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Less than two months away, 200 governments will join the U.N. Paris talks where an international agreement might be reached seeking to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions for each country. The goal is to eventually level emissions significantly relative to 1990 levels for developed countries and cap emissions as soon as possible for developing countries like India and China. Each country, however, wants to get the best deal and many critics are weary that we're simply heading for another Copenhagen bust like six years ago, or worst even - another Kyoto which failed miserably.
It's estimated that humanity will have to produce around 50% more food than we currently do to keep up with growing global demand....by 2050. It's an enormous challenge, especially as more and more countries face the effects of climate change, such as drought or toxic salinity levels. One of our best hopes is to rely more on crops that can flourish despite the vicissitudes of the environment, and plant cell biologists at the University of Oxford hope that their new breakthrough in climate-resilient agriculture will allow us to do just that.
A walking fish, a jewel snake and a sneezing monkey: these are just some of the biological treasures recently discovered in the fragile Himalayan ecosystems.
If you've ever brushed past the tailpipe of a running car, then you know just how smoking hot it can be. And since tailpipes aren't exactly heating radiators, that's just wasted energy. Not much you can do, you might say. That's just the 2nd law of thermodynamics mocking us humans. But there are ways to turn otherwise wasted heat into something useful, like residential heating or electricity. Typically, engineers design systems that transfer the heat to water which then turns to steam and so on until you can get something useful out of it - eventually. There are other ways also which are more convenient in most situation - after all, you can't fit a steam turbine in your car. For instance, you could use thermoelectric materials that directly convert the heat into electricity.
While surveying the island of Sulawesi right in the center of Indonesia, a group of researchers came across a previously undocumented species of rodent. It was pretty easy too, considering the animal's uncanny appearance: what would otherwise look like a normal looking rat, but with the nostrils of a hog.
Scientists have developed devices that move us one step closer towards eliminating the need for animal testing. These working miniature artificial brains would be ideal for testing drugs research, neural tissue transplants, or experiments with stem cells.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the state of cactus populations around the world and found almost a third of all species are endangered. The report summarizes that human activity is threatening hundreds of species with extinction. This includes illegal trading, agriculture and aquaculture, but also land-use change.
In a monumental decision, British Petroleum (BP) was fined $20.8 billion for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; this upgrades the initial deal from the $18.7 that were previously discussed and represents the largest corporate settlement in US history. This money is additional to the reported $28 billion spent on cleanup and compensation.
China has set up an ambitious goal of getting 5 million or more electric cars on the streets, and this is not just a pipe dream - the government is taking active measures to speed up the production by building more charging stations.
In the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1987, hundreds of thousand had to move immediately without notice. Their lives changed forever. Many didn't have time to pack anything, as documented by the ghost towns around the fallout site still littered with toys, valuable items and other personal belongings. But while humans had much to suffer, the same can't be said about the wildlife. In the almost four decades since the dramatic disaster, wildlife and vegetation has simply sprung to life like never before. In some instances, there are more wildlife per square meter than in some of the busiest protected natural parks in neighboring Belarus. Turns out wildlife doesn't mind that much radiation - what they mind is humans.
An asteroid impact wiped out the dominant life forms on the planet, both on land and in the oceans, some 65 million years ago. Like in all matters of life, there are winners and losers, and incidentally those who had most to profit from the demise of the dinosaurs were also the weakest: mammals. Small, battered and restricted to only a couple of ecological niches, not only were the mammals more adapted to a post-apocalyptic Earth devoid of sunshine and with little food to spare, but once everything cleared they simply took over. Now, paleontologists have come across a totally new genus of ancient mammals that used to share the planet with the dinosaurs, but managed to survive the fallout and continued its lineage for millions of years after.
A group of NGOs has filled a lawsuit in federal court against a ridiculously controversial law which makes it illegal for any citizen to take samples or photograph open lands in public or private property. As such, a person who isn't acting under governmental approval - say a concerned citizen - can't take samples from a contaminated river, photograph it or collect any meaningful evidence in these lines for the purpose of alerting the authorities.
The third largest emitter of carbon emissions, India, pledged it would reduce its emissions relative to its GDP between 33 and 35% by 2030 relative to 2005. India, a rapidly developing country, will continue its industrial expansion which includes, of course, building more coal plants and releasing more carbon emissions than it does today, however what the government, in fact, pledges is decoupling emissions from economic growth. It's a sound victory for the planet, but to achieve its goals India will require help from developed nations. Hopefully, this might be possible under a common climate-protection framework on a global level which will be discussed in Paris during the UN talks scheduled in November.
After the recent Volkswagen fiasco which revealed that their cars emit much more than they should (and claimed), a new study revealed that diesel cars made by Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat, Volvo and many others also emit more.
The Scandinavian nation has set its mind on ridding itself of fossils fuels. To this end, the government announced it will increase spending on climate-protection measures for the next year bringing it to $546 million. That might not sound like much but Sweden is a small country which already uses energy very efficiently. It also gets three quarters of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources, mainly nuclear and hydro.
When it comes to human waste products and pollutants, plastic claims the crown. There are very few things our planet can throw at it to get rid of the polymer. It becomes bendy and rippy and shredy but it just won't go away. When you compound the resilience of this headstrong material with the sheer quantities of it that we dump into the oceans, it looks like a pretty one-sided battle that nature can't win, despite all our desperate efforts to increase recycling and take it out of landfills. But now it seems that mother nature still had a trick up her sleeve, and the non-biodegradable reign of plastic is about to come to an end, undermined by the heroic appetite of the mealworm.
Further increasing their conservation efforts, New Zealand will develop the world's largest oceanic sanctuary - twice as big as their entire country.
Enticed by warming waters, king crabs might soon make a run for Antarctica's continental shelf where they haven't been seen for at least 10 million years. As such, the fragile wildlife comprised of creatures like sea stars, sea worms, sponges, sea anemones, sea lilies and feather stars - all lacking protection against the crushing claws of the king crab - could face rapid annihilation.
Six years ago, at the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, things seemed to have taken a dire turn, with no solution in sight. Basically, no one really wanted to pledge anything significant. But then, Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, brought forth a proposal.
"Hey, what did you find" "We found a bio-florescent turtle!", a researcher triumphantly declared. David Gruber, a biologist at City University of New York, and colleagues made the find while diving in the Solomon Islands this July. Previously, researchers have found ever growing evidence of bio-luminescence and bio-fluorescence in the animal kingdom, from coral to seahorses, but this was the first time anyone has laid sight on a glowing reptile.
Even though wages today are higher than they were in the '70s, after you account for inflation these are only marginally better. At the same time, productivity has almost doubled according to a reported issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. In other words, despite the economy has significantly grown in the past 40 years, American workers got a pay cut - not a raise.
Endemic to Andes Mountains of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, the Andean Cat is one elusive feline. It's only been sighted a couple times in the wild, let alone photographed. Some researchers were lucky though after their camera traps photographed a gem: an adult and her kitten.
A new paper published Thursday in Science looks at how climate change is (out of all things) making the tongue of some bumble bees shrink. Two species of alpine bumbles in the Rocky Mountains already show a decrease in tongue volume of nearly 25 percent in the last 40 years; and smaller tongues could spell big trouble for the flowers that rely on bumble bees for pollination.
Deep in the Arctic, nestled inside an icy island lies one of humanity's backup plan: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Open in 2008, the center houses seeds from virtually all the plants on the planet be them wild, domesticated or genetically modified. In case of a global calamity of any kind (nuclear war *cough), these seeds would be put to good use if a species is faced with extinction or research is required on such seeds. This is precisely why the first withdrawal request from the vault was made by Syrian researchers.
California is currently experiencing its worst drought in over a millennium. Trillions of gallons of underground waters were lost in 2013 alone, and things are not looking up. Now, a new study has found that not even giant sequoias, majestic trees that have been living for centuries, are safe from the effects of this drought.
A while ago I wrote about how the fossil fuel divestment movement is gathering a huge momentum, as more and more funds, universities and companies are choosing to migrate their financial assets away from fossil. The movement is spearheaded by Bill McKibben, one of the founders of the 350.org group, who first organized rallies and lobbied key partners. "Almost from the start, academics have called it the fastest growing such anti-corporate campaign in history, and it’s clearly accelerating by the day,” said McKibben. But I don't even think McKibben himself predicted how far divestment would go. It was launched more like an awareness campaign on the dangers of global warming. It's grown fast, for sure, but this fast? Let me run some numbers: according to a report released by Arabella Advisors, $2.6 trillion in assets have moved away from fossil portfolios or 50 times more than last year. That's not just a dent anymore - that's serious cash!
Specialists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Colorado estimate that the effects of climate change are going to take a hefty toll on our economy -- $326 trillion in damage by the year 2200, roughly $201 million each hour, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
No kidding, Stanford researchers actually showed it's possible to cool solar panels by applying a special coating that reflects some of the heat back into space. The coating, called a photonic crystal cooling system, is transparent. This allows the light to reach the PV cells so these can generate energy, but - crucially - some of the heat is reflected back in space. It's so good that the researchers showed their PV panels can even stay below ambient temperature, which is incredible by itself. If you know a thing or two about solar panels, then you'll remember their efficiency is directly related to temperature. The cooler a panel is, the more of the sun's energy it can convert into electricity. And we're talking about a mere coating, which shouldn't be too difficult to scale. Bit by bit, you if you multiply the extra efficiency by millions of panels you end up with a huge useful energy gain. This may be a game changer.
A new species of plant-eating dinosaur was discovered in Alaska, a variety of hadrosaur -- duck-billed dinos that roamed in herds, said Pat Druckenmiller, earth sciences curator at the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks. Researchers named the creature Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis (oo-GROO'-nah-luk KOOK'-pik-en-sis), meaning "ancient grazer," chosen by scientists with assistance from speakers of Inupiaq, the language of Alaska Inupiat Eskimos.
Florida's farmlands are under attack by a highly destructive pest, the Oriental Fruit Fly, and authorities have quarantined some 85 square miles of land and the food grown there in an effort to contain the insect.
Americans are sending much more trash to landfills than federal agencies estimated - twice as much, according to a new study.
A video of an ape, breaking out of its cage and attacking; the victim -- a human scientist, that picks up a small red hammer and defends himself, battering the primate ran amok. It sounds like a pretty gruesome video, bound to have animal right's activists redouble their efforts to see the heartless jailers brought to justice. But hey, wait a minute... Apes don't wear sneakers.
Eight trillion microbeads are polluting the US waters every day. As the plastic beads are very small, they breach through the water filtration systems, affecting wildlife and ultimately, humans. The main culprit for this microbead invasion is the cosmetics industry, where the particles are used as exfoliating agents and in toothpastes.
This Wednesday, Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were engaged in a two hour long debate on CNN. In 120 minutes, climate change was only treated for three minutes, which to me is saddening since it shows the moderators care as little about the effects of climate change on this country and the world at large as the Republican Presidential candidates.
The world is at an extremely dangerous crossroads: if we keep using non-renewable hydrocarbons and coal the way we have, we'll be rising global temperatures to a point where the consequences are extremely dire, but in many parts of the world, renewable energy is simply not cheap enough, and people don't want to pay for it. Faced with this conundrum, we may have an unexpected ally that could solve our problems: nuclear energy.
The Arctic is overrun with giant mosquitoes: larger, furrier versions of the mosquitoes we all know and hate. As temperatures in the Arctic continue to rise, these mosquitoes can not only brood for a longer period of time, but they can survive more, in higher numbers. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences this is a major problem, and one that will continue to grow as the planet gets hotter.
Ok ok it's not technically called that, but the California Costal Cleanup Day is definitely something you should check out this Saturday if you like finding cool stuff and wish your beach looked less....garbage-y. For 31 years now, thousands of volunteers all over the world come together, put on the strongest pair of gloves they can find, and go scour the coast, lakes, rivers and their surroundings, picking up what we throw out the rest of the year.
The most detail study of its kind found air pollution is responsible 3.3 million premature deaths. Based on current trends of agricultural and industrial expansion, the study projects 6.6 million will succumb to soot and smog in 2050, or double today's death toll. Most of these fatalities will be registered in developing nations like India, Pakistan and China.
An experiment has found that domestic dogs have lost some of their problem solving abilities, and wolves currently do a much better job than them. In her paper published in the journal Biology Letters, they describe this result, and also offer a possible explanation.
The Netherlands has joined the list of European countries that have banned wild animals from their circuses. The Netherlands will be prohibiting the use of all wild animals for performance (except performance zoos).
As a new investigation showed today, the scientists of the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon Mobil knew about climate change back in the 70s - but they still helped block the Kyoto protocol in the 90s, and invest massive amounts of money into climate skepticism propaganda. Today, 9 out of 10 funded climate change deniers can be linked to Exxon.
Corn farmers around the world owe bats at least $1 billion, seeing how they ward off pests like insects. The findings were made by a group at Southern Illinois University who devised an experimental exclosure in order to estimate bats' contribution to pest control.
Bee numbers have been dropping at alarming rates, and the growing consensus seem to be that only limiting pesticide use (especially for some pesticides) can save them. Now, a US court overturned federal approval for a new formulation called sulfoxaflor, basically banning the pesticide.
Hydrogen is a great medium for storing energy. It can be used as an alternative to batteries to store the excess energy from renewable energy systems like solar panels or wind turbines, and can be released from a tank to power a vehicle equipped with fuel cells. More than a decade ago, these prospects hyped the so called "hydrogen economy". Governments and funding agencies drew up ambitious plans to develop cheaper fuel cells and to enable cars to store practicable quantities of hydrogen. In 2003, President George Bush committed $720 million to the research effort. But eventually... it all turned out to be a pipeline dream mostly because of two shortcomings: hydrogen is very expensive to store and make; from renewable sources at least.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the slumping price of oil - the lowest in six years - and what this entails for the industry: half a trillion in debt collectively owed by 168 companies, more than $200 billion in shelved exploration and research projects, and hundreds of thousands of jobs sacked. You'd think that producers, pressured by these tough times, would cut production. The laughing matter is that, in fact, the whole ordeal is caused by producers (*cough Saudis) who have flooded the market with oil. In the short run, everybody is bound to lose money. On the long run.. well, we might be in for some dramatic shifts no sooner than two or three years from now. There will definitely be some sore losers.
According to a new study published in Nature Climate Change, the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains has reached the lowest levels in the past 500 years, underscoring the severe drought that is already affecting the state.
The world is heating up, that's no longer up for debate, but there are many ways through which we can discuss how much the planet has warmed. You can calculate global averages, chart rising levels, discuss freak weather events, but that's all difficult to understand and sometimes debatable.
Motivated by the love for their native lands and armed with bows, arrows, GPS trackers and camera traps, an indigenous community in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what officials couldn't - stop illegal logging in their part of the Amazon.
The Antarctic Ocean has been sucking more and more carbon dioxide - and this is both good news and bad news. For the Ocean's inhabitants, it's bad news because it increases acidity, which is extremely harmful; for everyone else, it's good news, because it mitigates the effects of climate change.
An innovative 'kirigami' design allows solar cells to flex and twist to follow the sun throughout the day. This means 20 to 40 percent more energy per year generate than cells stacked in fixed panels you see on rooftops. The design is based on origami, with the addition of cutting besides from folding.
