Technologies

California Wine Ruined by Wildfires Leads Chemists to Analyze Grapes for Smoke

«This research is highly valuable, with the potential to save countless dollars, and is increasingly relevant in our world of drought and climate change.»

The year 2020 left winemakers heartbroken.

As deadly wildfires on the US West Coast ripped through homes and tore apart forests, smoke seeped into world-renowned vineyards in California’s Napa Valley.

Precious grapes, lovingly nurtured in the name of beautiful wine, were ruined by the taste of fumes and grief. But winemakers continued their craft, hoping their grapes were among the few left unscathed. Most vintners weren’t so lucky. Their products were permeated by an acrid flavor, referred to as smoke taint. Wine once meant to go for $100 a bottle could now only be added to blends selling for $5 a gallon.

Looking to avert this sort of catastrophe in the future, especially as the climate crisis exacerbates wildfire rates even further, scientists are studying a clearcut way to chemically analyze which grapes and wines are subject to smoke taint and which aren’t. They published their outline this month in the Journal of Natural Products.

«What I discovered was that proper analytical data was not provided to figure out if the grapes or wines were affected by the smoke,» Phillip Crews, a chemist at UC Santa Cruz and winemaker at Pelican Ranch Winery, said in a statement. Smoke taint was first brought to Crews’ attention in 2018 as a result of the Mendocino Complex Fire aftermath, when wineries began rejecting ruined grapes from the region.

Without such a metric, post-wildfire winemaking and selling calls for a hefty amount of guesswork, like with the 2020 harvest. Thus, tainted grapes are often accidentally turned into wine that then gets rejected, leading to lost product, or tainted wine is sometimes sold under the guise of a good quality offering, resulting in lost reputation.

Basically, Crews and fellow researchers meticulously studied more than 200 grape and wine samples from 21 grape-growing regions in California and Oregon, each exposed to varying levels of smoke. They uncovered several «biomarkers,» or compounds present in the fruit or alcohol, that indicate the item is smoke tainted.

«There are still major gaps in our understanding of these compounds, so more research is needed,» Crews said. «But people can use these procedures now to look at a bottle of wine or a batch of grapes and tell if it’s likely to be affected by smoke taint.»

Searching for spoiled grapes

Right now most available research into smoke taint, per the study, focuses on smoke-derived compounds called volatile phenols.

These molecules are present in fumes from burning vegetation, such as trees during wildfires. Ripening grape skin can absorb these compounds, which is why it makes sense to check out grapes for these phenols — if they’re there, you’d think it’s safe to say the grapes are smoke tainted.

But Crews says identifying only the phenols doesn’t offer a full picture of smoke taintedness. There’s a caveat. Once inside grapes, the phenols bind to sugars and form totally new structures known as phenolic diglycosides that leave the smoke taint undetectable. That’s why it’s so hard to tell which grapes are affected and which aren’t. However, as soon as compromised products hit certain enzymes, such as those present in our saliva, the unwanted taint is released.

«We found that the phenolic diglycosides are stable in cabernet sauvignon during bottle aging, but then, during tasting, the monomers that smell bad get released in the mouth,» Crews said.

This is why Crews says scientists must measure the phenolic diglycosides directly, instead of relying on the ever-changing volatile phenols. That way, the smoke taintedness can be definitively detected prior to tasting. Through sophisticated chemistry methods, such as quantitative mass spectrometry, the study researchers pinpointed several biomarkers associated with phenolic diglycosides in their samples of grapes and wine.

«This research is highly valuable, with the potential to save countless dollars, and is increasingly relevant in our world of drought and climate change,» Eleni Papadakis, a winemaking consultant in Portland, Oregon, who wasn’t directly involved in the study, said in a statement.

She added, «I believe I speak for the whole of the winemaking community when I express the excitement and appreciation for the strong data and evidence-based guidance Professor Crews and his team have provided with this groundbreaking work.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, April 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty simple, but 1-Across is a bit tricky. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Bow ties and ribbons that you can’t wear?
Answer: PASTA

6A clue: Opposite of lower
Answer: UPPER

7A clue: Flappable origami creation
Answer: CRANE

8A clue: Where the Hangul alphabet is used
Answer: KOREA

9A clue: Apparatus under a trapeze
Answer: NET

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Disc dropped on center ice
Answer: PUCK

2D clue: One might read «Kiss the Chef»
Answer: APRON

3D clue: Unlikely outcome after a 7-10 split
Answer: SPARE

4D clue: Fundamental belief
Answer: TENET

5D clue: Bay ___ (part of California)
Answer: AREA

Technologies

Apple Reportedly Plans to Send Siri Engineers to AI Coding Bootcamp

The move comes just weeks before the company is expected to unveil a new Siri.

Apple plans to send dozens of Siri engineers to a multiweek AI coding bootcamp, The Information reported Wednesday. The move comes less than two months before the company is widely expected to unveil a new Siri experience as part of a broader AI reboot.

A group of fewer than 200 engineers will be sent to the bootcamp, leaving approximately 60 members of the core Siri development team behind to continue working on Siri, while another 60 will evaluate Siri’s performance, according to The Information. The outlet also reported that AI has grown in popularity in some Apple divisions, prompting some teams within the company to allocate large parts of their budgets to Claude Code.

Apple representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri, once a pioneer, has lagged behind its rivals in voice assistants. Apple had planned to roll out a smarter, AI-driven Siri in 2025 as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, but executives delayed the launch until spring 2026, admitting the early version wasn’t reliable enough to ship.

For Apple, the move would mark another attempt to reset expectations around its AI strategy after repeated delays to its more advanced Siri ambitions. The news also comes as John Giannandrea, Apple’s former AI chief, is reportedly leaving the company this week after stepping down from that role in December.

The new Siri experience is expected to be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 and would arrive as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and MacOS 27 later this year, according to a Bloomberg report in March. The report says Apple is testing out a new Siri that would make the assistant feel more like a standalone AI chatbot — think ChatGPT or Claude — rather than the current built-in tool.

Technologies

Google Will Pay $135M to Android Phone Owners. Learn Who’s Eligible and How to Get Paid

If you used an Android phone with cell service in the last nine years, you could be eligible for compensation.

For years, Google has been accused of harvesting data from Android phones without users’ consent. A California lawsuit was settled for $314 million last year, and another class action lawsuit recently reached a resolution that could mean payouts for another 100 million people.

While not admitting fault, Google reached a preliminary settlement in the class action lawsuit Taylor v. Google LLC in January, agreeing to pay $135 million, and the official settlement website for the lawsuit is now live.

The final approval hearing won’t occur until June 23, when the court will hear objections and consider whether Google’s settlement is fair. After that, the court will decide whether to approve the $135 million settlement.

In the meantime, if you qualify and want to be paid as part of the settlement, you can select your preferred payment method on the official website. There, you can find information on speaking at the June 23 court hearing and on how to exclude yourself or write to the court to object by May 29.

As part of the settlement, Google will update its Google Play terms of service to clarify that certain data transfers do occur passively even when you’re not using your Android device, and that cellular data may be relied upon when not connected to Wi-Fi. This can’t always be disabled, but users will be asked to consent to it when setting up their device.

Google will also fully stop collecting data when its «allow background data usage» option is toggled off.

Who can be part of the Google data settlement?

In order to join the Taylor v. Google LLC settlement, you must meet four qualifications:

Be a living, individual human being in the US.
Have used an Android mobile device with a cellular data plan.
Have used the aforementioned device at any time from Nov. 12, 2017, to the date when the settlement receives final approval.
You’re not a class member in the Csupo v. Google LLC lawsuit, which is similar but specifically for California residents.

The final approval hearing is on June 23, so you can add your payment method until then. The hearing’s date and time may change, and any updates will be posted on the settlement website.

If you choose to do nothing, you will still be issued a settlement payment, but you may not receive it if you don’t select a payment method.

How much could I get paid by Google?

It’s not currently known exactly how much each settlement class member will receive, but the cap is $100. Payments will be distributed after final court approval and after any appeals are resolved.

After all administrative, tax and attorney costs are paid, the settlement administrator will attempt to pay each member an equal amount. If any funds remain after payments are sent, and it’s economically feasible, they will be redistributed to members who were previously and successfully paid. If it’s not economically feasible, the funds will go to an organization approved by the court.