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Climate extremes, such as hurricanes, combined with large-scale integration of environment-sensitive renewables, could exacerbate the risk of widespread power outages. We introduce a coupled climate-energy model for cascading power outages, which comprehensively captures the impacts of climate extremes on renewable generation, and transmission and distribution networks. The model is validated with the 2022 Puerto Rico catastrophic blackout during Hurricane Fiona – a unique system-wide blackout event with complete records of weather-induced outages. The model reveals a resilience pattern that was not captured by the previous models: early failure of certain critical components enhances overall system resilience. Sensitivity analysis on various scenarios of behind-the-meter solar integration demonstrates that lower integration levels (below 45%, including the current level) exhibit minimal impact on system resilience in this event. However, surpassing this critical level without pairing it with energy storage can exacerbate the probability of catastrophic blackouts. 

The “Heliophysics Big Year” was an extended “year” when major solar events engaged the public. NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded several projects to educate the public on the science of the heliosphere and safe observing practices. In response to this initiative, we worked with other teams to create and disseminate accurate yet engaging information. We expanded our eclipse website (https://space.rice.edu/eclipse/) with activities, citizen science projects, resources, training videos, suggested equipment, and links to other compendia. We directed the Citizen CATE 2024 project, and trained state coordinators and their teams to use the specialized equipment and procedures. We trained teachers at local, regional, national, and international workshops, providing eclipse viewing cards, lenses for making “solar cup projectors,” a pattern for a safe viewing screen, and additional materials. With other teams, we gave presentations to the media at SciLine in San Antonio and hosted public events to demonstrate safe eclipse viewing techniques. The most lasting and impactful product was our planetarium show “Totality,” which was distributed free of license fees. More than 180,000 views of the show and its animations have been documented. We improved our space weather forecasting site (https://mms.rice.edu) and used our email lists (14,000+) to send out real-time warnings about the major solar storm of 10–11 May 2024. In total, we provided nearly two million people with heliophysics information. In summary, the federal/private/business partnerships meant that the events of this “year” were a fun, safe, learning experience for tens of millions of Americans. 

The circadian clock is a conserved timekeeping mechanism that is essential for integrating different environmental cues such as light and temperature to coordinate biological processes with the time of day. While much is known about transcriptional regulation by the clock, the role of post-transcriptional regulation, particularly through sequestration into biomolecular condensate such as stress granules, remains less understood. Stress granules are dynamic RNA-protein assemblies that play a critical role in the cellular response to stress by sequestering mRNAs to regulate translation during stressful conditions. In animals and fungi, the circadian clock regulates stress granule formation and mRNA translation by controlling key factors such as eIF2α, which orchestrates the rhythmic sequestration and translation of specific mRNAs. In plants, it has been shown that some transcripts, despite coming from arrhythmic expression, are rhythmically translated. In addition, some clock-controlled genes (CCGs) are induced in response to heat stress only at the transcriptional level and not at the translational level. Together this highlights a layer of clock regulation beyond transcription. This review discusses the intersection between the circadian clock and heat stress-related biomolecular condensates across eukaryotes, with a particular focus on plants. We discuss how the clock may regulate stress granule dynamics and preferential translation of mRNAs at specific times of the day or during stress responses, thereby enhancing cellular function and energy efficiency. By integrating evidence from animals, fungi, and plants, we highlight emerging questions regarding the role of biomolecular condensates as post-transcriptional mechanisms in controlling circadian rhythms and stress tolerance in plants.