Archive for the ‘Enviroment’ Category

Heatwave transformed Australian marine life

Heatwaves aren’t just a problem for humans. They can reshape marine ecosystems too. Such extreme weather events will become more common because of climate change. They can ravage land ecosystems, but until now little has been known about their effects in the seas. Events last year in the sea off Australia’s west coast suggest that […]

Heatwave transformed Australian marine life

Heatwaves aren’t just a problem for humans. They can reshape marine ecosystems too. Such extreme weather events will become more common because of climate change. They can ravage land ecosystems, but until now little has been known about their effects in the seas. Events last year in the sea off Australia’s west coast suggest that […]

Ethanol levels in the air over US cities on the rise

IT’S not enough to give you a boozy buzz, but levels of ethanol in the air are on the rise in the US. Environmental legislation has boosted the amount of ethanol-containing fuel sold there – but while plant-derived ethanol is touted for its green credentials, it can oxidise in the atmosphere to form acetaldehyde, which […]

Islamist threat to Timbuktu’s ancient scientific texts

Timbuktu’s priceless collection of ancient scientific texts is at risk of destruction by hard-line Islamists. Ansar Dine, a Tuareg militia, occupies territory around Timbuktu, a town in northern Mali listed as a world heritage site. In recent weeks, the group has destroyed historic tombs in the town (see picture), which house the remains of Islamic […]

Climate change is shrinking Australian plant leaves

If your plan for escaping climate change is to hide in the shade of a tree, you might be out of luck. It turns out the leaves of some plants are shrinking in response to the warmer weather. But bad news for shade-lovers may be good news for plant conservation. The changes could indicate that […]

The quest to drill the world’s deepest hole

The quest to drill the world’s deepest hole 11:34 05 July 2012 Since the mid 20th century, geologists have been drilling ever deeper into the Earth’s crust on ocean and on land, but they still haven’t come close to the mantle. A bold plan is now under way to reach the planet’s viscous interior. Richard […]

Eco-activists want to torpedo a war game

OFF the coast of Hawaii in the next few months, three old US navy ships will go down in a blaze of glory. As part of the navy’s biennial Pacific training exercise, called RIMPAC, warships, planes and submarines from 22 nations will use the vessels for target practice. Environmental activists are up in arms. The […]

Want cheap food? Don’t let the climate change

Tuck in now, everyone. The era of cheap food may come to an end within decades, thanks to the depredations of climate change. US consumers face rising food prices in the next few months, because a drought in the Midwest has pushed up the cost of corn. But that is just a taste of things […]

Virus power harnessed to protect Red Sea coral

IT’S viruses against bacteria in the struggle to preserve the Red Sea’s renowned coral reefs. The corals have been fighting off bacteria that bleach and kill them. This “white plague”, caused by Thalassomonas loyana, infects 9 per cent of Favia favus coral. Corals next to infected ones have a 61 per cent chance of catching […]

How global warming is driving our weather wild

Editorial: “As freak weather becomes the norm, we need to adapt” ITS NICKNAME is the icebox of the nation. The village of Pellston in Michigan often sees arctic winters, with a thermometer-shattering record low of -47 °C in 1933. Even by late March, it is usually a very chilly place. But not this year. On 22 […]

As freak weather becomes the norm, we need to adapt

IT HAS been yet another week of extraordinary weather. Torrential rainfall caused chaos across the UK. A record-breaking heatwave drifted across the US, broken by freak thunderstorms that left a trail of destruction from Chicago to Washington DC. Meanwhile, in India and Bangladesh more than 100 people were killed and half a million fled when […]

Worst and wildest: Five off-the-charts weather events

Worst and wildest: Five off-the-charts weather events 10:32 10 July 2012 Even in a stable climate, wild, extreme weather will occur from time to time. As the planet warms, though, once-unprecedented events will start to become commonplace. Here are five off-the-charts events the likes of which could become more familiar in the future. Michael Le […]

Climate change boosted odds of Texas drought

Some things you really can pin on climate change – the heatwave that struck Texas last year, for instance. A long-term rise in temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions made the hot weather 20 times more likely, modelling suggests. The same study found that four other extreme weather events last year can be linked to […]

Tree rings suggest Roman world was warmer than thought

How did the Romans manage to grow grapes in northern England when most climate studies suggest the weather was much cooler then? We may now have an answer: it wasn’t that cold at all. Long-term temperature reconstructions often rely on the width of tree rings: they assume that warmer summers make for wider rings. Using […]

Can fracking contaminate drinking water?

The salt of the Earth may hint at trouble for the fracking industry’s safety claims, according to a new geological study – although other researchers disagree. Hydraulic fracturing uses pressurised fluid to crack open deep shale rocks to release the methane trapped within them. Geologists say this potentially harmful fluid is unlikely to percolate up […]

Earth’s past warmth is no get-out clause

CLIMATE scientists have long held that the past 2000 years were almost uniformly cool. Now it seems they were wrong. The 1st century AD looks to have been as warm as today, and the world gradually cooled from then on, right up until the industrial era (see “Tree rings suggest Roman world was warmer than […]

Endangered species rewarded with meagre territory

IT’S a case of habitat well and truly lost for South Florida’s Cape Sable seaside sparrow. It can enjoy only a fraction of the homeland it was promised. The Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Arizona, has found that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) systematically ignored recommendations to increase habitats for endangered species […]

Genetic detectives hunt the global amphibian killer

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Growth of Earth’s core may hint at magnetic reversal

Lopsided growth of the Earth’s core could explain why its magnetic field reverses direction every few thousand years. If it happened now, we would be exposed to solar winds capable of knocking out global communications and power grids. One side of Earth’s solid inner core grows slightly while the other half melts. Peter Olson and […]

Geoengineering with iron might work after all

Editorial: “We can’t afford to neglect ways to halt global warming” IF YOU want to help stop climate change, try tipping some iron into the sea. For years, this geoengineering idea has been considered a busted flush, but new results suggest it really can work. Tiny floating algae called phytoplankton pull carbon dioxide out of […]

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