'Bloodsicles', baths keep Philippine zoo animals cool as heat wave hits:
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| 'Bloodsicles', baths keep Philippine zoo animals cool as heat wave hits - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · A Philippine zoo is giving tigers frozen treats made of animal blood and preventing lions from mating during the hottest time of the day as a heat wave scorches the country.
Unusually hot weather has sent temperatures in the capital Manila to a record high in recent days and forced schools across the archipelago nation to suspend in-person classes.
As people flock to air-conditioned shopping malls and swimming pools for relief from the extreme heat, animals at Manila Zoo are also trying to cool off.
Preventing heat stroke, particularly among the big cats, was the "main priority", zoo veterinarian Dave Vinas told AFP on Tuesday when the mercury hit 37 degrees ... Read more ...
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8 years into America’s e-scooter experiment, what have we learned?:
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| 8 years into America’s e-scooter experiment, what have we learned? - Yale Climate Connections - Transportation |
Apr 30 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
When the sharing economy took off in the 2010s and upended entire industries, the firmest proponents of the model heralded it as an economic revolution that would help slash emissions. Of all the ideas that emerged and dissolved over the years, shareable electric scooters seemed to possess the most promise for climate. Almost anyone with a smartphone and a credit card could grab one and ride it down the block or across town, eschewing automobiles.
Yet, as the industry matures and Lime - which, with operations in 280 cities worldwide, is the biggest ... Read more ...
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A better way to describe the carbon removal industry:
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| A better way to describe the carbon removal industry - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
Apr 26 · Join the weekly newsletter â–º https://airminers.com/newsletter\n\nOur vision is a thriving human civilization on Earth.\nWe exist to empower risk takers to reverse climate change.\nAirMiners provides the catalytic infrastructure for innovators working to remove a billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2030. | By Tito - AirMiners Read more ...
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A clock in the rocks: What cosmic rays tell us about Earth's changing surface and climate:
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| A clock in the rocks: What cosmic rays tell us about Earth's changing surface and climate - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try to improve projections to prepare communities for hazardous events in the future.
We rely on instrumental measurements, but such records are often short. To extend these, we use geological archives. And at the heart of this research is geochronology—a toolkit of geological dating methods that allow us to assign absolute ages to rocks.
In recent years, we have been using a state-of-the-art technique known as cosmogenic surface exposure dating which allows us to quantify the time a rock has spent on the surface, exposed to signals from outer space.
Using cosmic rays as a clock
Earth is ... Read more ...
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A new roadmap to close the carbon cycle:
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| A new roadmap to close the carbon cycle - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 1 · Led by chemist Wendy Shaw of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a multi-institutional effort has produced a new roadmap to reducing emissions in hard-to-electrify segments of the economy. The multifaceted approach includes developing non-carbon fuels, finding non-fossil sources of carbon, and keeping carbon in play once it enters the cycle, ideally resulting in multiple uses of each carbon atom.
Single-use carbon can no longer be widespread, the roadmap authors assert. The carbon must be kept in play through a circular economy where each carbon atom is used numerous times. The carbon can be reused within the same industrial sector or act as a feedstock for a new ... Read more ...
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A rare and little-known group of monkeys could help save Africa's tropical forests:
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| A rare and little-known group of monkeys could help save Africa's tropical forests - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · At a time when hunting of wildlife and habitat loss are driving long-term changes to ecosystems, including stark wildlife population declines and greater vulnerability to climate change and zoonotic disease transmission, the scientists identified red colobus monkeys as key indicators of tropical forest health and flagships for local and international conservation initiatives.
Writing in the journal Conservation Letters, the authors focus on five priority action areas:
The above actions build on the Red Colobus Conservation Action Plan, initiated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group and the ... Read more ...
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A virus could help save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by fracking:
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| A virus could help save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by fracking - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · In a new study published in the journal Water, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have identified a novel means of treating the wastewater generated by oil and gas production: bacteriophages.
Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral candidate within UTEP's chemistry program, is the first author on the publication, detailing how bacteriophages, viruses that are often highly specific and lethal to a single species of bacteria, can be used as a rapid and cost-effective method to treat produced water on an industrial scale.
Sánchez said if the work is successful, it would give the oil and gas industry a means of treating, reusing and recycling ... Read more ...
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A Virus Could Help Save Billions of Gallons of Wastewater Produced by Fracking:
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| A Virus Could Help Save Billions of Gallons of Wastewater Produced by Fracking - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report by the Texas Produced Water Consortium. The major waste stream has proved both difficult and costly to treat because of the chemical complexity of the water.
In a new study published in the journal Water, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have identified a novel means of treating the wastewater generated by oil and gas production: bacteriophages.
Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral candidate within UTEP's chemistry program, is the first author on the publication, detailing how ... Read more ...
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Allergy symptoms got you down? Blame pollen AND air pollution.:
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| Allergy symptoms got you down? Blame pollen AND air pollution. - Yale Climate Connections - Health |
May 1 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
You are not alone if every pollen season feels worse than the year before.
Pollen season is starting earlier and lasting longer, and even those previously unaffected are noticing its impacts. Across the globe, allergic reactions to pollen have increased in frequency and severity over the last several decades.
The evidence is clear to the naked eye: the dusting of yellow-green powder on outdoor patio furniture and cars parked on the street and the itchy eyes, runny noses, and sleepless nights starting weeks earlier than in the ... Read more ...
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Alphabet, Meta and others are paying $58.3 million to bury sludge:
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| Alphabet, Meta and others are paying $58.3 million to bury sludge - Greenbiz |
May 1 · Corporate buyers’ group Frontier contracts with startup using deep wells to store waste that would otherwise emit methane or CO2.
The Vaulted Deep well head in Kansas. Source: Vaulted Deep
A corporate buyers group founded by Alphabet, Meta, Shopify and Stripe disclosed a $58.3 million contract to bury waste sludge in deep underground wells to prevent it from emitting carbon dioxide and methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2.
The agreement provides for the equivalent of 152,480 metric tons of carbon dioxide to be stored between 2024 and 2027 - starting with 20,000 tons this year. The companies will count credits related to the stored CO2 toward ... | By Heather Clancy Read more ...
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Amazon reports strong 1Q results driven by its cloud-computing unit and Prime Video ad dollars:
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| Amazon reports strong 1Q results driven by its cloud-computing unit and Prime Video ad dollars - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 1 · Amazon on Tuesday reported strong results for the first quarter, driven by growth in its cloud-computing unit and new advertising dollars from its Prime Video streaming service.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said it brought in $143.31 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year, a 13% jump compared to the same period last year. Net income came out to $10.43 billion, or 98 cents per share. That soundly beat Wall Street analysts' expectations for 84 cents a share, according to FactSet.
"It was a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience improvements and financial results," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said ... Read more ...
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An AI model to reduce uncertainty in evapotranspiration prediction:
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| An AI model to reduce uncertainty in evapotranspiration prediction - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · ET includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However, measuring ET is challenging. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presents a computer model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for ET prediction based on remote sensing estimates.
"Ground-based ET estimates capture the local fluxes of water transferred to the atmosphere but are limited in scale. In contrast, satellite data provide ET information on a global ... Read more ...
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April temperatures in Bangladesh hottest on record:
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| April temperatures in Bangladesh hottest on record - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Bangladesh's weather bureau said Wednesday that last month was the hottest April on record, with the South Asian nation and much of the region still enduring a suffocating heat wave.
Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
Punishing heat last month prompted Bangladesh's government to close schools across the country, keeping an estimated 32 million students at home.
"This year the heat wave covered around 80 percent of the country. We've not seen such unbroken and expansive heat waves before," Bangladesh Meteorological Department senior forecaster Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik told AFP. Read more ...
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Astronomers Share Climate-Friendly Meeting Solutions:
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| Astronomers Share Climate-Friendly Meeting Solutions - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Carbon emissions associated with air travel to professional conferences make up a sizable fraction of the emissions produced by researchers in academia. Andrea Gokus, a McDonnell Center postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is advocating for a reduction of these emissions.
In a paper published in PNAS Nexus, Gokus and collaborators estimated the CO2-equivalent emissions for conference travel to all 362 open meetings in the field of astronomy in 2019.
The total is an estimated 42,500 tons, or about 1 ton per participant per meeting. But it doesn't have to be that way.
"Networking and discussing new ... Read more ...
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Atmospheric 'teleconnections' sustain warm blobs in the northeast Pacific Ocean:
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| Atmospheric 'teleconnections' sustain warm blobs in the northeast Pacific Ocean - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · The first warm patch discovered in the northeast Pacific Ocean was the "Blob" event of 2013–2016, followed by another warm blob in 2019–2020.
The Blob stretched from coastal Alaska to the Baja region of California, with sea surface temperatures as much as 6°C above normal. Vital fish stocks such as sockeye salmon and Pacific cod were impacted, and the event saw geographical shifts of a number of species, including phytoplankton, as well as the closures of important fisheries and mass strandings of marine mammals and seabirds. But some species increased in numbers, such as pyrosomes, bioluminescent colonies of millimeter-sized individuals and commonly called ... Read more ...
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Believing environmental damage is done by others can cause 'race to the bottom':
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| Believing environmental damage is done by others can cause 'race to the bottom' - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Common-pool resources, such as forests, fisheries, and groundwater, need to be managed effectively to reduce over-harvesting and environmental damage. Researchers knew that strong boundaries around a community's common-pool resource could promote effective management, but they weren't exactly sure why.
The new research—in collaboration with mangrove-dependent communities in Tanzania—reveals that boundaries don't just keep others out, but also promote good conservation practices by community members.
Without effective boundaries, communities can be subject to theft from neighbors. The study reveals that if they then believe that this theft is causing ... Read more ...
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Big data reveals true climate impact of worldwide air travel:
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| Big data reveals true climate impact of worldwide air travel - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · When countries signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty, high-income countries were required to report their aviation-related emissions. But 151 middle and lower income countries, including China and India, were not required to report these emissions, although they could do so voluntarily.
This matters because the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change relies on country reports of emissions during negotiations on country-specific emissions cuts.
"Our work fills the reporting gap, so that this can inform policy and hopefully improve future negotiations," says Jan Klenner, a Ph.D. candidate at NTNU's Industrial Ecology ... Read more ...
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Big Data Reveals True Climate Impact of Worldwide Air Travel:
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| Big Data Reveals True Climate Impact of Worldwide Air Travel - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · For the first time ever, researchers have harnessed the power of big data to calculate the per-country greenhouse gas emissions from aviation for 197 countries covered by an international treaty on climate change.
When countries signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty, high-income countries were required to report their aviation-related emissions. But 151 middle and lower income countries, including China and India, were not required to report these emissions, although they could do so voluntarily.
This matters because the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change relies on country reports of emissions during negotiations ... Read more ...
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Bigger brains allow cliff-nesting seagull species to survive and thrive in urban environments:
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| Bigger brains allow cliff-nesting seagull species to survive and thrive in urban environments - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · The findings come in a broad-ranging study by ecologists at the University of Exeter looking at potential relationships between brain size, wing shape, nesting habits and the use of urban areas. It suggests that species such as the herring gull, the lesser black-backed gull and the black-legged kittiwake possess a behavioral flexibility that enables them to nest in more challenging locations.
The study, "From the sea to the city: explaining gulls' use of urban habitats," has been published in the latest edition of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
"Many people will be familiar with gulls nesting and foraging in urban areas," says lead author Dr. Madeleine Goumas, ... Read more ...
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Can Forests Be More Profitable Than Beef?:
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| Can Forests Be More Profitable Than Beef? - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 2 · Cattle ranches have ruled the Amazon for decades. Now, new companies are selling something else: the ability of trees to lock away planet-warming carbon.
Forest restoration workers planted native Amazonian seedlings on degraded pastureland in Mãe do Rio, Brazil.Credit...
Manuela Andreoni visited restoration projects and ranches in the northern Amazon to understand how local economies there are changing.
The residents of Maracaçumé, an impoverished town on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, are mystified by the company that recently bought the biggest ranch in the region. How can it possibly make money by planting trees, which executives say they’ll never cut down, ... | By Manuela Andreoni Read more ...
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Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away:
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| Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 1 · Carrie Clark’s cat mysteriously went missing, causing her and her husband to panic. They posted on social media and distributed fliers in and around their neighborhood in Lehi, Utah.
“We were frantically searching for her for a week,” said Clark, whose 6-year-old indoor shorthair cat, Galena, disappeared on April 10. “We tore our home up trying to find her.” Read more ...
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Charge Big Oil with conspiracy, former tobacco prosecutor says:
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| Charge Big Oil with conspiracy, former tobacco prosecutor says - Heated World |
May 1 · A former U.S. Department of Justice attorney who prosecuted and won the massive racketeering case against Big Tobacco said she believes the DOJ now has enough evidence to pursue a conspiracy case against Big Oil.
Sharon Eubanks, who now runs her own law firm, made the comments in response to questioning by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at today’s Senate Budget Committee’s hearing on fossil fuel industry disinformation. The hearing was called as a complement to the boatload of new internal oil industry documents released yesterday.
“If a large corporation knowingly produces a product that gets me sick or kills me,” said Sanders, “what are the legal grounds that we can ... Read more ...
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Climate Change and Mercury Pollution Stressed Plants for Millions of Years:
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| Climate Change and Mercury Pollution Stressed Plants for Millions of Years - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · The link between massive flood basalt volcanism and the end-Triassic (201 million years ago) mass-extinction is commonly accepted. However, exactly how volcanism led to the collapse of ecosystems and the extinction of entire families of organisms is difficult to establish. Extreme climate change from the release of carbon dioxide, degradation of the ozone layer due to the injection of damaging chemicals, and the emissions of toxic pollutants, are all seen as contributing factors. One toxic element stands out: mercury. As one of the most toxic elements on Earth, Hg is a metal that is emitted from volcanoes in gaseous form, and thus has the capacity to spread worldwide. A new study in ... Read more ...
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Climate change lengthens, intensifies the blooming of holm oak and other Quercus species: Study:
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| Climate change lengthens, intensifies the blooming of holm oak and other Quercus species: Study - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · How does climate change affect pollen allergy? Relating the effects of global warming to variations in the blooming patterns of species of the genus Quercus in Andalusia was the objective of one of the latest efforts by the Systemic and Applied Botany research group at the University of Cordoba.
"We chose Quercus because it is the most representative tree in Andalusia in the natural environment, and it is an anemophilic tree (pollinated by the wind) found where there are very high concentrations of pollen in the atmosphere, so it is a good bioindicator to study the impact of climate change on blooming," said researcher Pura Alcázar, who co-authored the work with fellow ... Read more ...
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Climate change threatens Africa’s rhinos:
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| Climate change threatens Africa’s rhinos - Yale Climate Connections - Ecosystems |
May 1 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
In the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa, few animals are as instantly recognizable as the rhinoceros.
But both black and white rhinos have been under intense pressure from poaching and habitat loss, which have pushed these species close to extinction.
And a new study warns that rhinos now face another threat - climate change.
National parks like Kruger in South Africa and Etosha in Namibia, home to some of the last rhinos in Africa, are expected to get hotter in coming decades.
Randhir: “Rhinos need really unique ... Read more ...
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Climate is one culprit in growth and spread of dust in Middle East:
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| Climate is one culprit in growth and spread of dust in Middle East - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · Dust levels have increased in many parts of the Middle East chiefly due to global warming, but other human activities also share credit, says Zahra Kalantari, associate professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She cites such factors as oil extraction, military conflicts and lack of cross-border coordination of water management.
Analyzing multiple sets of data over the last 40 years, the researchers found an increase in dust levels in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, parts of Iran and Egypt and countries around the Persian Gulf, while it has declined in northern Iran and southwest Turkey.
The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in northern Iraq and along the ... Read more ...
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Clouds blanket the night side of the hot exoplanet WASP-43b:
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| Clouds blanket the night side of the hot exoplanet WASP-43b - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Violent winds transport the searing hot air to the nightside, where it cools to 600°C, allowing clouds to form and blanket the entire hemisphere. These tempests impair chemical reactions so much that methane can barely form, even though it should be abundant under calmer conditions.
Hot Jupiters are extreme gas giant exoplanets that orbit their host stars in close proximity, leading to several exotic properties regarding temperature, density, composition, chemistry, and weather. With the advent of groundbreakingly sensitive telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have begun to study their atmospheres in great detail.
An international ... Read more ...
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Corn to Power Airplanes? Biden Administration Sets a High Bar.:
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| Corn to Power Airplanes? Biden Administration Sets a High Bar. - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 30 · Producers of biofuels like ethanol, which could help create a new generation of jet fuel, would have to overhaul their practices to receive tax credits.
In a move aimed at lowering the greenhouse gas emissions of air travel, the Biden administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines for how fuel producers - and in particular, makers of ethanol from corn - could qualify for tax credits under a plan to increase the supply of so-called sustainable aviation fuel.
It’s especially difficult to transition airplanes away from traditional jet fuel because there are so few affordable alternatives capable of getting a plane off the ground. The global aviation sector accounts for ... | By Max Bearak and Dionne Searcey Read more ...
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Cost-effective, high-capacity and cyclable lithium-ion battery cathodes:
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| Cost-effective, high-capacity and cyclable lithium-ion battery cathodes - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · The energy capacity and charge-recharge cycling (cyclability) of lithium-iron-oxide, a cost-effective cathode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, is improved by adding small amounts of abundant elements. The development, achieved by researchers at Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, and Nagoya Institute of Technology, is reported in the journal ACS Materials Letters.
Lithium-ion batteries have become indispensable in modern life, used in a multitude of applications including mobile phones, electric vehicles, and large power storage systems.
A constant research effort is underway to increase their capacity, efficiency, and sustainability. A major ... Read more ...
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Drought That Snarled Panama Canal Was Linked to El Niño, Study Finds:
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| Drought That Snarled Panama Canal Was Linked to El Niño, Study Finds - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 1 · The low water levels that choked cargo traffic were more closely tied to the natural climate cycle than to human-caused warming, a team of scientists has concluded.
The recent drought in the Panama Canal was driven not by global warming but by below-normal rainfall linked to the natural climate cycle El Niño, an international team of scientists has concluded.
Low reservoir levels have slowed cargo traffic in the canal for most of the past year. Without enough water to raise and lower ships, officials last summer had to slash the number of vessels they allowed through, creating expensive headaches for shipping companies worldwide. Only in recent months have crossings ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
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E-Bike Incentives Prove to Be Worth the Investment:
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| E-Bike Incentives Prove to Be Worth the Investment - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Electric bicycle rebates have exploded in popularity in North America as transportation planners try to get people out of their cars and into healthier, more climate-friendly alternatives. However, there is limited understanding of the full impacts of these incentives.
Are new cycling habits sustainable? Who benefits most from these incentives? And are they worth the cost?
Reduced car travel
The Saanich program, available in 2021 and 2022, offered three different rebates to offset the cost of new e-bikes, depending on one's income. The basic rebate amounted to $350, while the lowest-income households could receive up to $1,600.
Results showed a significant ... Read more ...
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Earth-Like Environment On Ancient Mars:
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| Earth-Like Environment On Ancient Mars - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · "It is difficult for manganese oxide to form on the surface of Mars, so we didn't expect to find it in such high concentrations in a shoreline deposit," said Patrick Gasda, of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Science and Applications group and lead author on the study. "On Earth, these types of deposits happen all the time because of the high oxygen in our atmosphere produced by photosynthetic life, and from microbes that help catalyze those manganese oxidation reactions.
"On Mars, we don't have evidence for life, and the mechanism to produce oxygen in Mars's ancient atmosphere is unclear, so how the manganese oxide was formed and concentrated here is really puzzling. ... Read more ...
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Electric cars pile up at European ports as Chinese firms struggle to find buyers:
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| Electric cars pile up at European ports as Chinese firms struggle to find buyers - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · However, Chinese cars are facing difficulties in finding buyers in Europe. Imported cars, many of which are Chinese electric vehicles, are piling up at European ports, with some spending up to 18 months in port car parks as manufacturers struggle to get them onto people's driveways.
Why is this, though? Chinese electric vehicles in particular are getting positive reviews. Having driven them myself, I can attest to them matching, or even exceeding, the well-known European brands in range, quality and technology.
But entering an established market as a challenger is a complex operation. Chinese makers will have to contend with buyer wariness, a lack of brand image, trade ... Read more ...
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Electric vehicles are usually safer for their occupants - but not necessarily for everyone else, says researcher:
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| Electric vehicles are usually safer for their occupants - but not necessarily for everyone else, says researcher - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 1 · Public opinion about EV crash safety often hinges on a few high-profile fire incidents. Those safety concerns are arguably misplaced, and the actual safety of EVs is more nuanced.
EVs and internal combustion vehicles undergo the same crash-testing procedures to evaluate their crashworthiness and occupant protection. These tests are conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
These analyses use crash test dummies representing midsize male and small female occupants to evaluate the risk of injuries. The tests can evaluate fire hazard either caused by thermal runaway—when ... Read more ...
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Electricity from farm waste: How biogas could help Malawians with no power:
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| Electricity from farm waste: How biogas could help Malawians with no power - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · Decentralized household and community scale renewable energy systems like biogas plants may provide a solution. Ehiaze Ehimen and Thomas Robin study energy efficiency and energy poverty in marginalized communities. They unpack what they found in their research into the potential role of small biogas plants in meeting rural energy needs.
Why are biogas plants such a good idea?
Biogas plants are easy to set up and can be relatively inexpensive. They use readily available materials such as manure and vegetable waste, and can be built with cement and bricks. They could potentially be used to meet the electricity needs of households and small communities, especially in rural ... Read more ...
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Enceladus spills its guts through strike–slip motion:
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| Enceladus spills its guts through strike–slip motion - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · At Enceladus's south pole, a large number of jets spray icy particles out from a set of jagged, 150-kilometer-long faults—known as the tiger-stripe faults—and this ejected material coalesces above the moon's surface to form a plume. Samples of this plume material analyzed by NASA's Cassini mission suggests that the chemical conditions believed to be necessary for life may exist in the ocean deep beneath Enceladus's surface.
Now, new research led by graduate student Alexander Berne (MS '22), working with Mark Simons, the John W. and Herberta M. Miles Professor of Geophysics and director of the Brinson Exploration Hub at Caltech, uses a detailed geophysical model to ... Read more ...
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Engineered increase in mesophyll conductance improves photosynthetic efficiency in field trial:
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| Engineered increase in mesophyll conductance improves photosynthetic efficiency in field trial - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · CO2 faces barriers as it moves through the leaf, including its own cell walls. Researchers from the Long Lab found that by increasing permeability and slightly reducing the thickness of cell walls, they could increase CO2 diffusion and uptake in a model crop.
"This is one of the few successful tests of concept showing that we can engineer an increase in mesophyll conductance and have it result in increased photosynthesis in the field," said Coralie Salesse-Smith, a postdoctoral researcher in Long Lab and lead author on a paper about the research, published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.
"Theory shows us that increasing mesophyll conductance to increase ... Read more ...
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EPA underestimates methane emissions from landfills and urban areas, researchers find:
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| EPA underestimates methane emissions from landfills and urban areas, researchers find - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · "Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide so it's really important that we quantify methane emissions at the highest possible resolution to pinpoint what sources it is coming from," said Hannah Nesser, a former Ph.D. student at SEAS and first author of the paper. Nesser is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow in the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The EPA estimates that landfills are the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the U.S., but the EPA uses a bottom-up accounting method that often doesn't match observations of atmospheric methane.
The EPA methane ... Read more ...
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EPA Underestimates Methane Emissions from Landfills, Urban Areas:
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| EPA Underestimates Methane Emissions from Landfills, Urban Areas - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is underestimating methane emissions from landfills, urban areas and U.S. states, according to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
"Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide so it's really important that we quantify methane emissions at the highest possible resolution to pinpoint what sources it is coming from," said Hannah Nesser, a former PhD student at SEAS and first author of the paper. Nesser is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow in the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Group at the Jet Propulsion ... Read more ...
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EU gifts companies a two-year delay on sustainability disclosures:
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| EU gifts companies a two-year delay on sustainability disclosures - Greenbiz |
May 1 · The delay grants companies more time before they’re expected to disclose ESG impacts and data under new reporting regulations.
The delay gives more time to companies that must report sector-specific climate impacts. Source: wutzkohphoto via Shutterstock
The European Council said on Tuesday that it will defer by two years the adoption of sector-specific sustainability reporting standards for EU companies under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
The delay also applies to non-EU companies operating in the region.
This means that U.S.-based companies that were preparing for the first time to disclose Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and other ... | By Leah Garden Read more ...
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Every breath you take: Following the journey of inhaled plastic particle pollution:
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| Every breath you take: Following the journey of inhaled plastic particle pollution - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Led by Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Suvash Saha, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) research team has used computational fluid-particle dynamics (CFPD) to study the transfer and deposition of nano and microplastic particles of different sizes and shapes depending on the rate of breathing.
The results of the modeling, published in the journal Environmental Advances, have pinpointed hotspots in the human respiratory system where plastic particles can accumulate, from the nasal cavity and larynx and into the lungs. The paper is titled, "Transport and deposition of microplastics and nanoplastics in the human respiratory tract."
Dr. Saha said evidence ... Read more ...
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Exploiting disorder to harvest heat energy: The potentialities of 2D magnets for thermoelectric applications:
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| Exploiting disorder to harvest heat energy: The potentialities of 2D magnets for thermoelectric applications - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · However, despite more than 100 years of intense research, thermoelectric efficiencies are still lower than that of conventional heat engines, making thermoelectrics only suitable for niche applications.
That is why one of the main endeavors of scientists today is to find new strategies to improve this efficiency. Our latest article "Impact of spin-entropy on the thermoelectric properties of a 2D magnet," published in Nano Letters, demonstrates that a solution could lie in circuits based on two-dimensional (2D) magnetic layers.
Tuning the entropy in magnets
Thermoelectric properties are significantly influenced by entropy, which quantifies the disorder in a system. ... Read more ...
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Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors:
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| Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors - Union of Concerned Scientists - Energy |
Apr 30 · Even casual followers of energy and climate issues have probably heard about the alleged wonders of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). This is due in no small part to the “nuclear bros”: an active and seemingly tireless group of nuclear power advocates who dominate social media discussions on energy by promoting SMRs and other “advanced” nuclear technologies as the only real solution for the climate crisis. But as I showed in my 2013 and 2021 reports, the hype surrounding SMRs is way overblown, and my conclusions remain valid today.Unfortunately, much of this SMR happy talk is rooted in misinformation, which always brings me back to the same question: If the nuclear bros have ... Read more ...
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Flooding in a Kenyan Natural Reserve Forces Tourist Evacuation:
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| Flooding in a Kenyan Natural Reserve Forces Tourist Evacuation - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 1 · The heavy rains that pounded East Africa for weeks, killing hundreds, have spilled into the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.
Mohamed Ahmed reported from Mombasa, Kenya, and Emma Bubola from London.
Devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands more in East Africa are now inundating parts of the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.
On Wednesday, the Telek River broke its banks and overflowed into parts of the natural reserve, flooding many tourist camps. A spokesman for the Kenyan Red Cross, Munir Ahmed, said that more than 90 people have been evacuated, some by ... | By Mohamed Ahmed and Emma Bubola Read more ...
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Floods strand dozens of tourists in Kenya's Maasai Mara:
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| Floods strand dozens of tourists in Kenya's Maasai Mara - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Nearly 100 tourists were among people marooned after a river overflowed in Kenya's famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve following a heavy downpour, a local administrator said Wednesday, as the death toll from flood-related disasters neared 180.
Torrential rains, amplified by the El Niño weather pattern, have lashed much of the East African country and destroyed roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
"Approximately 100 or more tourists" were stranded in more than a dozen lodges, hotels and camps, Narok West sub-county administrator Stephen Nakola told AFP.
"That is the preliminary number as of now because some of the camps are unaccessible," he said.
The ... Read more ...
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For Microscopic Organisms, Ocean Currents Act as 'Expressway' to Deeper Depths:
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| For Microscopic Organisms, Ocean Currents Act as 'Expressway' to Deeper Depths - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · Some of the ocean's tiniest organisms get swept into underwater currents that act as a conduit that shuttles them from the sunny surface to deeper, darker depths where they play a huge role in affecting the ocean's chemistry and ecosystem, according to new research.
"We found that because these organisms are so small, they can be swept up by ocean currents that then bring them deeper than where they grow," said Mara Freilich, an assistant professor in Brown University's Division of Applied Mathematics and Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences who launched the work as a Ph.D. student a joint program at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "It's ... Read more ...
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For microscopic organisms, ocean currents act as 'expressway' to deeper depths, study finds:
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| For microscopic organisms, ocean currents act as 'expressway' to deeper depths, study finds - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · "We found that because these organisms are so small, they can be swept up by ocean currents that then bring them deeper than where they grow," said Mara Freilich, an assistant professor in Brown University's Division of Applied Mathematics and Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences who launched the work as a Ph.D. student a joint program at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "It's often a one-way trip for these organisms, but by taking this trip, they play a critical role in connecting different parts of the ocean."
Freilich conducted the research during her Ph.D. with Amala Mahadevan, senior scientist at Woods Hole, in a close collaboration ... Read more ...
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Former school gets new life as an energy-efficient shopping center:
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| Former school gets new life as an energy-efficient shopping center - Yale Climate Connections - Energy |
Apr 30 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
In Colorado Springs, Colorado, an old, closed elementary school has been retrofitted with a new heating system and efficient LED lighting. Now called Lincoln Center, it’s home to a bakery, brewery, barber, coffee shop, and other businesses.
Phillips: “The hallways … are where people sit to have coffee now. It’s just a really neat reuse of this property.”
Tracy Phillips is with the Colorado Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy or C-PACE program, which helped finance the property’s retrofits.
C-PACE programs, which exist in about ... Read more ...
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Four myths about vertical farming debunked by an expert:
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| Four myths about vertical farming debunked by an expert - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · Typically, this soilless cultivation happens in huge greenhouses or warehouses, with plants stacked high on rows and rows of shelves. Parameters such as lighting, temperature and humidity can be controlled by computer systems, so vertical farming is sometimes called controlled environment agriculture.
There are three types of vertical farming. In hydroponics, plant roots are held in a liquid nutrient solution. In aeroponics, roots are exposed to the air and a nutrient-rich mist or spray is applied to the roots. In aquaponics, nutrients from fish farm waste replace some or all of the chemical fertilizers being delivered to plants through hydroponics.
There's huge scope to ... Read more ...
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Fungal resistance in plants associated with heritable differences in microbiota abundances:
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| Fungal resistance in plants associated with heritable differences in microbiota abundances - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Sunflowers can be harvested for a number of products including seeds and oil, for which consumer demand has increased significantly in recent years. They may also contribute to climate resilience, researchers note, since they can adapt to various weather conditions, and sunflower sprouts contain nutrients that can promote human health.
Unfortunately, like many other plants, sunflowers are susceptible to disease, which can cause significant crop losses. For example, white mold, which is caused by the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is responsible for average annual sunflower crop losses of more than 1%. It can also affect beans, eggplants, lettuce, peanuts, potatoes ... Read more ...
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G7 offers tepid response to appeal for “bolder” climate action:
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| G7 offers tepid response to appeal for “bolder” climate action - Climate Change News - Finance |
Apr 30 · Climate and energy ministers from G7 nations agreed a coal exit deadline – with a caveat, but made little progress on other fossil fuels and finance
Climate and energy ministers from G7 countries speaking after a summit in Turin. Photo: G7 Italy
When UN climate chief Simon Stiell addressed climate and energy ministers from the G7 group of rich nations on Monday, he issued a frank message: “It is utter nonsense to claim the G7 cannot – or should not – lead the way on bolder climate actions.”
He added those countries should be “leading from the front” through much deeper emissions cuts, and bigger and better climate finance.
A day later, the ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ...
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G7 to phase out coal-fired power plants by mid-2030s:
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| G7 to phase out coal-fired power plants by mid-2030s - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · G7 ministers agreed a timeframe Tuesday for phasing out coal-fired power plants, setting as a goal the mid-2030s, in a move hailed as significant by some environmentalists but slammed as "too late" by others.
The Group of Seven two-day meeting in Turin was the first big political session since the world pledged at the UN's COP28 annual climate summit in Dubai in December to transition away from coal, oil and gas.
The G7 commits to "phase out existing unabated coal power generation in our energy systems during the first half of 2030s," the final statement from energy and climate ministers read.
However it left some wiggle room, saying nations could follow "a ... Read more ...
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Good vibrations: Low-energy lasers induce atomic excitation in semiconductor materials:
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| Good vibrations: Low-energy lasers induce atomic excitation in semiconductor materials - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · By leveraging intense and broad-band ultrafast terahertz pulses, scientists from Yokohama National University and their colleagues at the California Institute of Technology have demonstrated atomic excitation in a two-dimensional semiconductor material, advancing the development of electronic devices.
Their paper was published on March 19 and appears as an Editor's Pick in the journal Applied Physics Letters.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials, or sheet-like nanomaterials, are promising platforms for future semiconductor applications due to their unique electronic properties. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), a prominent group of 2D materials, consist of layers of ... Read more ...
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GOP Senator accidentally creates amazing ad for climate activists:
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| GOP Senator accidentally creates amazing ad for climate activists - Heated World |
May 2 · Geoffrey Supran, the director of the Climate Accountability Lab at the University of Miami, is one of the country’s foremost experts on climate disinformation.
That’s why the former Harvard researcher was called to testify in the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing yesterday, titled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.”
Supran’s opening statement for the hearing included 120 cited sources, all of which he said “clearly demonstrate that the fossil fuel regime has deliberately denied Americans and Congress their right to be accurately informed about the climate crisis, just as tobacco companies ... Read more ...
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Habitats much more vulnerable for nitrogen deposition than previously thought:
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| Habitats much more vulnerable for nitrogen deposition than previously thought - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · A group of researchers, led by Wageningen University & Research (WUR), show the decrease of habitat quality in relation to an increasing nitrogen deposition. In an article in Environmental Pollution, they claim the critical load for nitrogen depositions is too high.
"We already knew the critical loads for nitrogen deposition for habitat types," principal investigator Wieger Wamelink explains, "but we did not know what happens with the vegetation beyond that critical load. Would the decline be quick or more gradually?"
As it turns out it depends on the habitat type how quick the decline of specific plant species is, some have a very rapid decline, while others have a more ... Read more ...
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Heat wave swells Asia's appetite for air-conditioning:
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| Heat wave swells Asia's appetite for air-conditioning - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 3 · A record-breaking heat wave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning.
AC exhaust units are a common feature of urban landscapes in many parts of Asia, clinging like limpets to towering apartment blocks in Hong Kong or tucked in a cross formation between the windows of a building in Cambodia.
They offer relief from temperatures that have toppled records in recent weeks, with many countries in the region hitting 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) or higher.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change will produce more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves.
Only 15 percent ... Read more ...
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How climate policies can drive voters to the far right:
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| How climate policies can drive voters to the far right - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
May 1 · More than a decade ago, the Netherlands embarked on a straightforward plan to cut carbon emissions. Its legislature raised taxes on natural gas, using the money earned to help Dutch households install solar panels. By most measures, the program worked: By 2022, 20 percent of homes in the Netherlands had solar panels, up from about 2 percent in 2013. Natural gas prices, meanwhile, rose by almost 50 percent. Read more ...
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How green cities could remove CO2 from the atmosphere:
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| How green cities could remove CO2 from the atmosphere - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · Technically speaking, urban removals of this most important greenhouse gas could capture up to one gigatonne (i.e., 1,000 million metric tons) per year by mid-century. The study was conducted by the Berlin-based climate research institute MCC (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change) and published in Nature Cities.
"The potential for carbon removals in cities is significant, but ultimately, it is also limited," says Quirina Rodriguez Mendez, Ph.D. student at MCC and lead author of the study. "From a global perspective, one gigatonne is only around a fifth of the urban CO2 emissions expected for 2050—urban net zero by the middle of the century is ... Read more ...
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How La Niña will shape heat and hurricanes this year:
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| How La Niña will shape heat and hurricanes this year - VOX -Environment |
May 1 · Climate change and the outgoing El Niño will likely ignite more weather extremes.
The Pacific Ocean - Earth’s largest body of water - is an engine for weather around the planet, and it’s about to shift gears this year.
The warm phase of the Pacific Ocean’s temperature cycle, known as El Niño, is now winding down and is poised to move into its counterphase, La Niña. During an El Niño year, warm water starts to spread eastward across the surface of the equatorial Pacific. That warm water evaporates readily, adding moisture to the atmosphere and triggering a cascade that alters rainfall, heat waves, and drought patterns across the world.
The current El Niño is among ... Read more ...
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How rioting farmers unraveled Europe’s ambitious climate plan:
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| How rioting farmers unraveled Europe’s ambitious climate plan - VOX -Environment |
May 2 · Road-clogging, manure-dumping farmers reveal the paradox at the heart of EU agriculture.
In February 2021, in the midst of the deadly second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grégory Doucet, mayor of Lyon, France, temporarily took red meat off the menus of the city’s school cafeterias. While the change was environmentally friendly, the decision was driven by social distancing protocols: Preparing one hot meal that could be served to meat-eaters, vegetarians, and those with religious restrictions rather than serving multiple options was safer and more efficient.
The response from the French agricultural establishment was hysterical. “We need to stop putting ideology on our ... Read more ...
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How the plant world shapes the climate cycle:
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| How the plant world shapes the climate cycle - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, Earth has lived through a series of climatic shifts, shaping the planet as we know it today. Past changes in CO2 levels and temperature can help us understand the planet's response to global warming today.
As part of a growing field called biogeodynamics, researchers are racing to understand how such changes have impacted life on the planet in the past. "We're trying to understand processes relevant to the present using the geological past," says Julian Rogger, who focuses on biogeodynamics at the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich.
Rogger is fascinated by the interplay of plant life and climate. So far our planet is ... Read more ...
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How to fix the finance flows that are pushing our planet to the brink:
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| How to fix the finance flows that are pushing our planet to the brink - Climate Change News - Politics |
May 1 · Comment: Commercial banks are financing a huge amount of fossil-fuel and industrial agriculture activities in the Global South – they must turn off the tap
Climate activists, youth and frontline communities took to the streets around the world in April to demand that countries and companies #FixtheFinance. (Photo: ActionAid)
Teresa Anderson is global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International.
Last month, from Bangladesh to Kenya to Washington DC, over 40,000 activists in nearly 20 countries hit the streets calling on banks, governments and financial institutions to “#FixTheFinance” pushing the planet to the brink.
It’s clear that we can’t ... | By Teresa Anderson Read more ...
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How to put corporate capital behind climate commitments:
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| How to put corporate capital behind climate commitments - Greenbiz |
May 1 · The number of companies with science-based emissions reduction goals grew 500 percent since 2018, but corporate finance supporting those goals is only increasing 5 percent annually.
Investors are making it clear to companies: It’s time for them to put their capital behind their climate commitments.
More are looking for evidence in corporate climate transition plans, which outline steps a company is taking to reach net zero, including how it’s managing capital. Transitioning successfully will require "systemic changes in corporate behavior, facilitated by changes in cash flows," according to the authors of the "Corporate Climate Finance Playbook."
Climate Policy ... | By Grant Harrison Read more ...
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How Workday uses carbon offtake agreements to scale climate impact:
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| How Workday uses carbon offtake agreements to scale climate impact - Greenbiz |
May 2 · The enterpriser software provider is one of the large corporations signing offtake agreements with carbon reduction and capture projects.
Offtakes are the next step in Workday's journey to support high-quality climate action. Source: Workday
Since January, Workday has signed three new offtake agreements with early-stage carbon projects, committing to purchase over 300,000 carbon credits over the next six years. By guaranteeing future demand, the enterprise software provider is helping to close the finance gap that holds back many high-impact carbon projects.
The projects include forest protection in the Amazon with remote sensing, carbon removal via biochar in ... | By Margaret Morales Read more ...
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In photos: Flash floods kill over 100 people in Kenya:
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| In photos: Flash floods kill over 100 people in Kenya - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 30 · Floods have killed 169 people in Kenya with 91 still missing, Kenya’s Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday, the day after a torrent of water swept away scores of people near the town of Mai Mahiu.
April 29 | Mai Mahiu, Kenya
Transit trucks drive along the Mai Mahiu-Naivasha highway after heavy flash floods wiped out several homes when a dam burst, following heavy rains in Kamuchiri village of Mai Mahiu, Nakuru County.
April 29 | Mai Mahiu, Kenya
Local residents look at the damages after Old Kijabe Dam burst its banks and caused flash floods through several villages in Mai Mahiu, in the Rift Valley region of Naivasha.
April 29 | Mai Mahiu, ... Read more ...
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In the Jersey suburbs, a search for rocks to help fight climate change:
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| In the Jersey suburbs, a search for rocks to help fight climate change - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · Okoko, a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was not so much interested in geologic history as in a modern use for basalt: to capture and store carbon permanently below the nearby seafloor in solid form.
Basalt underlies much of New Jersey, and is believed to extend well out into the Atlantic seabed. On land, it mostly lies hidden under soil, other kinds of rocks, roads, buildings, parking lots and other human infrastructure.
This particular outcrop, about 400 feet long, was exposed when people cut into a hillside to create a narrow, upward-winding track dubbed Ghost Pony Road. Today, Ghost Pony Road is wedged uphill of the constant ... Read more ...
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Investigating coal emissions reductions and mortality in China:
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| Investigating coal emissions reductions and mortality in China - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Annual coal consumption fell between 2013 and 2017, which led to observed dramatic decreases in mean daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels.
In 2018, a new program, known as "Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense Battle," began, and in the same year, PM2.5 concentrations were further reduced by 9.3% from 2017 levels.
In this context, Xiaoming Shi and colleagues used accountability analysis to assess whether the acute health effects of PM2.5 changed from 2013 to 2018 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, which was the most heavily polluted region. The study is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
The acute effects of PM2.5 were significantly ... Read more ...
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Is bioenergy ever truly green? It depends on five key questions:
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| Is bioenergy ever truly green? It depends on five key questions - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 1 · But is it environmentally sound? The annoying answer is: it depends.
Trees and other plants soak up carbon from the atmosphere and store it as biomass. When they are burnt for electricity production the same carbon is released. This would suggest bioenergy is "carbon-neutral."
But it's not that simple. Many things can change the environmental credentials of a bioenergy project. Every project is unique and must be considered independently.
So let's break down the five key questions we should ask about every bioenergy project.
1. What is the source of the biomass?
The bewildering array of plants on our planet means a huge amount of biomass "feedstock" is ... Read more ...
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Jamie Raskin Names And Shames The 'Evil Fairy' Secretly Setting 'The Country Back':
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| Jamie Raskin Names And Shames The 'Evil Fairy' Secretly Setting 'The Country Back' - Huffington Post |
May 2 · Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) slammed the petroleum industry on Wednesday as he pointed to experts who described Big Oil’s “pattern of lying and evasion” that has “set the country back decades” in its ability to address climate change.
“Instead of acting like Paul Revere and sounding the alarm about climate change, they acted like Maleficent the evil fairy and Sleeping Beauty and cursed everyone to try to go to sleep for 100 years,” said Raskin during a Senate Budget Committee hearing.
Raskin’s remarks arrived after that committee along with the House Oversight Committee released a 65-page report following a three-year investigation on oil and gas companies’ “evolving ... Read more ...
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Kenya floods death toll rises to 188 as heavy rains persist:
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| Kenya floods death toll rises to 188 as heavy rains persist - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · The number of people who have lost their lives in devastating floods in Kenya since March has risen to 188, with dozens still missing, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
Torrential rains in Kenya and other countries in East Africa have caused deadly havoc, with floods and landslides forcing people from their homes, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
"As a result, the country has regrettably recorded 188 fatalities due to severe weather conditions," the ministry said in a statement.
It added that 125 people had been reported injured and 90 people were currently missing, while 165,000 have been displaced.
On Wednesday, nearly 100 tourists ... Read more ...
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Kenya floods death toll tops 200 as cyclone approaches:
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| Kenya floods death toll tops 200 as cyclone approaches - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · The death toll from flood-related incidents in Kenya has crossed 200 since March, the interior ministry said Friday, as a cyclone barrelled towards the Tanzanian coast.
Torrential rains have lashed much of East Africa, triggering flooding and landslides that has destroyed crops, swallowed homes, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Some 210 people have died in Kenya "due to severe weather conditions," the interior ministry said in a statement, with 22 killed in the past 24 hours.
More than 165,000 people had been uprooted from their home, it added and 90 others missing, raising fears that the toll could rise higher.
Kenya and neighboring Tanzania, ... Read more ...
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Kenya orders evacuation of all riverside dwellings amid deadly floods:
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| Kenya orders evacuation of all riverside dwellings amid deadly floods - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 30 · NAIROBI - Kenya’s president ordered Tuesday the evacuation of all homes along the nation’s rivers after floods killed at least 169 people in the past month, with dozens still missing.
The announcement came a day after a torrent of water swept away scores of people near the town of Mai Mahiu, about 30 miles northwest of the capital, Nairobi. President William Ruto visited a school housing some of the many people displaced by the flooding. Read more ...
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Kenya's devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management:
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| Kenya's devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Floods are the natural consequence of storm rainfall and have an important ecological role. They inundate flood plains where silts settle, riverbed aquifers are recharged and nutrients are gathered. Annual rainfall in Kenya varies from 2,000 mm in the western region to less than 250 mm in the drylands covering over 80% of Kenya. But storm rainfalls are widespread. This means that floods can occur in any part of the country.
The impact of floods has become more severe due to a number of factors.
The first is how much water runs off. In rural areas, changes to the landscape have meant that there's been an increase in the amount of storm runoff generated from rainfall. This ... Read more ...
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Leveraging robots to help make wind turbine blades:
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| Leveraging robots to help make wind turbine blades - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted. Research at the laboratory demonstrates the ability of a robot to trim, grind, and sand blades. Those necessary steps occur after the two sides of the blade are made using a mold and then bonded together.
"I would consider it a success," said Hunter Huth, a robotics engineer at NREL and lead author of a newly published paper detailing the work. "Not everything operated as well as we wanted it to, but we learned all the lessons we think we need to make it meet or exceed our expectations."
The paper, "Toolpath Generation for Automated Wind Turbine ... Read more ...
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Light, flexible, efficient: Perovskite-based tandem solar cells:
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| Light, flexible, efficient: Perovskite-based tandem solar cells - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · Roof tiles are becoming a thing of the past: Today, more and more Swiss roofs boast large black and blue rectangles that convert sunlight into electricity. The blueish color comes from silicon crystals, as the majority of solar cells available today are based on this semiconductor material. But silicon is not the only way to make a solar cell - and possibly not even the best.
Silicon-based photovoltaic cells have been perfected so far that they are reaching the limits of their efficiency. Although a few percentage points of improvement could still be gained, the theoretical upper limit for the efficiency of a single silicon cell is 33%. In practice, it is somewhat lower, as ... Read more ...
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Making seagrass restoration more resistant to rising temperatures using generalist grasses:
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| Making seagrass restoration more resistant to rising temperatures using generalist grasses - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · Rising global temperatures combined with centuries of humans working within our seascapes has reshaped coastal ecosystems. Rebuilding or restoring coastal habitat is becoming a top priority for natural resource conservation and as an insurance policy for the provision of critical services including shoreline protection, clean water, and seafood. Yet, successful habitat restoration is still rare, and most efforts are unsustainably expensive and labor intensive.
"Any gardener knows the difficulty in mastering how to grow a plant from seed or a clipping, and the same goes for restoration practitioners using habitat-forming species - discovering the perfect conditions," says Enie ... Read more ...
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Mass fish die-off in Vietnam as heat wave roasts Southeast Asia:
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| Mass fish die-off in Vietnam as heat wave roasts Southeast Asia - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 1 · Hundreds of thousands of fish have died in a reservoir in southern Vietnam's Dong Nai province, with locals and media reports suggesting a brutal heat wave and the lake's management are to blame.
Like much of Southeast Asia - where schools have recently been forced to close early and electricity usage has surged - southern and central Vietnam have been scorched by devastating heat.
"All the fish in the Song May reservoir died for lack of water," a local resident in Trang Bom district, who identified himself only as Nghia, told AFP.
"Our life has been turned upside down over the past 10 days because of the smell."
Pictures show residents wading and boating ... Read more ...
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Measuring your food waste for six weeks can change your habits, according to new study:
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| Measuring your food waste for six weeks can change your habits, according to new study - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · The fact that there is often little or no conscious thought involved in routine daily food preparation means that ingredients that must be used before they expire are often left to go off.
Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally. This is the equivalent of one-third of all the food produced for human consumption.
In the UK alone, households wasted 6.4 million tons of food between 2021 and 2022. Accounting for the fossil energy used to grow and harvest that food, as well as the greenhouse gases released when it rots in fields or landfills, this waste equates to 18 million tons of CO₂ emissions.
Food waste harms the environment, but reducing how ... Read more ...
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Meet 2 Companies Upcycling Food Waste to Make Beauty More Sustainable:
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| Meet 2 Companies Upcycling Food Waste to Make Beauty More Sustainable - Sustainable Brands |
Apr 30 · Biotech startups Kaffe Bueno and The Upcycled Beauty Company are transforming food-manufacturing waste streams into high-quality ingredients for personal-care products.
According to Statista, the global beauty industry will generate about $129 billion in revenue by 2028, making it a major economic player.
But the impacts of the materials in the supply chains behind many personal-care products also make it a problematic player: The industry is notorious for generating copious amounts of plastic trash; consuming staggering amounts of water; and using hazardous chemicals and ingredients that fuel deforestation, such as palm oil.
While a growing number of beauty brands ... Read more ...
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Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors:
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| Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors - Guardian - Energy |
May 2 · Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies’ own flaring data
Oil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.
Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring.
Flares are used by fossil fuel companies when capturing the ... Read more ...
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Methane Emissions from Landfill Could Be Turned Into Sustainable Jet Fuel in Plasma Chemistry Leap:
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| Methane Emissions from Landfill Could Be Turned Into Sustainable Jet Fuel in Plasma Chemistry Leap - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · In a world first, University of Sydney researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially creating a low-carbon aviation industry.
Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2). According to the International Energy Agency, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is currently around two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels and is increasing steadily, with waste emissions and the burning of fossil fuels accounting for a significant proportion.
Australia recently joined the international methane mitigation agreement with the ... Read more ...
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Methane emissions from landfill could be turned into sustainable jet fuel with plasma-driven process:
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| Methane emissions from landfill could be turned into sustainable jet fuel with plasma-driven process - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2). According to the International Energy Agency, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is currently around two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels and is increasing steadily, with waste emissions and the burning of fossil fuels accounting for a significant proportion.
Australia recently joined the international methane mitigation agreement with the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Lead author Professor PJ Cullen from the University of Sydney's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Net Zero Initiative said, "Globally, landfills are ... Read more ...
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Methane Matter: Strategic Communications For Climate Action:
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| Methane Matter: Strategic Communications For Climate Action - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
Apr 29 · Cutting methane pollution is the fastest opportunity we have to immediately slow the rate of global warming. The climate movement needs smart, strategic communications and grassroots organizing campaigns to win the policies to phase out dirty, expensive gas and boost cleaner, all electric alternatives. On April 26th, 2024, the Yale Center for Environmental Communication hosted a conversation with Sonal Jessel, former Director of Policy at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Sarah Lazarovic, Vice President, Communications and Creative Strategy at Rewiring America, and Phoebe Sweet, Founder \u0026 President - Acadia Strategies, and co-founder of the Gas Leaks Project. Joshua Low, ... | By Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Read more ...
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Mice navigating a virtual reality environment reveal that walls, not floors, define space:
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| Mice navigating a virtual reality environment reveal that walls, not floors, define space - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · The study, led by Dr. Guifen Chen from Queen Mary University of London, delves into the brains of mice navigating a two-dimensional virtual reality (VR) environment, revealing the surprising importance of specific visual cues for building and maintaining spatial maps. It reveals that specific visual cues - in this case, elevated walls - are crucial for stabilizing the neurons responsible for spatial navigation in virtual reality (VR).
"Our findings provide a significant step forward in understanding the precise nature of the sensory information that animals used for boundary detection," says Dr. Chen. "They not only highlight the importance of elevated boundaries in building ... Read more ...
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Microsoft makes renewable energy deal with Canada's Brookfield:
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| Microsoft makes renewable energy deal with Canada's Brookfield - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · Microsoft and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management have struck an agreement for the development of renewable energy that could make one of the biggest corporate purchases of green energy to date, the companies said on Tuesday.
Under the "first of its kind" agreement, Brookfield said it plans to develop over 10.5 gigawatts of new wind and solar farms for Microsoft as the tech giant looks to power its data centers and operations globally with carbon-free electricity by 2030.
The deal underscores how some of the world's biggest companies are making major investments in clean energy to meet climate goals while also remaining competitive in the race to roll out artificial ... Read more ...
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Microsoft signs its biggest renewable energy contract yet:
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| Microsoft signs its biggest renewable energy contract yet - Greenbiz |
May 1 · Deal with Brookfield will add 10.5 gigawatts of wind and solar in the U.S. and Europe between 2026 and 2030.
Microsoft is building its data center capacity to support artificial intelligence services, which is increasing its electricity consumption. Source: Microsoft
Microsoft will almost double its renewable energy capacity through a five-year deal with Brookfield Asset Management and Brookfield Renewable that will add more than 10.5 gigawatts of solar, wind and other “carbon-free” energy sources in Europe and the U.S.
The value of the contract is estimated at more than $10 billion based on current market conditions, according to news reports, although that amount ... | By Heather Clancy Read more ...
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Mom fights air pollution in North Denver:
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| Mom fights air pollution in North Denver - Yale Climate Connections - Policy |
May 2 · Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Yale Climate Connections
People who live in North Denver, Colorado, face multiple sources of air pollution.
Oliver: “Families and young homeowners … live next to the refinery, the dog food plant, the recycling waste facility, as well as gas plants. … And there’s so many other industries that are also in this very same area that also contribute to a lot of heavy-duty truck pollution.”
Shaina Oliver is an activist with Mom’s Clean Air Force.
She says Denver has some of the highest levels of ground-level ozone in the country. It forms from the pollution emitted ... Read more ...
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Morocco's farming revolution: Defying drought with science:
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| Morocco's farming revolution: Defying drought with science - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · In the heart of sun-soaked Morocco, scientists are cultivating a future where tough crops defy a relentless drought, now in its sixth year.
"Look at these beautiful ears of wheat," said Wuletaw Tadesse Degu, the head of wheat breeding at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).
"The difference in quality between our field and others is striking," he said, pointing towards a lush expanse in Marchouch, south of Rabat, that stood in stark contrast with the barren lands elsewhere.
By 2040, Morocco is poised to face "extremely high" water stress, a dire prediction from the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research ... Read more ...
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Mystery behind huge opening in Antarctic sea ice solved:
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| Mystery behind huge opening in Antarctic sea ice solved - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · A study published in Science Advances reveals a key process that had eluded scientists as to how the opening, called a polynya, was able to form and persist for several weeks. The paper is titled "Ekman-Driven Salt Transport as a Key Mechanism for Open-Ocean Polynya Formation at Maud Rise."
The team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Gothenburg and the University of California San Diego studied the Maud Rise polynya—named after the submerged mountain-like feature in the Weddell Sea, over which it grows.
They found the polynya was brought on by complex interactions between the wind, ocean currents, and the unique geography of the ... Read more ...
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Mystery Behind Huge Opening in Antarctic Sea Ice Solved:
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| Mystery Behind Huge Opening in Antarctic Sea Ice Solved - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · A study reveals a key process that had eluded scientists as to how the opening, called a polynya, was able to form and persist for several weeks.
The team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Gothenburg and the University of California San Diego studied the Maud Rise polynya -- named after the submerged mountain-like feature in the Weddell Sea, over which it grows.
They found the polynya was brought on by complex interactions between the wind, ocean currents, and the unique geography of the ocean floor, transporting heat and salt towards the surface.
In Antarctica, the surface of the ocean freezes over in the winter, with sea ice ... Read more ...
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Nepal battles raging wildfires across the country:
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| Nepal battles raging wildfires across the country - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · Firefighters and local residents battled a massive wildfire on the outskirts of Nepal's capital Thursday as the Himalayan republic endures a severe fire season authorities have blamed on a heat wave.
Nepal sees a spate of wildfires annually, usually beginning in March, but their number and intensity has worsened in recent years, with climate change leading to drier winters.
Emergency crews worked through the night to fight the blaze which engulfed a forested area in Lalitpur, on the southern periphery of the Kathmandu valley.
More than 4,500 wildfires have been reported this year across the country, nearly double compared to last year according to government data ... Read more ...
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New climate study shows cloud cover is easier to affect than previously thought:
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| New climate study shows cloud cover is easier to affect than previously thought - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Clouds are among the least understood entities in the climate system and the largest source of uncertainty in predicting future climate change. To describe clouds, you need to understand weather systems on the scale of up to hundreds of kilometers and microphysics down to the scale of molecules.
The new study sheds new light on what happens at the molecular scale, focusing on cloud condensation nuclei in marine stratus clouds—low-level, horizontally layered clouds. The study, "Supersaturation and Critical Size of Cloud Condensation Nuclei in Marine Stratus Clouds," is published in Geophysical Research Letters.
It is well-known that cloud formation depends on two ... Read more ...
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New computer algorithm supercharges climate models and could lead to better predictions of future climate change:
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| New computer algorithm supercharges climate models and could lead to better predictions of future climate change - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · However, climate modelers have long faced a major problem. Because Earth System Models integrate many complicated processes, they cannot immediately run a simulation; they must first ensure that it has reached a stable equilibrium representative of real-world conditions before the industrial revolution. Without this initial settling period—referred to as the "spin-up" phase—the model can "drift," simulating changes that may be erroneously attributed to manmade factors.
Unfortunately, this process is extremely slow as it requires running the model for many thousands of model years which, for IPCC simulations, can take as much as two years on some of the world's most ... Read more ...
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New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars:
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| New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · "It is difficult for manganese oxide to form on the surface of Mars, so we didn't expect to find it in such high concentrations in a shoreline deposit," said Patrick Gasda, of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Science and Applications group and lead author on the study.
"On Earth, these types of deposits happen all the time because of the high oxygen in our atmosphere produced by photosynthetic life, and from microbes that help catalyze those manganese oxidation reactions.
"On Mars, we don't have evidence for life, and the mechanism to produce oxygen in Mars's ancient atmosphere is unclear, so how the manganese oxide was formed and concentrated here is really ... Read more ...
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New internal Big Oil documents just dropped:
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| New internal Big Oil documents just dropped - Heated World |
Apr 30 · In 2021, Congressional Democrats subpoenaed Big Oil for internal documents detailing the industry’s role in worsening the climate crisis.
Some of the documents have already been released. But today, we got some more.
The internal materials are from Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Chamber of Commerce. They’re being released today as part of the Senate Budget Committee’s upcoming hearing on Wednesday morning, titled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change.”
Both the hearing and the documents mark the revival of the House Oversight Committee’s two-year ... Read more ...
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New model estimates cultivable space at photovoltaic plants for combining agricultural and photovoltaic production:
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| New model estimates cultivable space at photovoltaic plants for combining agricultural and photovoltaic production - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · In Alcarras de Carla Simón, the Solé family glimpses the end of its traditional and not-very-profitable peach plantation due to the arrival of solar panels. The conflict between land use for sustainable energy vs. agricultural production is a hot topic that is reflected in cultural products, and also in research.
Agrivoltaics, which is defined as the shared use of land for agricultural and photovoltaic production, is presented as a strategy to resolve this conflict, and the TEP215-Physics for Renewable Energies research group at the University of Cordoba seeks to promote these types of plants through its research.
In one of their latest works, they have ... Read more ...
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New Nevada Experiments Will Improve Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions:
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| New Nevada Experiments Will Improve Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · On an October morning in 2023, a chemical explosion detonated in a tunnel under the Nevada desert was the launch of the next set of experiments by the National Nuclear Security Administration, with the goal to improve detection of low-yield nuclear explosions around the world.
Physics Experiment 1-A (PE1-A) is the first in a series of non-nuclear experiments that will compare computer simulations with high-resolution seismic, tracer gas, acoustic and electromagnetic data gleaned from underground explosions and atmospheric experiments, said Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Stephen Myers at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2024 Annual ... Read more ...
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New Offshore Wind Turbines Can Take Away Energy from Existing Ones:
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| New Offshore Wind Turbines Can Take Away Energy from Existing Ones - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · As summer approaches, electricity demand surges in the U.S., as homes and businesses crank up the air conditioning. To meet the rising need, many East Coast cities are banking on offshore wind projects the country is building in the Atlantic Ocean.
For electric grid operators, knowing how much wind power these offshore turbines can harvest is critical, but making accurate predictions can be difficult. A team of scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and their collaborators are working to tackle the challenge.
In a new paper published March 14 in the journal Wind Energy Science, a team led by Dave Rosencrans, a doctoral student, and Julie K. Lundquist, a ... Read more ...
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New Research for Week #18 2024:
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| New Research for Week #18 2024 - Skeptical Science |
May 2 · Generative AI tools can enhance climate literacy but must be checked for biases and inaccuracies, Atkins et al., Communications Earth & Environment:
In the face of climate change, climate literacy is becoming increasingly important. With wide access to generative AI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, we explore the potential of AI platforms for ordinary citizens asking climate literacy questions. Here, we focus on a global scale and collect responses from ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) on climate change-related hazard prompts over multiple iterations by utilizing the OpenAI’s API and comparing the results with credible hazard risk indices. We find a general sense of ... Read more ...
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New sodium-ion battery tech boosts green energy storage affordability:
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| New sodium-ion battery tech boosts green energy storage affordability - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · The rising demand for renewable energy underscores the need for effective and affordable energy-storage solutions. Solid-state sodium batteries (SSSBs) offer notable cost and safety advantages, especially for large-scale grid applications.
However, their widespread adoption is hindered by challenges in achieving high ionic conductivity in solid-state electrolytes, a crucial factor for efficient energy transfer and storage, and a key focus in advanced battery technology research.
A recent study, published in the journal eScience, introduces a novel solid-state electrolyte, Na4.92Y0.92Zr0.08Si4O12 (NYZS), demonstrating exceptional ionic conductivity and electrochemical ... Read more ...
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New study looks at US Drought Monitor to see how it has reflected climate change since 2000:
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| New study looks at US Drought Monitor to see how it has reflected climate change since 2000 - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Though generated by experts and informed by data, it is in some ways a subjective interpretation of drought conditions. And it carries significant political and economic ramifications—the USDM informs state declarations of emergency, as well as drought relief payments issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDM classifies localities into six drought categories, ranging from "none" to "exceptional." Each category is based on thresholds of event rarity. Some weeks, the placid white representing normal conditions blankets much of the country; other weeks, splotchy maroon pockets of exceptional drought pop off the map like blistered burns.
In a study ... Read more ...
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New sugar-based catalyst could offer a potential solution for using captured carbon:
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| New sugar-based catalyst could offer a potential solution for using captured carbon - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · In a new Northwestern University study, the catalyst successfully converted CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), an important building block to produce a variety of useful chemicals. When the reaction occurs in the presence of hydrogen, for example, CO2 and hydrogen transform into synthesis gas (or syngas), a highly valuable precursor to producing fuels that can potentially replace gasoline.
With recent advances in carbon capture technologies, post-combustion carbon capture is becoming a plausible option to help tackle the global climate change crisis. But how to handle the captured carbon remains an open-ended question. The new catalyst potentially could provide one solution for ... Read more ...
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Oil Companies Expand Offshore Drilling, Pointing to Energy Needs:
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| Oil Companies Expand Offshore Drilling, Pointing to Energy Needs - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 3 · Shell and others say they plan to drill for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico in part because doing so releases fewer greenhouse gases than drilling on land.
Reporting from Shell’s Appomattox offshore platform, New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles
About 80 miles southeast of Louisiana’s coast, 100,000 metric tons of steel floats in the Gulf of Mexico, an emblem of the hopes of oil and gas companies.
This hulk of metal, a deepwater platform called Appomattox and owned by Shell, collects the oil and gas that rigs tap from reservoirs thousands of feet below the seafloor. Equipment on the platform pipes that fuel to shore.
Political and corporate leaders have ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ...
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Only four G20 countries set for positive ecological footprint by 2050, study finds:
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| Only four G20 countries set for positive ecological footprint by 2050, study finds - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · In a study led by Professor Lenny Koh from Sheffield's Energy Institute and published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers have revealed that only Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Russia are expected to have a positive impact on the environment by 2050—the milestone for net zero.
The study also presents a new method for predicting ecological impacts using AI, which could be more accurate at predicting future trends.
This analysis used key data for each G20 nation, such as consumption per capita, biocapacity per capita, area per capita, GDP per capita, electricity use per capita, emissions per capita, and fossil fuel consumption per capita. These variables ... Read more ...
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People Are Furious At Video Of Florida Boaters Dumping Trash Into The Ocean:
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| People Are Furious At Video Of Florida Boaters Dumping Trash Into The Ocean - Huffington Post |
May 1 · Florida officials say they have identified the members of a group of young boaters who were seen on video dumping their trash into the open ocean just off the coast of Boca Raton over the weekend.
Footage of the incident, captured on YouTube and Instagram by the Miami-based content creator Wavy Boats, shows the group leaving a local event called “Boca Bash” in a boat. They can be seen drinking and, later, emptying two garbage cans filled with loose trash into the water roughly a mile and a half offshore.
Drone footage shows much of the debris, which includes cans, potato chip bags and plastic cups, floating on the surface as the boaters head back to the event.
By ... Read more ...
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Pet dogs and strays suffer in Asia heat wave:
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| Pet dogs and strays suffer in Asia heat wave - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 1 · Soaring temperatures across Kolkata have brought life in much of the Indian megacity to a standstill, but veterinarian Partha Das cannot recall a time when he was more busy.
His clinic has been swamped by distressed members of the public carrying in beloved pets suffering nosebleeds, severe skin rashes and lapses into unconsciousness in a relentless heat wave suffocating much of South and Southeastern Asia over the past week.
"Many pets are also hospitalized for three or four consecutive days, and they are taking a long time to get back to normal," the 57-year-old told AFP from his surgery.
"We are getting several heatstroke cases in a day. It's ... Read more ...
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Polycrises Threatening Planetary Health Cannot Be Addressed in Silos:
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| Polycrises Threatening Planetary Health Cannot Be Addressed in Silos - Sustainable Brands |
Apr 29 · As The Lancet warns in a new report, failing to consider interactions between climate, biodiversity and infectious disease will not address the fundamental issues affecting each - and the consequences will be 'exponentially more expensive.'
A new report published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal found that intergovernmental reports on climate change and biodiversity loss fail to consider the complex, non-linear interactions among climate, biodiversity and infectious disease.
“The concurrent pressures of rising global temperatures, rates and incidence of species decline, and the emergence of infectious diseases represent an unprecedented planetary crisis,” the ... Read more ...
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Precipitation may brighten Colorado River's future, says modeling study:
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| Precipitation may brighten Colorado River's future, says modeling study - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Precipitation falling in the river's headwaters region is likely to be more abundant than during the prior two decades. The work, published in the Journal of Climate, comes as policymakers, water managers, states, and tribes look for answers on how to govern the Colorado River's flows beyond 2025.
"It's a sort of nuanced message," said Balaji Rajagopalan, CIRES Fellow and co-author of the study. "Yes, the temperature is warming, but that's not the full story—you add precipitation and you get a fuller picture."
CIRES affiliate Martin Hoerling and Fellow Balaji Rajagopalan worked with colleagues from several other institutions to analyze data from a suite of models, ... Read more ...
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Report finds e-bike incentives are worth the investment:
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| Report finds e-bike incentives are worth the investment - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · Are new cycling habits sustainable? Who benefits most from these incentives? And are they worth the cost?
The Saanich program, available in 2021 and 2022, offered three different rebates to offset the cost of new e-bikes, depending on one's income. The basic rebate amounted to $350, while the lowest-income households could receive up to $1,600.
Results showed a significant surge in e-bike adoption, with 93% of users being new to e-bikes, and 60% new to cycling altogether.
One year after purchase, users continued to be satisfied with their e-bikes, integrating them into their routines for three to four days a week. They reduced weekly car travel by an average of 48 ... Read more ...
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Research explores energy and land-use practices on US golf courses:
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| Research explores energy and land-use practices on US golf courses - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 2 · A new study appearing in HortTechnology evaluates energy practices and use of land on US golf courses.
Energy usage on US golf facilities was first assessed in 2008 and then reevaluated in 2015. The findings showed that over 99% of golf facilities continued to use gasoline and diesel fuel, with no significant change from 2008 to 2015. However, there was an increase in the percentage of facilities implementing behavioral or design changes aimed at conserving energy during this period. Additionally, there was a rise in the adoption of written energy plans and the conduct of energy audits among golf facilities between 2008 and 2015. These findings indicate that US golf facilities ... Read more ...
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Research quantifies 'gap' in carbon removal for first time - shows countries need more awareness, ambition and action:
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| Research quantifies 'gap' in carbon removal for first time - shows countries need more awareness, ambition and action - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organization UNEP has taken an annual measurement of the emissions gap—the difference between countries' climate protection pledges and what is necessary to limit global heating to 1.5ºC, or at least below 2ºC.
The UNEP Emissions Gap Reports are clear: climate policy needs more ambition. This new study now explicitly applies this analytical concept to carbon dioxide removal (CDR)—the removal of the most important greenhouse gas, CO2, from the atmosphere.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, was led by the Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change ... Read more ...
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Research shows bumblebee nests are overheating due to climate change, threatening future populations:
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| Research shows bumblebee nests are overheating due to climate change, threatening future populations - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 3 · As a result of the climate crisis, global warming is driving up temperatures around the world - and bumblebees, like humans, are struggling to cope with homes that can't beat the heat.
In a new article published in Frontiers in Bee Science, scientists identify rising heat as a potential culprit for the decline in bumblebee populations worldwide, compromising bumblebees' ability to construct livable nests in which healthy larvae can develop.
"The decline in populations and ranges of several species of bumblebees may be explained by issues of overheating of the nests and the brood," said Dr. Peter Kevan of the University of Guelph, Canada, lead author of the ... Read more ...
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Research team improves voltage of aqueous rechargeable batteries in the quest for safer, cheaper options:
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| Research team improves voltage of aqueous rechargeable batteries in the quest for safer, cheaper options - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · Professor Sun said aqueous batteries had been used for more than a hundred years, mainly as non-rechargeable batteries.
"Improving the low voltage of rechargeable aqueous batteries is one of the biggest hurdles facing their wide-spread implementation for many uses," Professor Sun said.
"In common rechargeable batteries, organic electrolytes are used to fill the space between the anode and cathode, which are expensive, and most importantly, highly flammable.
"The use of aqueous electrolytes could address the safety issue of Lithium-ion batteries, as the aqueous electrolyte is much cheaper and safer.
"But the use of aqueous electrolyte in rechargeable batteries ... Read more ...
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Researchers Develop an AI Model to Reduce Uncertainty in Evapotranspiration Prediction:
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| Researchers Develop an AI Model to Reduce Uncertainty in Evapotranspiration Prediction - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · When scientists look at the Earth's available water for ecosystem services, they don't just look at precipitation. They must also account for water moving from the ground to the atmosphere, a process known as evapotranspiration (ET). ET includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However, measuring ET is challenging. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign presents a computer model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for ET ... Read more ...
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Researchers develop improved power pole insulation materials to prevent power pole-top fires:
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| Researchers develop improved power pole insulation materials to prevent power pole-top fires - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · Pole-top fires pose significant challenges to power providers and communities worldwide. In March, pole-top fires cut power from 40,000 homes and businesses in Perth.
The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found that power outages experienced by 280,000 customers from various energy providers during Black Summer fires were mainly triggered by events involving insulators and poles.
RMIT University Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Tariq Nazir said these fires can occur when consecutive hot, dry and windy days are followed by damp and misty conditions.
"Dust and pollution builds up on power-line insulators, which enables ... Read more ...
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Researchers find use of olivine in cement production could result in carbon negative concrete:
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| Researchers find use of olivine in cement production could result in carbon negative concrete - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · A small team of materials scientists and environmental engineers at Imperial College London has found that using olivine in cement could result in carbon-negative concrete. In their study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group conducted experiments with cement mixing that resulted in a way to produce it in a more climate-friendly manner.
In their work, the research team extracted silica and magnesium sulfate from olivine samples by dissolving them in sulfuric acid. They then bubbled CO2 through a batch of the slurry that resulted, which in turn led to the formation of a mineral called nesquehonite during cooling and resulted in sequestration of the ... Read more ...
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Researchers reveal mechanisms of soil organic carbon accumulation in acidified forest soils:
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| Researchers reveal mechanisms of soil organic carbon accumulation in acidified forest soils - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · Based on a long-term simulated acid addition experiment in Dinghushan, Guangdong Province, researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a study on the mechanism of SOC accumulation and stabilization in monsoon evergreen broadleaf forests under acid addition treatment.
They found that in terms of carbon composition, acid addition significantly increased the accumulation of particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC). Their results were published in Plant and Soil.
According to the researchers, in terms of carbon sources, acid addition significantly reduced the accumulation of microbial ... Read more ...
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Researchers reveal water-assisted oxidative redispersion of metal nanoparticles:
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| Researchers reveal water-assisted oxidative redispersion of metal nanoparticles - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · In addition, most support surfaces, such as γ-Al2O3, SiO2, and CeO2, could undergo hydroxylation in a moist atmosphere to form abundant surface OH groups that captured migrating Cu species.
The "push" (migration) and "pull" (anchoring) effects of gaseous H2O facilitated the structural transformation of Cu species from Cu nanoparticles to Cu single atoms at RT, thereby enhancing their catalytic activity in the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) and preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO-PROX) reaction.
This study highlighted the significant role of H2O in the dynamic structural evolution of supported metal nanocatalysts and developed a simple strategy for the ... Read more ...
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Roadmap to Close the Carbon Cycle:
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| Roadmap to Close the Carbon Cycle - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · A major approach to achieving net-zero carbon emissions relies on converting various parts of the economy, such as personal vehicles and heating, to run via electricity generated from renewable sources. But carbon cannot be removed from all parts of society. Plastics, ubiquitous in the modern world, cannot be decarbonized because they are made of carbon-based molecules.
Led by chemist Wendy Shaw of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a multi-institutional effort has produced a new roadmap to reducing emissions in hard-to-electrify segments of the economy. The multifaceted approach includes developing non-carbon fuels, finding non-fossil sources of carbon, and keeping ... Read more ...
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Satellite images of plants' fluorescence can predict crop yields:
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| Satellite images of plants' fluorescence can predict crop yields - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · In many parts of the world, crop yields are dropping, largely due to the effects of climate change. According to a recent Cornell study, over the last four decades, for every 1 degree Celsius of warming, net farm income decreased by 66%.
Farmers in developed countries can often rely on big datasets and risk management tools to help reduce the impacts of extreme heat on their yield and income. But in developing countries, data is scarce, and it is often difficult to accurately measure crop yield.
In a paper appearing in Environmental Research Letters, the scientists suggest using satellite photos to remotely measure solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) as a way of ... Read more ...
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Scientists find five new hydrothermal vents in Pacific Ocean:
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| Scientists find five new hydrothermal vents in Pacific Ocean - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · The pace of discovery in the oceans leaped forward thanks to teamwork between a deep-sea robot and a human occupied submarine leading to the recent discovery of five new hydrothermal vents in the eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean.
A team of ocean scientists, led by chief scientist and Lehigh faculty member Jill McDermott, returned to port March 26 in San Diego from a research expedition in the eastern Pacific Ocean where they discovered the new deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites on the seafloor at 2,550 meters (8,366 feet, or 1.6 miles) depth.
The venting fluids are all hotter than 300°C (570°F). The discovery was supported, and in many ways accelerated, by making use of the ... Read more ...
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Scientists Show Ancient Village Adapted to Drought, Rising Seas:
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| Scientists Show Ancient Village Adapted to Drought, Rising Seas - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · Around 6,200 BCE, the climate changed. Global temperatures dropped, sea levels rose and the southern Levant, including modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, southern Syria and the Sinai desert, entered a period of drought.
Previously, archaeologists believed that this abrupt shift in global climate, called the 8.2ka event, may have led to the widespread abandonment of coastal settlements in the southern Levant. In a recent study published with the journal Antiquity, researchers at UC San Diego, the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University share new evidence suggesting at least one village formerly thought abandoned not only remained occupied, but ... Read more ...
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Scientists show that ancient village adapted to drought, rising seas:
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| Scientists show that ancient village adapted to drought, rising seas - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Previously, archaeologists believed that this abrupt shift in global climate, called the 8.2ka event, may have led to the widespread abandonment of coastal settlements in the southern Levant. In a recent study published in the journal Antiquity, researchers at UC San Diego, the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University share new evidence suggesting at least one village formerly thought abandoned not only remained occupied, but thrived throughout this period.
"This [study] helped fill a gap in our understanding of the early settlement of the Eastern Mediterranean coastline," said Thomas Levy, a co-author on the paper, co-director of the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and ... Read more ...
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Should chatbots chime in on climate change? Study explore potential of AI platforms for climate literacy:
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| Should chatbots chime in on climate change? Study explore potential of AI platforms for climate literacy - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · "I think what we found is that it's OK to use artificial intelligence, you just have to be careful and you can't take it word-for-word," said Gina Girgente, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in geography last spring. "It's definitely not a foolproof method."
Girgente was part of an interdisciplinary research team that posed questions about three climate change-related hazards—tropical storms, floods, and droughts—in 191 countries to both free and paid versions of ChatGPT. Developed by OpenAI Inc., ChatGPT is a large-language model designed to understand questions and generate text responses based on requests from users.
The group then compared the ... Read more ...
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Solar Geoengineering (SRM) and a new type of denial:
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| Solar Geoengineering (SRM) and a new type of denial - Climate Engineering (Lockley - Playlist) |
Apr 30 · A few thoughts on SRM and why we will probably need it. \nSpinning globe from Vecteezy | By Solar Geoengineering Advocate Read more ...
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Some communities are more vulnerable to weather-related power outages in New York State:
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| Some communities are more vulnerable to weather-related power outages in New York State - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Weather-related power outages in the United States have become nearly twice as common in the last 10 years compared to the previous decade. These outages, which can last most of a day, are more than an inconvenience: lack of power and related indoor temperature discomfort can exacerbate health conditions; lack of power also endangers the lives of people who are reliant on electricity-powered medical devices and/or elevators.
A study led environmental health scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of Washington examines the link between various types of extreme weather and outages in New York State between 2017 and 2020 and who is ... Read more ...
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States rethink data centers as 'electricity hogs' strain the grid:
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| States rethink data centers as 'electricity hogs' strain the grid - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
May 2 · State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut.
The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked with building the sprawling server farms.
But this legislative session, he's wondering if those tax breaks are appropriate for all data centers, especially those with the potential to disrupt the state's clean energy supply.
Particularly concerning to him are plans for a mega data center on the site of the state's only nuclear power plant. The developer is proposing an arrangement that would give it priority access to ... Read more ...
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Studies on Hainan Island rubber plantations reveal secrets of soil:
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| Studies on Hainan Island rubber plantations reveal secrets of soil - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · Their series of studies, conducted across Hainan Island, focused on rubber plantations—a key economic tree species in the region. The results, published in three separate journals, shed light on the complex interplay between parent material, microbes, and soil processes.
In their first study published in Geoderma Regional, the researchers showed how the underlying rock layer, known as parent material, affects the balance of key nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the soil. They found that basaltic soils, formed from volcanic rock, had a higher phosphorus content but lower nitrogen levels than marine sedimentary soils.
This imbalance suggests that ... Read more ...
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Study reveals crucial role of invertebrates as eco-custodians in global forest litter decomposition:
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| Study reveals crucial role of invertebrates as eco-custodians in global forest litter decomposition - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · The study was recently published in Ecology Letters, and the results are imperative for preserving healthy ecosystems and conserving invertebrates in the wake of widespread environmental change.
Litter decomposition is a crucial process in carbon cycling and nutrient turnover. Microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, are widely considered the most important decomposers in nature. However, soil invertebrates contribute a large proportion of decomposing and nutrient turnover and are therefore important for functioning and healthy ecosystems.
Most previous studies on decomposition and nutrient turnover are conducted in temperate regions like Europe and North America, resulting ... Read more ...
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Study reveals uniqueness of naturally occurring monodominant forests in the Republic of Congo:
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| Study reveals uniqueness of naturally occurring monodominant forests in the Republic of Congo - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 1 · A recent study published in the journal Plant Ecology and Evolution gives valuable insights into forest stands of Gilbertiodendron dewevrei (G. dewevrei) in the Sangha Trinational region.
G. dewevrei, known as "Bemba" or "Limbali" forest by Indigenous peoples and local communities, is a tree species endemic to the Congo Basin that is unusual in forming large stands where it is almost the only species present. The study focuses on the comparative analysis of the structure and composition of this G. dewevrei forest type compared to adjacent forest types.
Using data from plot inventories and herbarium specimens, researchers evaluated several parameters, including stem ... Read more ...
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Study says El Nino, not climate change, was key driver of low rainfall that snarled Panama Canal:
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| Study says El Nino, not climate change, was key driver of low rainfall that snarled Panama Canal - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · The climate phenomenon known as El Niño - and not climate change - was a key driver in low rainfall that disrupted shipping at the Panama Canal last year, scientists said Wednesday.
A team of international scientists found that El Niño - a natural warming of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide - doubled the likelihood of the low precipitation Panama received during last year's rainy season. That dryness reduced water levels at the reservoir that feeds freshwater to the Panama Canal and provides drinking water for more than half of the Central American country.
Human-caused climate change was not a primary driver of the Central American country's unusually ... Read more ...
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Study sheds new light on how Scotland's beavers interact with the environment:
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| Study sheds new light on how Scotland's beavers interact with the environment - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · This could diversify woodland structure into a mix of short and tall tree stems, which ought to boost biodiversity, according to researchers in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
Scientists compared the number of shoots on beaver-felled trees to standing trees and collected 156 shoots with four different combinations of beaver and deer browsing to compare their nutrient levels and physical characteristics.
Beavers were hunted to extinction in Scotland about four centuries ago. A formal multi-agency program of reintroduction involving experts at the University of Stirling and the study partners—the first of its kind for a mammal species anywhere in Britain—began ... Read more ...
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Study shows climate change and mercury pollution stressed plants for millions of years:
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| Study shows climate change and mercury pollution stressed plants for millions of years - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
Apr 30 · Extreme climate change, from the release of carbon dioxide, degradation of the ozone layer due to the injection of damaging chemicals, and the emissions of toxic pollutants are all seen as contributing factors. One toxic element stands out: mercury. As one of the most toxic elements on Earth, Hg is a metal that is emitted from volcanoes in gaseous form and thus has the capacity to spread worldwide.
A new study in Nature Communications adds new compelling evidence for the combined effects of global warming and widespread mercury pollution that continued to stress plants long after volcanic activity had ceased.
An international team of Dutch, Chinese, Danish, British, and ... Read more ...
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Study unveils 3D printing PQD-polymer architectures at room temperature:
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| Study unveils 3D printing PQD-polymer architectures at room temperature - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 2 · Led by Professor Im Doo Jung from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UNIST, a recent study has introduced a cutting-edge one-stop perovskite quantum dot (PQD) additive manufacturing technology. This approach eliminates the need for heat treatment, allowing for the creation of complex 3D shapes with exceptional precision, including iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower.
Traditionally, shaping QD materials in 3D required prolonged heat exposure, leading to property degradation and shape deformation. However, the newly developed PQD materials exhibit remarkable luminous efficiency and color versatility, offering a game-changing solution for advanced encryption and ... Read more ...
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Sugar-Based Catalyst Upcycles Carbon Dioxide:
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| Sugar-Based Catalyst Upcycles Carbon Dioxide - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
May 24 · A new catalyst made from an inexpensive, abundant metal and common table sugar has the power to destroy carbon dioxide (CO2) gas.
In a new Northwestern University study, the catalyst successfully converted CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), an important building block to produce a variety of useful chemicals. When the reaction occurs in the presence of hydrogen, for example, CO2 and hydrogen transform into synthesis gas (or syngas), a highly valuable precursor to producing fuels that can potentially replace gasoline.
With recent advances in carbon capture technologies, post-combustion carbon capture is becoming a plausible option to help tackle the global climate change ... Read more ...
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Sunak to allow oil and gas exploration at sites intended for offshore wind:
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| Sunak to allow oil and gas exploration at sites intended for offshore wind - Guardian - Energy |
May 2 · Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are 'playing politics with climate’
Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that it is granting licences to about 30 companies to look for hydrocarbons on sites earmarked for future offshore windfarms.
The move has brought renewed criticism of Rishi Sunak from ... Read more ...
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Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion:
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| Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 30 · The carmaker dismissed 500 employees in a unit that was critical to its success and seen as important to the future of electric vehicle sales in the United States.
Elon Musk has gutted the part of Tesla responsible for building electric vehicle charging stations, sowing uncertainty about the future of the largest and most reliable U.S. charging network.
The layoffs of about 500 Tesla employees, which many of them posted about on social media on Tuesday, raised questions about deals that Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, struck with the leaders of General Motors, Ford Motor and other automakers last year allowing cars made by other companies to use Tesla Supercharger ... | By Jack Ewing Read more ...
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Tesla to cut hundreds more jobs in Musk cost push: Report:
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| Tesla to cut hundreds more jobs in Musk cost push: Report - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · Tesla plans hundreds of additional job cuts beyond a recent company-wide layoff as it cracks down on costs in a tough electric vehicle market, according to a US media report.
Elon Musk's EV company, which moved earlier this month to cut more than 10 percent of its 140,000 employees, will disband two departments and lay off most of the employees from the groups, reported the Information late Monday.
The online technology publication quoted from a Musk email in which he vowed to be "absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction."
Musk will seek to oust any executive "who retains more than three people who don't obviously pass the excellent, necessary and ... Read more ...
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Texans encouraged to turn off nighttime lights during bird migration:
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| Texans encouraged to turn off nighttime lights during bird migration - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
May 1 · Texas residents who look up at the night sky over the next few weeks might catch a glimpse of an avian superhighway.
Migratory birds like whooping cranes and tiny songbirds are making their seasonal flights over Texas to northern breeding grounds, with peak migration occurring from April 22 to May 12, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Nearly two billion birds of around 400 different species travel over the state each spring.
To help ensure their safe passage, the National Audubon Society is asking Texans to dim their lights as part of "Lights Out, Texas!"
The biannual campaign was launched as a statewide effort in 2020 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and ... Read more ...
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Texans should prepare for hotter temperatures, greater risk of fire and flooding:
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| Texans should prepare for hotter temperatures, greater risk of fire and flooding - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · The newly updated assessment of extreme weather in Texas draws on data from 1900 to 2023 to predict trends through the year 2036, and shows a significant uptick in extreme temperatures and droughts, wildfire conditions and urban flooding risks, among other changes. The report was authored by Nielsen-Gammon, a Regents Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, in collaboration with the nonprofit public policy organization Texas 2036.
"We have national climate assessments, but they can't do justice to Texas' specific climate conditions," Nielsen-Gammon said. "With this Texas-specific study, we focused on observed trends as much as possible rather than emphasizing ... Read more ...
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The carbon dioxide removal gap:
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| The carbon dioxide removal gap - Nature Climate Change |
May 2 · Rapid emissions reductions, including reductions in deforestation-based land emissions, are the dominant source of global climate mitigation potential in the coming decades. However, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will also have an important role to play. Despite this, it remains unclear whether current national proposals for CDR align with temperature targets. Here we show the 'CDR gap’, that is, CDR efforts proposed by countries fall short of those in integrated assessment model scenarios that limit warming to 1.5?°C. However, the most ambitious proposals for CDR are close to levels in a low-energy demand scenario with the most-limited CDR scaling and aggressive near-term emissions ... Read more ...
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The House GOP Just Passed A Slew Of 'Extreme’ Bills:
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| The House GOP Just Passed A Slew Of 'Extreme’ Bills - Huffington Post |
May 1 · Never missing an opportunity to make life easier for extractive industries, House Republicans passed a suite of bills this week to boost development and dismantle environmental protections across millions of acres of federal land.
The bills stand little chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but they give GOP industry allies something to tout heading into the 2024 elections. And since several of the measures closely mirror priority actions found in Project 2025, the 920-page policy blueprint that dozens of right-wing organizations compiled to guide former President Donald Trump, it might be a preview of what’s to come next year should Trump win the ... Read more ...
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The week in climate policy: 4 updates you need to know:
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| The week in climate policy: 4 updates you need to know - Greenbiz |
May 3 · Florida bans lab-grown meat; the G-7 nations double down on their intention to phase out fossil fuel-powered utilities.
Two lab-grown cubes of beef. Photo: Shutterstock/Firn
Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that bans lab-grown meat in Florida. Specifically, SB 1084 bans the manufacturing and sale of lab-grown meat in an effort to protect the state’s cattle industry against the rising competition. Opponents say the ban will limit future venture capital flowing into Florida; Emily Bogan, head of business operations at cultivated meat company Fork & Good, testified before a state legislative panel in February that "(a) ban like this threatens a free ... | By Leah Garden Read more ...
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Turning up the heat on data storage: New memory device paves the way for AI computing in extreme environments:
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| Turning up the heat on data storage: New memory device paves the way for AI computing in extreme environments - PHYS.ORG - Technology |
Apr 30 · As temperatures climb, the electrons that store data become unstable and begin to escape, leading to device failure and loss of information. But what if gadgets could withstand not just a hot summer day but the searing conditions of a jet engine or the harsh surface of Venus?
In a paper published in the journal Nature Electronics, Deep Jariwala and Roy Olsson of the University of Pennsylvania and their teams at the School of Engineering and Applied Science demonstrated memory technology capable of enduring temperatures as high as 600° Celsius—more than twice the tolerance of any commercial drives on the market—and these characteristics were maintained for more ... Read more ...
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U.S. Plan to Protect Oceans Has a Problem, Some Say: Too Much Fishing:
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| U.S. Plan to Protect Oceans Has a Problem, Some Say: Too Much Fishing - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 30 · An effort to protect 30 percent of land and waters would count some commercial fishing zones as conserved areas.
New details of the Biden administration’s signature conservation effort, made public this month amid a burst of other environmental announcements, have alarmed some scientists who study marine protected areas because the plan would count certain commercial fishing zones as conserved.
The decision could have ripple effects around the world as nations work toward fulfilling a broader global commitment to safeguard 30 percent of the entire planet’s land, inland waters and seas. That effort has been hailed as historic, but the critical question of what, exactly, ... | By Catrin Einhorn Read more ...
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Water Heaters Use Lots of Energy. The D.O.E. Wants to Change That.:
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| Water Heaters Use Lots of Energy. The D.O.E. Wants to Change That. - New York Times - Climate Section |
Apr 30 · The Biden administration is tightening efficiency rules for water heaters, stoves and other appliances, and conservative politicians are dialing up their criticisms.
The Biden administration on Tuesday adopted stricter energy-efficiency standards for residential water heaters, the most consequential move in a flurry of changes designed to reduce the energy used by many common appliances including stoves, dishwashers and lightbulbs.
The Department of Energy said the new standards, taken together, will save American households and businesses nearly $1 trillion over 30 years, and save the average family $100 a year or more through lower utility bills. The changes will also ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ...
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We must examine the connection between packaging and climate change:
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| We must examine the connection between packaging and climate change - Greenbiz |
Apr 30 · Companies should think more holistically about the link between packaging and carbon.
What’s contributing to climate change? Everyone can probably name a few of the culprits: how we get around; how we produce energy; and maybe what we eat. Less top of mind? The things we buy, including what they’re made out of and how they’re packaged.
For companies wanting to decarbonize, focusing solely on energy can stall efforts to tackle equally important sources of emissions. A 2019 report by Material Economics and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) calculated that "materials" (defined as aluminum, plastic, cement, steel and food) account for 45 percent of global emissions. That ... | By Olga Kachook Read more ...
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Weather Report On Planet 280 Light-Years Away:
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| Weather Report On Planet 280 Light-Years Away - Science Daily - Earth and Climate |
Apr 24 · An international team of researchers has successfully used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b.
Precise brightness measurements over a broad spectrum of mid-infrared light, combined with 3D climate models and previous observations from other telescopes, suggest the presence of thick, high clouds covering the nightside, clear skies on the dayside, and equatorial winds upwards of 5,000 miles per hour mixing atmospheric gases around the planet.
The investigation is just the latest demonstration of the exoplanet science now possible with Webb's extraordinary ability to measure temperature variations and detect ... Read more ...
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What a years-long probe of Big Oil reveals about its climate strategy:
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| What a years-long probe of Big Oil reveals about its climate strategy - Washington Post - Climate and Environment |
Apr 30 · Some of the world’s largest oil companies have privately expressed skepticism of the Paris agreement, federal climate regulations and their own goals of reaching “net zero” emissions by mid-century, even as they publicly voiced support for these efforts, according to documents that congressional Democrats released Tuesday.
The documents also detail industry efforts to fund university research into the environmental benefits of natural gas. They were obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Senate Budget Committee as part of a years-long investigation. Read more ...
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What Biden’s new power plant rules mean for utilities:
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| What Biden’s new power plant rules mean for utilities - Greenbiz |
May 1 · Utilities must comply with the EPA’s new emissions rules and invest in carbon capture and storage.
A gas-powered electricity generating station in Arizona. Source: Shutterstock/James Mattil
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new rules Thursday that require newly built natural gas power plants to cut 90 percent of their emissions by 2032, and existing fossil fuel-run power plants will have to comply or exit the grid by 2039.
To reach this goal, utilities will have to invest in carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS) technologies, something EPA administrator Michael Regan believes is financially feasible.
"[The EPA] has engaged ... | By Leah Garden Read more ...
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What Happens When NASA Loses Eyes on Earth? We’re About to Find Out.:
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| What Happens When NASA Loses Eyes on Earth? We’re About to Find Out. - New York Times - Climate Section |
May 3 · Three long-running satellites will soon be switched off, forcing scientists to figure out how to adjust their views of our changing planet.
Marine stratocumulus clouds over the southeastern Pacific Ocean, captured by NASA’s Terra satellite in 2002.Credit...NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team
Sometime in the next few years - no one knows exactly when - three NASA satellites, each one as heavy as an elephant, will go dark.
Already they are drifting, losing height bit by bit. They have been gazing down at the planet for over two decades, far longer than anyone expected, helping us forecast the weather, manage wildfires, monitor oil spills and more. But age is catching up to ... | By Raymond Zhong Read more ...
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Wild bees are under threat from domestic bees, invasive species, pathogens and climate change - but we can help:
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| Wild bees are under threat from domestic bees, invasive species, pathogens and climate change - but we can help - PHYS.ORG - Biology |
Apr 30 · With changes in climate, habitat loss, pesticide use and pathogen spillover, some of our native bees are in decline.
The vast majority of wild bee species are rare. More than 200 species live in the habitat-rich forests, fields and neighborhoods around Hamilton and McMaster University, where they are the subjects of our research.
In Ontario, there are many different types of bees, including bumblebees, carder bees, carpenter bees, cellophane bees, cuckoo bees, leaf cutter bees, long horned bees, mason bees, mining bees, sweat bees and yellow-faced bees.
Many of our wild bees are solitary, highly specialized and transient from one year to the next. This makes them ... Read more ...
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Wildfires in wet African forests have doubled in recent decades, large-scale analysis finds:
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| Wildfires in wet African forests have doubled in recent decades, large-scale analysis finds - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 2 · With fires increasing in other historically wet forests, such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest and the Amazon, wet forest fires can no longer be ignored, the researchers say.
Scientists have known for decades that wet forests in western and central Africa have fires, but because the fires tend to be much smaller than their counterparts in dry woodlands and savannas, relatively little research has been done on Africa's tropical forest fires. This has led to uncertainty over where and when they burn, what exacerbates them and how that might shift in response to climate change.
"Historically, scientists have not considered fire to be an important part of wet, tropical forests, ... Read more ...
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Wondering what Australia might look like in a hotter world? Take a glimpse into the distant past:
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| Wondering what Australia might look like in a hotter world? Take a glimpse into the distant past - PHYS.ORG - Earth |
May 1 · Wouldn't it be useful to go back in time and see what Australia looked like during those periods in the distant past? Well, scientists—including us—have done just that.
These studies, which largely involve examining sediments and fossils, reveal a radically different Australia to the one we inhabit.
The continent was warmer and wetter, and filled with unfamiliar plant and animal species. It suggests Australia may be much wetter, and look very different, in centuries and millennia to come.
Then and now: Measuring CO₂
Atmospheric CO₂ is measured in "parts per million"—in other words, how many CO₂ molecules are present in each ... Read more ...
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