Stop us if you've heard this one before. The federal government could shut down sometime in the next few weeks if Congress can't agree to a new spending bill. It's a familiar scenario that has played out repeatedly in recent years. But the latest iteration of this story has a wrinkle: The shutdown could come right as the presidential campaign heads into the home stretch.

What did the commentators say?
Republicans are threatening a shutdown "unless Congress makes it harder to vote," Ian Millhiser said at Vox. There's no evidence that undocumented migrants vote in "meaningful numbers" in American elections or that they have affected election outcomes, in large part because noncitizen voting already is, "of course, illegal." But the GOP’s proposed SAVE Act would place "significant new administrative burdens" on state and local election offices during the two months before the 2024 election, said Millhiser. That could cause "chaos" in voting, and the fight over the bill might create a different kind of chaos whether or not it passes: "The SAVE Act could put the U.S. in danger of a government shutdown."

"Roughly 11 months have passed since former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster in October 2023," said Elizabeth Elkind at Fox News. Now, McCarthy's successor, Mike Johnson, also finds himself caught in the same "fraught political web" that ended McCarthy's career. One complication for the speaker: It's clear some House Republicans are not too concerned with blowback from a shutdown. "The legacy media makes these shutdowns worse than they are," said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).

What next?
Johnson is "vibing better with his members than McCarthy did a year ago," said Politico. And he has one advantage that McCarthy did not. With the election looming, and members of Congress desperate to get back on the campaign trail to keep their seats, "few House Republicans are going to want to be stuck on the Hill much past next week." It all feels like a "bad case of 'Groundhog Day,'" Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks quoted at The Hill. And time is running out. The deadline to approve government funding is September 30.

Many parts of Earth are covered and protected by a layer of organisms called a biocrust. The layer acts as a skin for the Earth, protecting landscapes and reducing long-term damage. But climate change and human activities are harming the biocrust, and the crucial layer takes a long time to restore. This could have problematic and persistent implications for several ecosystems and even human structures.

What's the biocrust?
Also called cryptobiotic soil, biocrust is a "community of tiny dirt-dwelling organisms that form a distinct crust on the top of soil in arid landscapes," said Knowable Magazine. It covers approximately 12% of the Earth's surface and can play a vital role, especially in dry ecosystems, by preventing soil erosion and helping to retain water. 

Ecologically important, biocrust takes a long time to be restored once destroyed. "When the biocrust is gone, it leaves behind a surface layer of exposed, loose dust that can feed dust storms," said Arizona State University News. "It can take decades for biocrust to grow back on its own and gain enough ground to suppress that dust once more." 

Why is it in danger?
Climate change and human activity are causing the destruction of biocrust. "Over the next 65 years, models suggest that climate change could slash 25% to 40% of biocrust cover," said Knowable Magazine. The crusts are "sensitive to higher temperatures and to fluctuations in precipitation — both extended dry spells and unusual increases in rainfall can harm them, depending on their location." To combat this, scientists are trying to grow biocrust in the wild.

An existing biocrust community could be the key in aiding regrowth. "We put [biocrust] out in these harsh environments, kind of alone, and say, 'Live, thrive,'" Sasha Reed, an ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey who's leading the research, said to the magazine. "We're not seeing it do that as much as we would hope."

However, one boon of microorganisms is their resilience. "Although they are still vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, these constantly evolving organisms are expected to deploy internal mechanisms to adapt to future extremes," said CNN.