Tag: Climate change

Launch of the first global public database of fossil fuels

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The first-of-its-kind database to track the world’s fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions was launched on Monday in conjunction with climate talks taking place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Global Fossil Fuel Register includes data from more than 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in 89 countries. It covers 75% of global reserves, production and emissions and is available for public use, the first of its kind for a group of this size. To date, private data has been available for purchase, an analysis of…

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The 2012 ‘Clairvoyant’ climate report warned of bad weather

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Record high temperatures in urban Europe as heat waves are causing the planet to become more frequent. Destructive floods, some in poor, unprepared areas. Increased devastation from hurricanes. Drought and famine in poorer parts of Africa with worsening droughts around the world. Wild weather around the world is getting stronger and more frequent, leading to “unprecedented extreme phenomena.” Does it look like the last few summers? But it was also a warning and a prediction for the future issued by the United Nations’ top climate scientists more than 10 years…

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Bill Gates: Technological innovation can help end hunger

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Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so massive that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday. Gates, in particular, points to a breakthrough he calls “magic seeds,” crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map showing how climate change…

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Digging deep: What the discovery of ostrich fossils in the Himalayas reveals about our climate

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New study From the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, reports the discovery of Pleistocene fossils (2.58 – 0.63 Ma) from as yet unexplored fossil-rich areas in the Upper Siwalik Group of the Himalayas. Explorations, spanning the past two years, have yielded the teeth and bones of the ancestors of modern buffalo species, nilgai, wildebeest, horses, elephants, and even porcupines – some of which are now locally extinct. But a surprising and somewhat unexpected discovery is the presence of ostrich eggshells in Upper Siwalik. The fact that…

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Deep digging: the impact of climate change on boreal forests

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Higher temperatures, carbon dioxide levels and lower levels of precipitation are usually associated with climate change. However, different parts of the world, and the different plants and animals that live in them, will not necessarily show a consistent response. While some plants that need more moisture may bear the brunt of a warming climate, those that are – in general – more drought tolerant, may end up thriving and colonizing the newer, warmer regions they open to. Writing in nature This month, ( ) a team of environmental scientists led…

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Deep drilling: delta loss of land due to rising sea levels and changing the course of rivers

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The estuary, where it meets the ocean, is a spectacle of plenty of action. When the river reaches the ocean, it slows down and sediment is deposited. If the river carries enough sediment, sedimentation can create new land, forcing the mouth of the river deeper into the sea to form a river delta. Thus, the delta is the result of the balance between the ocean and the river. However, rising sea levels and human intervention in rivers are rapidly changing these dynamics. A study published last month by geologists at…

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Satellite images show that the Antarctic ice shelf is collapsing faster than previously thought

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A satellite analysis on Wednesday showed that coastal glaciers in Antarctica are removing icebergs faster than nature’s ability to regenerate rickety ice, doubling previous estimates of losses from the world’s largest ice sheet over the past 25 years. The first-of-its-kind study, led by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles and published in the journal Nature, has raised new concerns about how quickly climate change is weakening Antarctica’s floating ice shelves and accelerating their ascent. global sea levels. The study’s main finding was that the net loss…

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Bees have a secret survival weapon that may surprise you

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Humble honeybees can control temperature in amazing ways – from keeping the hive cool during heat waves to cooking their enemies alive. Hornets can be evil. Some love nothing more than making their way into a beehive, decapitating its inhabitants and leaving the colony in ruins. But the wasps that dare attack a Japanese honey bee colony may get more than they bargained for. As the hornets rush in, a defensive army mobilizes the attacker. Hundreds of bees buzz hard, with the temperature at the core of their dense mass…

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The water vapor that the Tonga eruption sent into the stratosphere could temporarily warm the Earth

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The Hengja Tonga-Hanga-Hapai volcano erupted on January 15th triggering a worldwide tsunami causing a sonic boom that circled the Earth twice. But besides this, the underwater eruption of the volcano also released a massive plume of water vapor into the Earth’s stratosphere. Enough water to fill 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools has been sent into the stratosphere, meaning it could temporarily warm the planet’s surface. An atmospheric scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California led a new study that examines the amount of water vapor the volcano has released…

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Hot summers mean that Florida turtles are mostly born female

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Florida sea turtles are grappling with a gender imbalance exacerbated by climate change. Recent heat waves have warmed the sand on some beaches to the point that nearly every turtle born has been a female. said Pete Zerkelbach, director of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, a city in the Florida Keys, a chain of tropical islands extending from the state’s southern tip. “Scientists studying sea turtle hatchlings and eggs have not found any sea turtle boys, so only female sea turtles for the past four years,” said Zirkelbach, whose turtle…

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