The San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are at their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years, raising the threat of a major, imminent earthquake that could devastate Southern California, a new study finds. The faults could rupture separately or together, thanks to an “earthquake gate” between them at Cajon Pass, where the … Read more
Ground squirrels usually eat seeds and nuts, but in a park in California, these cute, furry creatures have turned into carnivorous killers, mercilessly hunting down voles to peel the flesh from their bones. The unusual new behavior, which researchers caught on camera in Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, could be driven by an … Read more
The world’s deadliest mushroom has been invading California by cloning itself, new research finds. The poisonous “death cap” mushroom (Amanita phalloides) is an invasive fungus whose fatal amatoxin accounts for more than 90% of deaths from mushrooms worldwide, but how it spread from its European origins to colonize every continent except Antarctica has long been … Read more
