Seemed like a cool idea: paint the world’s roofs white to reflect more sunlight, and it could help cool down both cities and the planet. A new study, however, finds it’s a lot more complicated—even as the research dispels climate-change deniers’ claims that urban “heat islands” are a major cause of apparent temperature increases. […] Read More »
Mary Edna Fraser uses the ancient technique of batik to illustrate landscapes around the world that are most vulnerable to climate change. Her recent work adorns Global Climate Change: A Primer by Orrin and Keith Pilkey.
Batik is a wax-resistant fabric-dyeing technique. Fraser pencils her designs onto silk, then applies multiple layers of wax […] Read More »
When researchers noticed two unusual plants growing along the shores of Whalers Bay on Antarctica’s Deception Island in January, 2009, the discovery posed a perplexing problem: Were they newly-noticed natives to be cataloged and celebrated – or potentially damaging invaders to be quickly exterminated? Now, a new study is offering a roadmap for distinguishing Antarctica’s […] Read More »
Warmer seas could mean more diverse fish schools in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Rising water temperatures have already led to major shifts in the abundance of commercially important stocks, according to a new study that, for the first time, considers the absolute abundance of fish species and not just their presence or absence.
“We see […] Read More »
Although often called “pristine,” researchers know that the Arctic hasn’t been spared from pollution. Air and water currents have imported plenty of smutz from far off smokestacks and sewer pipes, imperiling sensitive species. A new effort to track Arctic pollution over the last 25 years, however, finds that efforts to control some of these pollutants […] Read More »
Health experts have long warned that a warming climate could enable some dangerous parasitic diseases such as malaria to expand. Evidence, however, has been hard to come by. But a new survey of malaria in birds is giving the argument a bit of a lift.
Malaria is caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium. […] Read More »
Nuclear energy is often touted as a solution to curbing climate change because it produces fewer greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels. Ironically, however, some changes wrought by climate change may make operating nuclear power plants a nonstarter, two researchers conclude in Energy Policy.
“Nuclear power is not and will not be a suitable […] Read More »
The beauty of Antarctica’s vast ice sheet may be a selling point in the travel brochures, but researchers are now taking a closer look at how much the South Pole’s tourism industry contributes to the global carbon emissions that are threatening to melt the ice.
Traveling to Antarctica is energy-intensive, Ramon Farreny of the […] Read More »
One of the world’s oldest civilizations has now produced one of the longest-term looks at how climate influences insect populations. Drawing on more than 8,000 historical documents, researchers have assembled a 1,910-year-long history of the links between temperature, rainfall and outbreaks of locust swarms.
“Outbreak of Oriental migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria manilensis) was, together with […] Read More »
It’s not time to throw the recycled bathwater out with the baby. Although wastewater recycling plants can produce more greenhouse gas emissions that traditional water treatment facilities, a new study finds they can still offer advantages in water-stressed regions.
Nitrous oxide, a potent warming gas, is by-product of common bacteria “that live in agricultural soils […] Read More »
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions at U.S. power plants could help save some water too, a new analysis concludes.
Coal-fired and nuclear power plants are among the nation’s thirstiest water users, Munish Chandel and two colleagues at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, report in Energy Policy. In 2005, electricity generators sucked up roughly 143 billion […] Read More »
The European Union (EU) is often lauded for its ambitious goals when it comes to curbing climate change and protecting biodiversity. By 2020, for example, it has pledged to halt biodiversity losses and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels. But efforts to reach the two goals are likely to come into increasing […] Read More »
Hydropower is often touted as a solution to climate change. Some critics have been skeptical, however, pointing to studies suggesting that the reservoirs behind dams can emit oodles of carbon dioxide and methane, particularly in tropical regions. But those concerns appear to be overblown, concludes a new study.
When rivers are dammed, the flooding often […] Read More »
On the morning of May 11, 1944, nearly 1,500 heavy bombers lifted off from bases in England, headed for targets in Nazi Germany. As the giant aircraft lumbered into formations, the wispy streaks of contrails marked their passage. Now, climate scientists are using weather data collected during those long ago combat missions to gain insight […] Read More »
“It’s an obvious fraud!,” the poet Ronald Strahan once wrote of the platypus. “Someone has stuck the front end of a duck, with the skill of a weaver, to part of a beaver.” But the unique water-loving, egg-laying creature might not adapt so well to climate change, a new study from Australia warns.
The platypus […] Read More »
