 could beat the GTX 980? Long gone. Even in the 40-series, the RTX 4070 could usually match or beat the RTX 3080; that kind of jump looks extremely unlikely this time around.The best argument for grabbing a 5080 right now, if you can find one at $999 in the first place, is that the only cards that come close to its performance are either way more expensive than they're supposed to be (the 4080 Super) or not cheap enough to justify the Nvidia-specific features you give up (AMD's Radeon 7900 XTX).The goodGood frame rates at 4K resolutionsRedesigned Founders Edition will be an easier fit for many PC casesPower consumption only mildly increased over last generationStill the third-fastest GPU you can buyA relatively decent value at $999if you can find it for $999The badTrying to find one at $999Barely an upgrade over the RTX 4080 SuperMulti-frame generation is interesting but not a cure-all for low frame ratesThe uglyThe rest of the 50-series GPUs don't look like very promising upgrades, especially the RTX 5070Andrew CunninghamSenior Technology ReporterAndrew CunninghamSenior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 0 Comments

Up in flames Climate change set the table for Los Angeles wildfires Global warming from burning fossil fuels increased the likelihood of extreme fire conditions. Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News Jan 29, 2025 10:05 am | 7 CALIFORNIA, USA - JANUARY 22: Cal Fire Firefighters do a prescribed burn ahead of oncoming new wildfire called 'Hughes Fire' as it tore through northern Los Angeles County, burning over 9,000 acres just hours after it was first reported in California, United States on January 22, 2025. Credit: Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty Images CALIFORNIA, USA - JANUARY 22: Cal Fire Firefighters do a prescribed burn ahead of oncoming new wildfire called 'Hughes Fire' as it tore through northern Los Angeles County, burning over 9,000 acres just hours after it was first reported in California, United States on January 22, 2025. Credit: Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreGlobal warming caused mainly by burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry, and windy conditions that drove the recent deadly fires around Los Angeles about 35 times more likely to occur, an international team of scientists concluded in a rapid attribution analysis released Tuesday.Todays climate, heated 2.3 Fahrenheit (1.3 Celsius) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, based on a 10-year running average, also increased the overlap between flammable drought conditions and the strong Santa Ana winds that propelled the flames from vegetated open space into neighborhoods, killing at least 28 people and destroying or damaging more than 16,000 structures.Climate change is continuing to destroy lives and livelihoods in the US, said Friederike Otto, senior climate science lecturer at Imperial College London and co-lead of World Weather Attribution, the research group that analyzed the link between global warming and the fires. Last October, a WWA analysis found global warming fingerprints on all 10 of the worlds deadliest weather disasters since 2004.Several methods and lines of evidence used in the analysis confirm that climate change made the catastrophic LA wildfires more likely, said report co-author Theo Keeping, a wildfire researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires at Imperial College London.With every fraction of a degree of warming, the chance of extremely dry, easier-to-burn conditions around the city of LA gets higher and higher, he said. Very wet years with lush vegetation growth are increasingly likely to be followed by drought, so dry fuel for wildfires can become more abundant as the climate warms.Park Williams, a professor of geography at the University of California and co-author of the new WWA analysis, said the real reason the fires became a disaster is because homes have been built in areas where fast-moving, high-intensity fires are inevitable. Climate, he noted, is making those areas more flammable.All the pieces were in place, he said, including low rainfall, a buildup of tinder-dry vegetation, and strong winds. All else being equal, he added, warmer temperatures from climate change should cause many fuels to be drier than they would have been otherwise, and this is especially true for larger fuels such as those found in houses and yards.He cautioned against business as usual.Communities cant build back the same because it will only be a matter of years before these burned areas are vegetated again and a high potential for fast-moving fire returns to these landscapes.The series of five major fires started January 7 and were mostly contained by January 28, when some rain and snow fell in the affected areas, but not before disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of people and increasing long-term health risks to people who had to breathe the smoke from burning vegetation and urban structures.After several days of official warnings about extreme fire conditions, and despite efforts to reduce the risk by shutting down some power lines, winds of up to 100 mph pushed flames, fire tornadoes, smoke, and thick curtains of burning embers down through rugged canyons overgrown with dry grass, brush, and trees in areas like Pacific Palisades, between Santa Monica and Malibu, as well as parts of Pasadena and Altadena. In most of those areas, fences, decks, landscaping, and homes themselves were the fuel for what is projected to be the costliest climate-linked disaster on record in the United States.The new attribution analysis was done by 32 researchers, including leading wildfire scientists from the US and Europe as part of World Weather Attribution, which has studied the influence of climate change on more than 90 extreme events around the world. The scientists warned that the likelihood of dangerously fire-prone conditions will increase by another 35 percent if global warming reaches 4.7 Fahrenheit (2.6 Celsius), as projected by 2100.To evaluate how warming affected the fires, the researchers used a peer-reviewed method that combines observed weather data with climate models. The calculations show that many of the factors contributing to the conflagrations are intensified in a warmer climate.Low rainfall in the Southern California region from October to December is about 2.4 times more likely, and fire-prone conditions in the region last 23 days longer now than in the pre-industrial climate, the scientists said. They noted that the relatively small geographic study area added some uncertainty to the equation, especially with regard to how warming affects seasonal rainfall, which has always been quite variable and is also shaped by much larger regional drivers.Taken together, the results all indicate climate change plays a major role, and the researchers are confident in the findings that warming increases the chances of such fires.Many other regions at riskThe researchers were also able to show that the fires impacts disproportionately affected elderly people and people with disabilities, such as those with limited mobility, as well as population groups that received late warnings. Some of those effects, they noted, will exacerbate historical economic disparities in ways that could persist long into the future.The neighborhood of Altadena with a large Black population was in the path of the fires, which destroyed the major source of generational wealth for many residents who had previously faced discriminatory redlining practices, the scientists wrote in the report.The fires exposed critical weaknesses in water infrastructure, which is designed for routine fires rather than the extreme demands of large-scale fires, and shows the need for investments in resilient water systems and other stronger climate adaptation and emergency preparedness measures to address more frequent future wildfires.This was a perfect storm of climate-enabled and weather-driven fires impacting the built environment, said co-author John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at the University of California, Merced.There are similar fire-prone communities in other regions, he added, including Boulder County, Colorado, where the 2021 Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Similar disasters have played out recently around the world, including the 2023 Lahaina fire on Mauis northwest coast, and July 2024 fires in Via del Mar, Chile.Williams said the recent fires around Los Angeles dont even come close to ranking in the top 10 for size.There are many neighborhoods in Southern California nestled into the heavily vegetated mountainsides from Santa Barbara County through Ventura County, LA County, Orange County, and San Diego County that could feasibly be next, he said.Id say that a large number of neighborhoods are at similar risk to the small number of neighborhoods that we saw exposed to the fires this year, Williams said.This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News.Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News 7 Comments

Brian McKnight has 17 nominations but no wins.R&B singer Brian McKnight has been nominated alongside music icons like Prince. Jonathan Leibson/Stringer/Getty Images Nominated 17 times since 1993, singer-songwriter Brian McKnight has yet to win his first Grammy.He lost his last nomination for best male R&B vocal performance to Prince in 2004.Snoop Dogg has been nominated for 16 Grammys, but he has never taken home the prize.Rapper Snoop Dogg has never won a Grammy. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images At 16 nominations, the rapper only trailsMcKnight by one, but the two have even more in common.Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg, also received his first nod in 1993 and, like McKnight, is still awaiting his first Grammy win.Bjrk has been nominated 16 times.Bjrk was nominated in 2018. AP The Icelandic singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and DJ has been nominated 16 times since 1993, but Bjrk has never brought home a Grammy.She was just nominated for best alternative music album for the 65th Grammys.Dierks Bentley has earned 15 nominations.Dierks Bentley has been nominated in the country category since 2006. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images His first nominations were in 2006 for the hit "Every Mile A Memory." However, even after 15 nominations, country singer Dierks Bentley hasn't won a Grammy.Martina McBride has racked up 14 nominations since 1994.Country legend Martina McBride has no Grammys. John Shearer/Country Rising/Getty Images She's racked up 14 nominations since 1994, but talented country singer Martina McBride has been beaten out each time.She lost her latest nomination in 2011 to Taylor Swift.Katy Perry has 13 nominations but no wins.Pop singer Katy Perry earned 13 Grammy nominations. Rich Fury/Stringer/Getty Images She's been nominated 13 times over the last 10 years, but current "American Idol" judge Katy Perry still doesn't have a Grammy award to adorn her mantle.Diana Ross has won a lifetime achievement award but no Grammys.Diana Ross won the lifetime achievement award at the 2012 Grammy Awards. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Believe it or not, the legendary Diana Ross has never won a Grammy.Her first of 13 nominations was in 1964 for "Baby Love," and she was nominated nearly every year from 1970 to 1982 without a win.That being said, the Recording Academy recognized the songstress with a lifetime achievement award in 2012.Nicki Minaj has 12 nominations but no wins.Rapper Nicki Minaj has earned 12 Grammy nominations. Robin Marchant/Getty Images From 2010 to 2024, Nicki Minaj has been nominated for 12 Grammys. The rapper lost best new artist to Bon Iver in 2011, to Kendrick Lamar in all three of her nominated categories in 2015, and to Killer Mike and Billie Eilish for her nominations last year. Busta Rhymes has been nominated 12 times.Busta Rhymes is another rapper who has lost to Kanye West. Bryan Bedder/Stringer/Getty Images Nominated 12 times since 1996, Trevor Smith Jr. aka Busta Rhymes hasn't yet won his first Grammy. His last two nominations were for best rap performance and best rap song in 2011.He lost to Kanye West in both categories.Sia has nine nominations but hasn't scored a win.Singer-songwriter Sia has yet to win a Grammy. Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images Sia has received nine nominations since 2012, but the singer-songwriter, record producer, and music video director has yet to win a Grammy.She lost her 2017 nomination for best song written for visual media to Lin-Manuel Miranda.Blake Shelton has been nominated eight times.Blake Shelton has earned eight nominations in the country music category. Stephen Lovekin/Stringer/Getty Images The country singer and judge on "The Voice" has been nominated eight times, but Blake Shelton has no Grammy wins. He most recently lost at the 62nd annual awards in 2020.Tupac earned six nominations, including one after his death.The iconic rapper received a nomination after his tragic death. Columbia Pictures With six nominations, including one after his death, Tupac Shakur never won a Grammy. He lost his first nominations in 1995 to Coolio and Naughty by Nature and lost his posthumous nomination to Eminem.It took ABBA nearly 50 years to snag their first Grammy nomination.Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA. OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images After nearly 50 years of making music, Swedish pop group ABBA landed their first Grammy nominationfor their comeback record "I Still Have Faith In You."The band lost to Silk Sonic's "Leave the Door Open."Although the group has never won a Grammy, their hit song "Dancing Queen" was inducted into the Recording Academy's Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.The band also earned four more nominations for their 2021 album "Voyage."Queen has had four nominations but no wins.Lead singer Freddie Mercury performing in 1982. Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images Surprisingly, the band Queen received only four Grammy nominations and never had a win.Even though their last nomination was in 1980, artists like Panic! At the Disco and the 2018 film "Bohemian Rhapsody" are helping to keep their iconic music alive by introducing Queen's music to younger generations around the world.The Beach Boys have received a lifetime achievement award but no Grammy.The Beach Boys backstage at the Grammy Awards in 2012. Larry Busacca/Getty Images Another legendary band with only four nominations and zero Grammy wins is the Beach Boys.They received three nominations in 1966 for their hit "Good Vibrations," and their last nod came in 1988 for "Kokomo."Although they haven't received a Grammy, The Beach Boys earned a lifetime achievement award in 2001.Sammy Davis Jr. has a lifetime achievement award but no Grammy.Sammy Davis Jr. never received a Grammy award during his career. J. Wilds/Stringer/Getty Images Famous for his Las Vegas shows and for being a part of the infamous Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr. received three nominations but had no Grammy wins during his lifetime.He died in 1990, but he earned a lifetime achievement award in 2001.Jennifer Lopez has received two Grammy nominations over the years, but she's yet to win.Jennifer Lopez in a Giambattista Valli bridal dress at the 'Marry Me' premiere. Rich Fury/WireImage Jennifer Lopez racked up back-to-back nominations for best dance recording in 2000 and 2001.However, she lost to Cher's "Believe" and Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out."Run-D.M.C. scored a lifetime achievement award, but the group never won a Grammy.The hip-hop group lost to Prince in 1986. Leonardo Munoz / AFP / Getty Images It's inconceivable that iconic hip-hop artists Run-D.M.C. have only been nominated for two Grammys.In 1986 they lost out to Prince for best R&B performance by a duo or group the hip-hop category wasn't added until 1989. However, they received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2016.The iconic hip-hop group has a shot at collecting its first Grammy at this year's ceremony. They were nominated for best film music for "Kings from Queens."Dean Martin has a lifetime achievement award but no Grammy.The singer was given a lifetime achievement award in 2009. Keystone/Stringer/Getty Images Dean Martin, another Rat Pack crooner, only received one Grammy nomination.He was nominated for his album "Everybody Loves Somebody" in 1964 but lost to Louis Armstrong.Although Martin died in 1995, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 2009.Morrissey has one Grammy nomination but hasn't won yet.Despite his lengthy discography, the Smiths front man has only been nominated once. Ian Gavan/Stringer/Getty Images It's hard to believe that the former Smiths front man, who's released over 10 albums, has only been nominated for one Grammy.Morrissey lost out in his 1992 best alternative music album nomination to Tom Waits.Jimi Hendrix doesn't have a Grammy, but he does have a lifetime achievement award.Rock guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix tragically died the same year he was nominated. Evening Standard/Getty Images His only nomination was in 1970 for his rendition of "Star Spangled Banner," but sadly, Jimi Hendrix died that same year without winning the Grammy.In 1992, the Recording Academy gave Hendrix a lifetime achievement award.This story was originally published in March 2018 and most recently updated on January 29, 2025.Read More: