Trees of all sizes across the Amazon rainforest are getting fatter due to climate change, a new study shows. Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere have created a more resource-rich environment for plants in the Amazon, leading to an average 3.3% increase in the circumference of trees at their base every decade since … Read more
Our planet continues to warm because of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. The polar regions are especially vulnerable to this warming. Sea ice extent is already declining in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting, and abrupt changes in both polar environments are underway. These changes have significant … Read more
A small municipality in southern Finland recently installed the world’s largest “sand battery” to supply the town’s heating. The new sand battery, designed by Polar Night Energy, is effectively a giant sandpit encased in a roughly 43 foot tall by 49 foot wide (13 by 15 meter) steel container. The sand is heated using closed-loop … Read more
Continents have lost so much water since 2002 that they have surpassed ice sheets as the biggest contributor to global sea level rise, a new study reveals. Almost 70% of this loss is due to unchecked groundwater extraction, which removes water from deep aquifers and eventually transfers it to the ocean, researchers found. Together with … Read more
Scientists have found new evidence that a massive comet trail may have caused climate upheaval on Earth more than 12,000 years ago. Tiny particles detected in ocean sediment cores suggest that dust from a large, disintegrating comet entered Earth’s atmosphere around the beginning of the Younger Dryas event, a period of abrupt cooling that caused … Read more
More than 5,000 people have applied for a first-of-its-kind migration visa that offers residents of a Pacific island an escape from the worst effects of climate change. Applications for the visa opened to people in Tuvalu on June 16 and close today (July 18). Under its terms, 280 Tuvaluans can relocate to Australia each year … Read more
Melting glaciers could make volcanic eruptions more explosive and frequent, worsening climate change in the process, scientists have warned. Hundreds of volcanoes in Antarctica, Russia, New Zealand, and North America rest beneath glaciers. But as the planet warms and these ice sheets melt and retreat, these volcanoes are likely to become more active, according to … Read more
Scientists in Switzerland have created a new “living” material that contains blue-green algae and could one day be used in buildings to fight climate change, they say. Thanks to the blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, the new material is photosynthetic. This means it can chemically convert carbon dioxide (CO2), sunlight and water into oxygen and sugars, … Read more
Our understanding of plant and tree roots may have been somewhat shallow. New research reveals many plants have a hidden second set of roots that extend far deeper into the soil. According to a new study published June 17 in the journal Nature Communications, this second layer of roots extend over 3 feet (1 meter) … Read more
A British firm has received approval to mass-produce an ultra-high-power-density electric vehicle (EV) battery that can be fully recharged in just 18 seconds. The RML Group was granted Conformity of Production certification for its VarEVolt battery on June 2. This government approval signifies that the firm can mass-produce the powerful batteries for EV manufacturers. The … Read more
