I’m a science journalist and researcher at The Watchers, contributing to the Epicenter edition, where I cover peer-reviewed scientific research and emerging discoveries across Earth and space sciences. With a background in astronomy and a passion for environmental science, I’ve worked in shark and coral conservation in Fiji, conducting reef and shark-behavior research, contributing to mangrove restoration, and earning PADI Open Water and Coral Reef Certifications. I bring a blend of scientific rigor and storytelling to illuminate the discoveries shaping our planet and beyond.

  • Mayon erupts as Alert Level rises to 3 and ash spreads south, Philippines

    ByReet Kaur

    An explosive eruption occurred at Mayon Volcano in Albay, Philippines, at 11:53 LT on October 30, 2026, sending a dense ash plume 3 000 m (9 843 feet) above the summit crater and prompting DOST-PHIVOLCS to raise the volcano from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3. By 19:20 LT, Tokyo VAAC was still detecting volcanic ash in Himawari-9 satellite imagery moving south, with ash analyzed up to FL180 and forecast up to FL190 during the following six hours.

  • Record tides flood California coast as Huntington Beach declares emergency and warnings persist

    ByReet Kaur

    Exceptionally high tides have flooded coastal communities across California since October 26, 2026, inundating homes, businesses and roads, forcing closures along Pacific Coast Highway and prompting a local emergency declaration in Huntington Beach. Water levels set a new record at San Diego, while the National Weather Service extended coastal flood advisories around San Francisco, San Pablo and Monterey bays through Sunday, November 1.

  • JWST finds a highly reflective atmosphere around lava planet TOI-561 b

    ByReet Kaur

    James Webb Space Telescope observations of the ultra-hot rocky planet TOI-561 b are best explained by a highly reflective global atmosphere, with an energy-balance analysis finding that the planet reflects roughly three-quarters of the stellar energy reaching it. Atmospheric circulation alone cannot account for its comparatively cool dayside, while climate and condensation models show that reflective silicate clouds can form under the inferred conditions.

  • Study identifies hidden transition signal in polar vortex model

    ByReet Kaur

    Researchers have identified a physically interpretable signal that distinguishes stable polar-vortex states from states approaching a regime transition inside an artificial-intelligence emulator. The result could provide a method for studying precursors to sudden stratospheric warmings, but the signal has so far been demonstrated only in an idealized atmospheric model and is not a real-world warning system.

  • Ten grams from Phobos may reveal how Mars got its moons

    ByReet Kaur

    A sample weighing at least 10 g from Mars’ moon Phobos could contain enough individual grains for scientists to separate native moon material from contamination and test two competing ideas for how the Martian moons formed, according to the scientific framework developed for Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The mission design links the chemistry, mineralogy and isotopic composition of those grains to a long-standing question: whether Phobos is a captured primitive body from elsewhere in the Solar System or material assembled after a giant impact on early Mars.

  • Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lost meters of its surface, giving scientists a depth scale for its chemistry

    ByReet Kaur

    New calculations based on reported production rates indicate that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lost the equivalent of about 1.71–5.24 m (5.6–17.2 feet) of its radius from gas alone during its passage through the Solar System, while models that include dust produce erosion depths above 10 m (33 feet). The result gives researchers a way to relate the chemistry escaping from the comet to possible depths inside its nucleus, an important constraint when trying to determine how much of its observed material still reflects its history before entering the Solar System.

  • 3D simulations reveal how a nuclear burst could break apart a threatening asteroid

    ByReet Kaur

    Three-dimensional simulations developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory show how X-rays from a nuclear standoff burst can drive extensive damage and opposing material motion through a modeled asteroid. Two of three scenarios approached the regime associated with robust disruption, but the calculations ended before researchers could determine whether the resulting fragment field would meet the criteria for a successful disruption.

  • Decade-long California test shows which next-day earthquake forecasts hold up

    ByReet Kaur

    A decade-long prospective experiment in California found that selected short-term earthquake forecasting models remained statistically consistent with the number, locations and magnitudes of earthquakes recorded after their forecasts were issued. The test subjected 27 models to future observations rather than earthquakes already known during model development, providing an unusually long real-world assessment of whether operational-type forecasts retain statistical reliability outside retrospective testing.

  • Global fault survey reveals how much the Moon contracted during its late evolution

    ByReet Kaur

    A global analysis of young thrust faults estimates that the Moon’s radius decreased by about 42–46 m (138–151 feet) during its late-stage contraction as the lunar interior cooled. The mapped deformation preserves substantially less contraction than some thermal-evolution models produce, leaving an unresolved gap between the Moon’s visible tectonic record and its modeled cooling history.

  • Repeated kicks as the Sun sheds mass could destabilize the giant planets far sooner than expected

    ByReet Kaur

    Numerical experiments suggest that thousands of small recoils experienced by the Sun as it loses its outer envelope could radically rearrange the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Under the study’s fiducial assumptions, about 90% of simulated outer Solar Systems became unstable within 3 billion years, replacing a picture in which the giant planets were expected to remain dynamically intact for far longer.