Policymakers are often concerned with the preservation of biodiversity at national, continental or global scales, but most biodiversity monitoring is conducted at very fine scales. This mismatch between the scales of our policies and of our data creates serious challenges, especially when assessing biodiversity change. In a new study, published in Ecological Monographs today, nearly…
Month: January 2018
Geoengineering: more harm than good
A team of researchers led by Christopher Trisos of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Centre at the University of Maryland, US, has now modelled the effects of abrupt changes in potential long-term SAI geoengineering projects. The scientists imagine a scenario in which SAI projects continue to 2070 and then are quickly halted due, most likely, to…
2017 was warmest year for the global ocean
2017 was the warmest year on record for the global ocean according to an updated ocean analysis from Institute of Atmospheric Physics/Chinese Academy of Science. Owing to its large heat capacity, the ocean accumulates the warming derived from human activities; indeed, more than 90% of Earth’s residual heat related to global warming is absorbed by…
The Financial Inclusion Challenge
A COMPETITION FOR THE BEST IDEAS TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL SECURITY Financial security is beyond the reach of millions of Americans. Nearly one-fourth of adults can’t pay their monthly bills, and roughly the same number have little or no access to a bank. Many have no retirement savings or aren’t sure how to manage them. Financial…
A game-changer for organic solar cells?
In an advance that could push cheap, ubiquitous solar power closer to reality, researchers have found a way to coax electrons to travel much further than was previously thought possible in the materials often used for organic solar cells and other organic semiconductors. Source: Semiconductor breakthrough may be game-changer for organic solar cells
Ocean Heat Wave 53 Times More Likely
Just as atmospheric shifts can bring droughts and nasty heat waves on land, shifts in weather or ocean circulation also can spark deadly marine heat waves, which can thoroughly scramble life at sea. But until recently scientists understood little about what role climate change might play in these extreme sea events. Now, new first-of-its-kind research…
Nine uses for graphene
Just one atom thick (or thin, depending on how you think about it), graphene is among the strongest materials in the known universe, with 100 times the strength of steel, an astonishing amount of flexibility, and a whole lot of other talents lurking beneath the surface. Do you remember that classic scene from The Simpsons…
“High Risk” of Global warming exceeding Paris agreement’s 1.5C
There is a “very high risk” that the most ambitious global warming limit set in the Paris climate agreement is likely to be exceeded by the 2040s, according to a draft United Nations (UN) report. Only a dramatic and unprecedented shift away from fossil fuels will enable world governments to limit warming to 1.5C above…
Bipartisan lawmakers to Trump: designate climate change a security threat
A A bipartisan group of more than 100 House lawmakers are urging President Trump to name climate change a major security threat after he declined to include it in the administration’s national security strategy. In a letter sent to the White House Thursday, 106 members, including 11 Republicans, implore Trump to “reconsider this omission.” “We…
Climate Change And Plant Growth
Global warming affects more than just plant biodiversity – it even alters the way plants grow. A team of researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) joined forces with the Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry (IPB) to discover which molecular processes are involved in plant growth. In the current edition of the internationally renowned journal…