As rising seas and fiercer storms threaten coastal areas, scientists are looking for ways to make shores more resilient to the effects of climate change. One unusual approach shows promise by zapping the shoreline with electricity. 

In a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers from Northwestern University showed that applying a mild electrical current to wet sand triggers chemical reactions that bind grains into a rock-like substance. 

"The use of natural cementation processes is not new for inland applications and is an active area of research for coastal applications," Andres Payo, head of coasts and estuaries at the British Geological Survey, who was not involved in the study, told Newsweek. Payo cautioned that more research is needed. The new technique could be less expensive and more environmentally friendly than other coastal defenses, such as concrete sea walls.  

Another recent study revealed how plastic pollution can magnify the harm from invasive species in sensitive polar ecosystems. Research published in Global Change Biology found that plastic debris serves as rafts for a range of small species to reach pristine parts of Antarctica’s waters and shores.  

"There seems to be a constant bombardment of anything that floats,” study co-author Adele Morrison said. Researchers said the new arrivals could out-compete native species, potentially upsetting ecosystem balance.  

In climate news elsewhere, extreme heat has gripped many parts of the globe this summer and another high temperature record fell recently in Australia. But here’s what makes the Aussie all-time high so odd: It’s late winter in Australia (and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere). Regardless of the calendar, Australia’s northwestern coast registered a blistering 107 degrees Fahrenheit, a wintertime record, The Washington Post reported. The heat likely exacerbates the risk of wildfires as Australia’s spring begins. The heat in the Global South is linked to human-caused climate change and the recent El Niño event, the Post reported. 

And The New York Times reported that a federal court decision in Louisiana is a setback for the Biden administration’s environmental justice action to protect communities disproportionately affected by pollution. 

Last Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency may not apply federal civil rights law to the cumulative impacts of state decisions on permits for polluting facilities. Several Louisiana communities of color argue that the high number of polluting facilities placed near them violates their civil rights. However, the ruling limits the federal government to action against specific agency decisions that are intentionally discriminatory and not the combined environmental harms from multiple permits. Communities closest to the facilities are disproportionately Black or Latino and have elevated rates of cancer, respiratory problems and premature deaths, the Times reported. 

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