When I first saw “scientists propose dimming the sun,” I rolled my eyes. It sounds like a science fiction movie cooked up after watching many climate documentaries. But a new study, published on July 8, 2026, in the journal Science Advances, seems to have a genuinely compelling argument.
A Super El Niño is currently forming in the Pacific, feared to be the most intense in decades. It could escalate floods, wildfires, and extreme heat events worldwide. However, Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, led by climate scientists Kate Ricke and Jessica Wan, are now proposing one of the most interesting solutions I’ve come across.
The technique is called marine cloud brightening (MCB). It includes spraying tiny reflective particles into ocean clouds to bounce more sunlight back into space before it heats the ocean.
Rather than risking a real-world experiment, with the possibility of catastrophic side effects, the team used Australia’s 2019–2020 Black Summer bushfires as a natural test case.
Those fires sent smoke packed with reflective aerosols into Pacific clouds, contributing to a subsequent La Niña cooling event. Basically, what happened a few years ago mirrors the MCB technique that scientists are proposing to tackle the Super El Niño.
Largely yes, but not without caveats. Simulations found targeted MCB could amplify La Niña’s cooling and drying effects by around 40%, with earlier deployment delivering stronger results.
What makes this study different from typical geoengineering pitches is its limited scope: this isn’t a permanent planetary thermostat (read “permanent solution”). It’s a targeted, temporary intervention for specific high-damage events, not a substitute for the long-term changes we need to make to preserve our environment.
Among the other things worth considering are scientific uncertainty, given that the solution is based on climate modeling, and unavoidable side effects, which could include unintended regional consequences from altered weather.
CarPlay is seeing one of its biggest updates in years thanks to the upcoming release of iOS 27. Here are all the new features, including Siri AI and Apple TV apps.
At WWDC 2026, Apple officially unveiled its next version of iOS. The update, iOS 27, will be released in the fall of 2026 and is packed full of useful new features.
CarPlay, Apple’s in-car UI, is powered by iOS, so this new software will bring a bunch of enhancements to your car. This year, at least one major feature will require some serious automaker support.
Siri AI in CarPlay
Apple Intelligence seemed to occupy almost half of Apple’s WWDC keynote. A lot is going on, and a good portion of that is reflected in the car.
On phones that support Apple Intelligence, Siri will become Siri AI. That means Siri will be more capable and get a new look.
When you invoke Siri AI, it now has a dark, glassy orb at the bottom of your car’s display. It mimics the look of the new UI that lives in the Dynamic Island on iPhone.
New Siri AI orb in CarPlay with iOS 27
Siri is more conversational now, going back and forth with you as you ask questions and follow-ups. Apple’s digital assistant has more personal context, too.
While testing it, I could ask more complicated questions with multiple action items. As I left the house, I asked Siri to turn off the lights in the studio, get me directions to my son’s school, and text my wife my ETA.
All of your Siri conversations are saved in the new Siri app. It has the same icon as on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and allows you to go back to the previous conversation you’ve had.
Those conversations also sync across your platforms via iCloud. So if I start a conversation in the car, I can pick it up on my iPad when I get to where I’m going.
New chat-style interface for apps with iOS 27 CarPlay
Along with the new Siri AI, Apple is allowing any app to offer up a conversation mode. This was previously limited to AI apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
The idea is that those apps could possibly tap into Apple Intelligence models and offer you the ability to chat, rather than use physical taps within the app.
If you had a pizza app, you could open it, tell the app what you wanted with your voice, which could build your order, give you a total, and submit it with an estimated pickup time. There’s a new UI element for this that hovers over the app’s contents.
Both first-party and third-party media apps will get upgrades thanks to iOS 27. This includes the Apple Music and Apple Podcasts apps.
Apple Music looks more organized and has a richer layout thanks to added media graphics. The big change, though, is the addition of the mini player.
New mini player in Podcasts and Apple Music apps with iOS 27 CarPlay
The new mini player sits in the top-right corner of the display when you have something playing. It minimizes, showing the album art and a play/pause button.
That way, while something is playing, you can browse the rest of the app while still retaining quick control of the current media.
Before, it would be two taps to get to the media if you weren’t on the “now playing” screen. You would have to tap the play icon in the top-right corner, then hit pause, which isn’t ideal if you’re driving.
A similar refresh comes to the Apple Podcasts app. It has a streamlined UI and a mini player.
That mini player is a new UI element that isn’t going to be exclusive to Apple apps. Apple has made it available to anyone who is creating media apps for CarPlay, and you can expect many of the popular streaming apps to adopt it.
Apple TV and video support for CarPlay
Another major change is video support. This is much more robust than what was previously included in iOS 26.
As part of iOS 26, Apple allowed apps to stream their content on a car’s infotainment system via AirPlay. It was only on supported cars that had to get approved through Apple’s MFi Program.
Grid of apps in the simulator with iOS 27
Now, Apple is allowing full, native video streaming applications as a new app category with iOS 27. AirPlay is still an option, but now you can browse and select content from the car’s interface, too.
I was able to test this out for myself using Apple’s new CarPlay simulator in Xcode. Apple is offering up initial support with the inclusion of the Apple TV app inside of CarPlay.
Apple TV app in CarPlay with iOS 27
There are several asterisks here. Automakers themselves still have to enable this, which means that we most likely will be waiting for that to happen.
When a vehicle does add support, it must be in park for any videos to play. That counts whether the content is started via AirPlay or a native video player.
Playing a video in CarPlay with iOS 27
One neat trick is that if you are watching a video and you move the car from park to drive, your video will automatically fall back to audio-only. That’s great for things like sports when you still want to follow along, even if you can’t watch it.
Other small changes for CarPlay in iOS 27
Aside from the big new features, there are a lot of other changes, tweaks, and optimizations Apple is rolling out to its in-car solution.
Wireless connection is now said to be more stable than before. Hopefully, that reduces the audio lag that can sometimes be present.
Navigation apps are now able to communicate with the car’s system. The idea behind this is that the car can see your route and suggest any changes.
The most obvious use case here is for EVs. If you put in a route, and your car realizes you only have so much battery remaining, it may propose the ideal charging station to add to the trip.
This whole back and forth is permission-based, so you must OK it before the communication happens, and you must OK any changes to the route. Otherwise, no information or route is shared with your car.
There are a few new icons with iOS 27. In Wi-Fi settings, if you use wireless CarPlay, there is a new CarPlay icon on the network to help identify it, and there is an updated battery icon system-wide.
New wallpapers in CarPlay with iOS 27
Finally, there are new wallpapers. Apple added 12 wallpapers for CarPlay in iOS 27, and they all have a similar swirl, like with the iOS 27 ones for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
By going into the settings app, users can choose one of the new wallpapers that come in various colors.
CarPlay will be updated automatically when iOS 27 is released to the public.
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