Alternatives to track relocation include the construction of seawalls or other coastal “armoring.” Currently, 38% of the Southern California coastline is armored.

The greater blue-ringed 

Amir AghaKouchak, an environmental expert and civil engineer at the University of California, Irvine, said years of drought had compounded poor government decision-making — such as draining groundwater for farming or piping water into central desert regions to support water-intensive industries like steel production. “Water and energy are closely related, often forming a vicious cycle,” he said, as heat waves increase demand for water and power, while drought and low reservoir levels reduce hydroelectric power, causing blackouts.

Native to the Western Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, the octopus uses the iridescent blue rings on its underlying brown skin to signal to other creatures, camouflage itself and ward off enemies. To mimic this action, the UCI team used wrinkled blue rings surrounding brown circles, sandwiched between a transparent proton-conducting electrode and an underlying acrylic membrane, with another identical electrode underneath.