Nature, Published online: 30 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01692-xIn warming coastal seas, a crucial ecosystem is being replaced by ‘turfs’ of red algae, which release chemicals that suppress kelp survival.

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowImage: Nintendo / Kotaku / Jake Randall / Burndumb, Nintendo / Kotaku, Fox / Disney / Kotaku, Sandfall Interactive, Nintendo / Kotaku, Arrowhead Game Studios / Kotaku, Screenshot: Подкаст «Пóпы и культура» / YouTube / Switch 2, a2dubai / YouTube / KotakuFrom mergers to memes, the landscape of interactive entertainment is always in motion. Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.Previous SlideNext SlideList slidesTarget Leaves Dozens Of Switch 2 Consoles Locked In A Cage On The Store FloorNintendo’s next big console, the Switch 2, is set to arrive on store shelves in just 10 days. So it’s not surprising to see photos showing dozens of Switch 2 consoles sitting in store warehouses and back areas. However, I wasn’t expecting a bunch of Switch 2 consoles to be sitting in a metal cage in the middle of a Target already. - Zack Zwiezen Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesSwitch 2 Leaker Explains How He Got The Console Early And Why He's Not Afraid Of NintendoImage: Nintendo / KotakuIt was the middle of the night when Fedor Volkov found himself anxiously waiting on the streets of Moscow for a ride back home. In his arms he held a Switch 2 box and nestled within was the console fans had been waiting years to get their hands on, but which still didn’t officially go on sale for more than a week. He was too nervous and excited to remember to bring something to hide it in. - Ethan Gach Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesSomeone Take Away Randy Pitchford's PhoneImage: Fox / Disney / KotakuSometimes you just gotta walk away. And this might be one of those times. Earlier this month, Gearbox co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford replied to someone on social media about the studio’s next game, Borderlands 4, possibly receiving an $80 price tag. He said it wasn’t his call and then infamously added, “If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.” This didn’t go over well with people online. A few days later, on May 22, he said he didn’t intend to sound like an asshole. - Zack Zwiezen Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesSwitch 2 Startup And Menu Settings Appear Online As Early Player Shows Off Console In 'Code Red' Leak For NintendoScreenshot: Подкаст «Пóпы и культура» / YouTube / Switch 2The Switch 2 is just days away from its official June 5 launch, but already footage is beginning to spread online of people going hands-on with Nintendo’s next console. One fan based in Russia recently uploaded a nearly 10-minute video that includes the Switch 2's startup sequence and a tour through its menu settings. “Respects to this man for sacrificing his life to unbox the console a week before launch,” reads the top comment on YouTube. - Ethan Gach Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesClair Obscur: Expedition 33 Publisher Says Fans Would Never Guess The Hit RPG's Budget: 'I'm Sure Mirror's Edge And Vanquish Cost More'Image: Sandfall InteractiveClair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the top-rated games of the year and has sold over 3.3 million copies. And it did it all with a very small budget, according to publisher Kelpler Interactive. How small? Portfolio director Matthew Handrahan isn’t saying, but he thinks everyone’s guesses are probably wrong. - Ethan Gach Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesOnly One First-Party Nintendo Game Won't Work On Switch 2Image: Nintendo / KotakuThe Nintendo Switch 2 will be able to play most original Switch games without any issues when it launches on June 5. According to an update from Nintendo, most big games and all first-party titles (with one tiny exception) will work on Switch 2, though you might need an update or an old Joy-Con. - Zack Zwiezen Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesHelldivers 2 Players Are Pulling Off Incredible Feats In A Last-Ditch Effort To Save Super EarthImage: Arrowhead Game Studios / KotakuHelldivers 2's Galactic War has come to Super Earth and it’s going very, very badly. Players have lost every major city on the planet save for two, but are making a triumphant last stand against the Illuminate as fans from across the real world band together to hold the line. - Ethan Gach Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesSomeone's Unboxing A Switch 2 But Claims It Needs A Day-One Patch To WorkScreenshot: a2dubai / YouTube / KotakuSwitch 2 hardware appears to be officially out in the wild, but it doesn’t sound like anyone will be able to play the console early. A day-one patch is needed for it to fully work, according to someone who uploaded a brief unboxing video of the new Nintendo console to YouTube. - Ethan Gach Read MorePrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesGameStop Doubles Down On Crypto With Massive Bitcoin Purchase As Stores CloseGameStop Doubles Down On Crypto With Massive Bitcoin Purchase As Stores Close Share SubtitlesOffEnglishThe company continues its pivot away from selling games and toward doing anything else to stay afloatPrevious SlideNext SlideList slidesPlayStation’s Days of Play Brings Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, NBA 2K25 & More To PS PlusPlayStation’s Days of Play Brings Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, NBA 2K25 & More To PS Plus Share SubtitlesOffEnglishBomb Rush Cyberfunk is hitting PS Plus alongside NBA 2K25 and a Destiny 2 takeover in June

Every couple of days in early 2024, Leonardo Hummel would free-dive into the shallow waters surrounding Koh Tao, Thailand. Amidst the growing communities of reef fish, Hummel liked to document the progress of the first artificial reefs he'd created and deposited two years earlier while at nearby New Heaven Dive School. The original 9mm rebar had grown multiple times in size, with the accretion of calcium carbonate.Sandra Rubio, one of Leo's colleagues at Black Turtle Dive, remembers the passion with which Leo would speak about his work, and the pride that Hummel took in his creations. "They were like his babies," she says. From an early age, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Hummel found himself perpetually fascinated by the natural world, origami, and art. These fascinations drove him across the globe - from growing up singing with Seattle's Northwest Boychoir and Vocalpoint! Seattle, to a B.A. in East Asian Studies at Carleton College (and post-college years teaching in Beijing), to a master's degree in Industrial Design at Georgia Tech. Hummel found himself in Koh Tao in pursuit of a dream that managed to fuse all of these passions, crafting beautiful artificial reefs in a project that he dubbed "SeaWeaver." These few handfuls of woven reefs still sitting off the coast of Koh Tao, however, now also serve as a gentle memorial; in March of last year, Leo Hummel, 34, passed away. His parents, professors, and colleagues kindly offered their memories of Leo for this article, in the hopes that it might help keep his work alive.—Hummel detailed his project in a paper, "SeaWeaver: Integrating Cultural Craft and Materials Innovation for Artificial Reef Conservation Strategies," which debuted at the Design Research Conference (DRS) in Boston, in June 2024. Leo's former professor, Georgia State's Lisa Marks, presented the research in his stead."Leo was the kind of person that, if something interested him, he would be in school 24 hours a day, ignoring all his other classes just to do that," Marks says. "I'd come back from Christmas break, and my lab was just covered in these insane laser-cut patterns. And I'd say, what's all this? But that was just his brain."Hummel first met Marks after taking her course on the intersection of industrial design and folk craft. Marks, in her work, combines parametric modeling with endangered traditional handcrafts (a field overwhelmingly derived from women's labor, and largely unconsidered in male-dominated industrial design). Leo soon became Mark's research assistant, and she his thesis advisor. Leo went on to complete his thesis on origami that possesses thickness - such as solar-powered marine lights that could fold and sink beneath the ocean waves, to shelter from coming storms."Because he would obsessively go into these deep dives, he would get burnt out," Marks recalls. "So I'd say: 'Leo. Take three days. Go do some other experiment.' And one of those was this hexagonal structure that theoretically could make kelp farms. And that little pet project got University of Washington interested." In June 2020, the University of Washington and the Nippon Foundation launched the "Ocean Nexus Center," whose stated mission is "to establish social equity at the center of ocean governance;" Leo's mother, who worked at the University, put him in contact with them.Ocean Nexus, as it turned out, suddenly had a travel budget going largely unused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and could repurpose some of those funds for Leo to develop his work. Amidst a largely academic consortium of anthropologists and economists who study the complexities of human behavior, Hummel's work in fabrication served as a beloved addition.All along the West Coast, forests of kelp - "the sequoia of the sea," both organism and habitat - once grew in underwater canopies so tall and thick that they could be seen from space. But along with another underwater vegetation - eelgrass, a flowering marine plant in more tidal regions - these vast underwater landscapes have seen their once-Olympian numbers decline by as much as ninety percent in just the past few decades. Researchers at University of Washington hoped Hummel's structures of woven hemp could provide a means to anchor the vegetation and allow them a chance to regenerate.Leo's parents, Jeff Hummel and Beatrice Gandara, can't recall exactly how Leo's fascination turned to coral. But in 2021, Leo traveled to Koh Tao to take diving classes with New Heaven Reef Conservation. After countless hours bending rebar in his parents' basement, New Heaven helped him deploy his first full-sized design in 2022. Hummel hoped the reef's shape - a hyberboloid - provided an ideal combination: structural stability, interlacing strands that rendered it a single conductive object, and a woven structure that could be easily modified to accommodate different forms of marine wildlife."Because it was algorithmically driven, he could theoretically change these structures to have the openings be bigger or smaller," Marks explains. By customizing these openings to the local biome, the reef "would attract different types of fish and wildlife that need a certain amount of space, or hiding, or nesting."Although Leo started his deployments at New Heaven, he would later forge a relationship with another local diving organization, Black Turtle, which invited him to weave his reefs and teach classes on their construction in the beginning of 2024. His colleague, Sandra Rubio, described him as an amazing teacher whose passion inspired his students."Whenever we work in coral restoration, one of our main problems is getting the tools we need," Rubio explains. "Sometimes we have to weld, or cut metal, or cast concrete. And we don't really know how to do all these things! So he created this specific design for us to simplify this process, and to be able to create really complex structures without spending a lot of time or having a lot of knowledge about it."Much of Hummel's original design files, in Rhino or Grasshopper, remain on his as-yet-inaccessible computer at his parents' house. But Hummel would also document his creations with posts to his Instagram, @seaweaverreefs, which allowed him to add his own geometric color commentary."It broke my heart to do it but I have mostly switched from 12-symmetry to 10-symmetry weaves," he once explained in a post from January 2024, alongside a photo of a thin metal Star of Goliath nestled inside a decagram. "For a variety of reasons, but mostly because when working at scale, that change ends up saving a lot of material. The structure's stability is still many times overkill so that's unaffected, and only total weirdos who count rotational symmetry will even notice. Good thing I don't know any of those ??."One of the driving forces behind Hummel's dedication to SeaWeaver, meanwhile, was not just to perfect its design, but to ensure its accessibility to the low-resource coastal communities most at risk. Compared to other established artificial reef companies that have patented their designs, Hummel's designs could be woven by anyone, in just a few hours, and with everyday construction material."A lot of motivation for the paper [presented at DRS]," his father says, "was to leave a trail that made it clear that this was his intellectual property, and not something that could be patented in some predatory manner." In the wake of Hummel's passing, his parents maintained his online presence so that future researchers could learn from his work - which they described as "more than a technique: it's a philosophy of ecological intention and social equity." But amongst those who remember Leo, one of the most consistent themes was not his capacity to weave beautiful patterns, but the genuinely decent nature of his character."It's really rare to meet someone as talented and, for lack of a better word, almost obsessive [as Leo]. You meet people that do these deep dives into their work, and they're oftentimes not the best people in terms of how they treat other folks," Marks recalls. "But Leo was just a really, really good person."Last year, while in town for his memorial, Hummel's college a cappella group made sure to visit the Seattle Aquarium. There, unmarked, is one of Hummel's original experiments from three years prior: a nondescript patch of eelgrass, anchored by a weave of hemp. It's the only bundle of eelgrass that has survived, for years, in the entire aquarium."I had the feeling that Leo is like these artists that, when they die, their work gains value," Rubio says. "Sometimes, when someone passes away, they become a legend."Learn more about Leo and Seaweaver at Leohummel.com

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. A smelly, sometimes toxic “killer belt of seaweed” might put a damper on Floridians’ Memorial Day weekend plans. Sargassum is back just in time for the unofficial start of summer and this year’s influx of the brown algae would be record breaking at 31 million tons.  What is Sargassum? Sargassum is a genus of large brown seaweed. As a seaweed, it is also a type of algae. It floats along the ocean in island-like masses and does not attach to the seafloor the way that kelp does.  According to NOAA, this brown algae is abundant in the world’s oceans. It has many leafy appendages, branches, and its signature berry-like structures. These round “berries” are actually gas-filled structures called pneumatocysts. They are primarily filled with oxygen and add buoyancy to the plant structure and allow it to float on the surface of the water, similar to a life jacket.  Importantly, Sargassum provides food and a floating habitat for several marine species including various fishes, sea turtles, marine birds, crabs, and shrimp. Some animals, like the sargassum fish will spend their whole lives around Sargassum’s gas-filled floats and the seaweed is a nursery area for some commercially important fishes, including mahi mahi, jacks, and amberjacks. Smaller fishes, such as filefishes and triggerfishes, reside in and among brown Sargassum. CREDIT: NOAA/Life on the Edge Exploration. Is it harmful to humans? When Sargassum washes up on shore, it begins to rot. That rotting triggers the production of hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs. These odors themselves are not harmful to humans when inhaled in well ventilated areas like the beach. But the gases can accumulate enough to cause harm if they are breathed in within enclosed spaces.  “Hydrogen sulfide can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat,” writes Florida’s Department of Health in St. John’s County. “If you have asthma or other breathing illnesses, you will be more sensitive to hydrogen sulfide. You may have trouble breathing after you inhale it.” Coming into contact with the jellyfish or other stinging organisms embedded in the rotting seaweed can cause rashes on the skin. Any workers for volunteers collecting and transporting the seaweed should wear gloves, boots, and gas-filter half masks for protection. 2025’s mega bloom In Florida and the Caribbean, Sargassum season runs from April to August, with June and July as the peak months for setting in along the shoreline. However, the blobs have been spotted along shorelines since March this year. The bloom has already broken its own size record set in June 2022 by 40 percent–and is still growing. The annual bloom now stretches over 5,500 miles of ocean between Africa and the Caribbean and weighs an estimated 31 million tons.  “Sargassum goes from being a very beneficial resource of the North Atlantic to becoming what we refer to as … a harmful algal bloom, when it comes ashore in excessive biomass,” Brian LaPointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, told CNN. “What we have seen since 2011 are excessive inundation events all around the Caribbean region, the Gulf, as well as the South Florida region.” Why is this year’s bloom so big? Increasing ocean temperatures due to climate change is one of the reasons for such a large bloom. The Atlantic and waters around Florida have seen record-breaking high temperatures in recent years, creating ideal conditions for the seaweed to thrive. The excess nitrogen in the water from the burning of fossil fuels or dust from the Sahara is believed to be one of the forces behind this supercharged bloom. An experimental tracking map from NOAA for May 6 through 12, showing where sargassum is likely to wash ashore in Florida. CREDIT: NOAA Scientists can use satellites to track the seaweed and issue warnings if needed. The CariCOOS Sargassum map shows that the bulk of the bloom is currently east of Puerto Rico, but it has already been spotted along Florida’s Atlantic coast. NOAA encourages anyone who encounters Sargassum on the beach to report it with this form.

This month marked the start of Beach of Dreams, a festival with scale, heart, and purpose. Running until 1 June 2025, the month-long creative programme is transforming the UK's coastlines into a dynamic stage for climate action and cultural storytelling, all through the lens of art. Led by participatory arts organisation Kinetika, with support from Arts Council England and Historic England, Beach of Dreams has unfolded across the shores of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, activating over 90 events, eight major artist commissions, and a national touring artwork to reimagine our collective relationship with the coast. It's ambitious in scope but rooted in local stories. It celebrates heritage, calls for resilience, and provides a platform for communities to be seen, heard, and felt. A coastline in flux As sea levels rise and storm surges increase, the UK's 19,000 miles of coastline are facing unprecedented environmental pressures. But Beach of Dreams isn't just about drawing attention to what's at risk. It's about uncovering what we love, what we fear, and what we might create together in response. "Through Beach of Dreams, we are journeying from the Beach of Broken Dreams in Thurrock to shine a spotlight on the coastal gems, organisations, people, and projects across the UK that are creating positive change and inspiring hope," says Ali Pretty, artistic director of Beach of Dreams and founder of Kinetika. "In these uncertain times, Beach of Dreams emphasises the power of local communities to shape their own futures." The silks that started it all At the heart of the programme is The Beach of Dreams Silks, a national artwork made up of 838 naturally dyed silk pennants, each one carrying a personal story and Climate Commitment from participants around the country. Installed at key moments throughout the month, the silks will ripple across beaches from Fife to Felixstowe, forming a vast, mobile artwork infused with care, memory, and intention. Each pennant represents an individual's connection to the coast, often made in community workshops using foraged materials and natural dyes. As the silks tour, they become a kind of collective archive – one that is strikingly beautiful but also quietly urgent in its call for stewardship and solidarity. Eight commissions, infinite perspectives The silks may be the symbolic thread, but the festival's soul lies in its artist commissions, each developed in collaboration with communities and exploring a different question about our relationship to the sea. In Tilbury, the festival launched on 3 May with Threads for Tomorrow, a poignant commission by designer Rahemur Rahman. Working with local sewing groups, Rahman has transformed damaged silk pennants – torn during a 2023 storm – into richly embroidered panels using waste materials and naturally dyed threads. These panels will embellish carnival structures inspired by Bangladeshi sampans, merging cultural identity with ecological reinvention in a live performance led by choreographer Charlene Low. Further north, sound artist Jason Singh brings Cyd-Wrando (Listen Together) to Colwyn Bay, Wales. Here, community participants are invited to hear the subtle signals of the environment – from honeycomb worms to ancient yews – via a site-specific soundscape accessed through AR markers along the coastline. It's immersive, interactive, and deeply tuned into the dialogue between land and sea. In South Tyneside, The Power of Nature sees photographer Tessa Bunney and writer Stevie Ronnie exploring how underwater habitats like kelp forests and oyster reefs can stabilise our coasts and boost biodiversity. Developed with local groups through Stronger Shores, a DEFRA-funded resilience programme, the project includes an outdoor photography exhibition and original poetry created by the community. Over in Northern Ireland, Our Siren Song by Beat Carnival channels myth and music. From 13–17 May, a week of coastal walks, storytelling, carnival arts and music workshops will culminate in a spectacular procession through Millisle, featuring a four-metre-tall operatic siren, community choirs, and musicians singing out across the sea. Meanwhile, in Fife, artist Julie Brook crafts Tide Line – a 100-metre sculptural intervention made from local stones and built at low tide. Accompanied by walking journeys, creative workshops, and new choral work, the project draws attention to erosion, plastic pollution, and rising seas – making visible the invisible forces shaping our shorelines. Other commissions include Collecting Dreams, Shifting Futures in East Anglia, a story-gathering project supported by Historic England and taking place in Great Yarmouth, Harwich and Orford Ness, and The Beach of Dreams Village, a striking, sustainable installation in Great Yarmouth designed with Bamboology's Joseph Williams. Both offer joyful, participatory spaces for reflection, learning and celebration. A digital storytelling platform and an invitation to act While the physical artworks form the festival's public face, Beach of Dreams is just as alive online. A digital Stories platform serves as an evolving archive of community voices, creative processes, and climate reflections, offering behind-the-scenes access and amplifying regional perspectives. Importantly, anyone can participate, whether by joining a walk, submitting a workshop idea, or sharing a Climate Commitment on the Beach of Dreams website. These tangible pledges, like planting seagrass or reducing plastic use, add up to a national network of local action. Legacy and reflection Although the festival runs until 1 June, its legacy continues later in the year. In September, Beach of Dreams will culminate in a final performance – Sonnet of Samsara – in partnership with Activate Performing Arts as part of Inside Out Dorset. The piece will weave together movement, silk installations, and storytelling along Weymouth Beach, offering a moment of collective reflection. It will also mark the start of a new residency, bringing together artists, thinkers, and local voices to explore how the festival's's creative energy can seed longer-term change. With its mix of spectacle and sensitivity, Beach of Dreams is more than a festival. It's's a model for how art can hold space for complexity – beauty and vulnerability, tradition and change, grief and imagination – all while inviting us to walk, listen, make, and care a little more deeply for the places we so often take for granted.

General Motors revealed Tuesday a new battery chemistry called lithium-manganese-rich (LMR), which it says should slash costs while delivering driving range that’s just shy of the most advanced batteries on the market.  “With LMR, we can deliver over 400-mile range in our in our trucks while significantly reducing our battery costs,” Kurt Kelty, GM’s vice president of battery, propulsion and sustainability, told TechCrunch. LMR will also dramatically reduce the amount of nickel and cobalt compared with GM’s most advanced cells, two critical minerals that aren’t readily available from domestic sources in the United States. Today, the Chevrolet Silverado EV uses nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells to drive 492 miles on a full charge. That impressive range comes with a hefty price tag. The electric trucks start at over $73,000 for the general public (a fleet version costs less). GM is planning a version with cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells, which would drop the price by $6,000, but also cuts range to 350 miles.  The new technology would preserve the LFP price cuts without sacrificing as much range. GM says the new cells will be cheaper for a few reasons. For one, manganese is cheaper than cobalt or nickel. The LMR chemistry will have zero to 2% cobalt, 30% – 40% nickel, and 60% – 70% manganese. That’s significantly less than today’s leading NMC cells, which are up to 10% cobalt and 80% nickel. Previous attempts at manganese-rich batteries have tended to degrade quickly. GM thinks it has cracked the problem. The automaker experimented with a range of materials and manufacturing processes to arrive at the current formulation. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW LMR battery packs will contain prismatic cells instead of pouches. Today’s Ultium batteries use the latter. Kelty said switching to prismatic cells, which have a rigid shell, will help the company build a battery pack with more than 50% fewer parts. “It’s a huge, huge cost savings we’ll get,” he said. GM has big plans for LMR, with the chemistry potentially spreading throughout the EV lineup. Andy Oury, business planning manager at GM, said that LMR could “take up a huge chunk in the middle” of the market, pushing LFP to entry level vehicles and pricey NMC to applications that need long range and high energy density. The new cells will be made by Ultium Cells, GM’s joint venture with LG Energy Solution. Through Ultium, the two companies have invested billions of dollars in battery manufacturing in the United States.  Both have been pursuing LMR for years. GM has more than 50 patents on LMR, though LG has also been working on the technology itself. Kelty acknowledged it’s possible that LG could make it’s own version of LMR cells that don’t infringe on GM’s patents, making the chemistry more widely available. “It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out,” Kelty said. GM’s LMR research has been underway for a decade. Its efforts kicked into high gear in the last couple years as engineers successfully produced large-format cells similar to those in EVs on the road today. GM has made about 300 large format cells so far, and its testing regime equates to around 1.5 million miles of typical driving, said Kushal Narayanaswamy, director of advanced cell engineering at the automaker. That leaves just a few short years for the company to modify its existing manufacturing plants to accommodate the new chemistry and then scale up production. Scaling, in particular, tripped up the first Ultium cells. Kelty is confident that GM can hit the 2028 target.  “It meets all our performance metrics, we have a partner that’s going to manufacture it, and we’ve got a manufacturing location,” he said. “The other thing is, the supply chain is much more local than high-nickel or LFP, so we’re really incentivized to do this. There’s a lot of things coming together here that really make us want to go quickly.”