A look at our changing environment.
In early December, a series of tornadoes struck multiple states, killing nearly 100 people and producing widespread damage in whole communities. These storms were at least the 19th weather or climate disaster that caused more than $1 billion in damage during 2021. The year suffered from droughts, wildfires, severe cold snaps, hurricanes, and other severe […]
There is increasing concern that reducing carbon emissions alone will not be sufficient to stabilize the climate and that technologies that actively remove carbon dioxide from the air will be needed. There has been a fair amount of analysis of the efficacy of storing carbon in agricultural soil and in forests, but there has not […]
December saw some wild weather in Alaska. A combination of record high temperatures and torrential rainstorms resulted in the coining of the term “Icemageddon” to describe what was going on with the weather. Kodiak Island in southern Alaska saw a high temperature of 67 degrees on December 26, which was warmer than it was in […]
The Netherlands is a country that is largely built on reclaimed land and a third of it remains below sea level. The Dutch have long experience with dealing with rising waters. The city of Amsterdam has almost 3,000 houseboats in its canals. As sea levels continue to rise across the globe, it is no surprise […]
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory have developed an all-season smart roof coating that can keep homes warm during the winter and cool during the summer, and the coating does not consume any gas or electricity. Existing cool roof systems consist of reflective coatings, membranes, shingles, or tile that lower house temperatures by reflecting sunlight […]
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is the widest glacier in the world. It is about 80 miles across and in places extends to a depth of about 2,600 to 3,900 feet. The glacier is roughly the size of Florida, and it currently contributes 4% of annual global sea level rise as it continues to retreat […]
As of January 1, the state of New York now prohibits any person engaged in the business of selling or distributing prepared food or beverages from selling, offering for sale, or distributing disposable food service containers that contain expanded polystyrene foam in the state. In addition, no manufacturer will be allowed to sell, offer for […]
The price of the batteries that power electric cars has fallen by about 90% since 2010. This continuing trend will eventually make EVs less expensive than gas cars. For many years, researchers have estimated that when battery packs reach the price of $100 per kilowatt-hour of energy storage, electric cars will cost about the same […]
In recent years, there have been countless stories about the effects of the changing climate. Many of those stories have been about the dwindling sea ice in the Arctic and many others have been about the worsening wildfires in the western United States. According to a recent study published by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, […]
Climate change poses a major threat to polar bear survival. The polar bear, whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, depends on sea ice for nearly all of its lifecycle functions. And rising temperatures are causing this sea ice to disappear. Climate change-driven sea ice loss is the primary threat to the future […]
Wearable electronic devices are a big market but there are limitations created by the properties of the batteries that operate them. The ideal battery for wearable electronics would be soft and comfortable, stretchable, and washable. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have recently developed just such a battery. The work has been described in […]
Manatees, also called “sea cows”, have been the victims of farm runoff. They have starved to death by the hundreds along Florida’s east coast because algae blooms fed by nitrogen-rich fertilizer runoff are proliferating on the ocean surface and blocking sunlight from reaching seagrass below. Seagrass is the primary source of food for manatees in […]
Denmark has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 70% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. The country has also banned oil exploration in Danish waters and plans to phase out offshore drilling in the North Sea by 2050. Instead of pumping oil from the North Sea, Denmark plans to capture CO2 and store it there. […]
Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second-largest lake and one of the world’s largest hypersaline lakes. Its high salt content makes it an ideal breeding ground for some migratory bird species, including flamingos, which are often present there in huge numbers in the spring and summer. Now, Lake Tuz rarely spans an area much larger than a […]
Today’s electric cars run on lithium-ion batteries, the same sort that power our phones, computers, and many other consumer electronic devices. These batteries are far superior to the batteries of the past, offering long-life, high-energy density, and recyclable components. Lithium-ion batteries do have their drawbacks. They may be lighter than older battery technologies, but because […]
Since 2003, Venice Italy has been building a system of mobile gates at three inlets to its famous lagoon. The project is called MOSE, the Italian word for Moses, but is actually an acronym for the Italian words meaning Experimental Electromechanical Module. The 78 mobile gates are metal box structures that sit at the bottom […]
Most of the world’s energy demands are still being met by burning fossil fuels, thereby releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The energy system is in the midst of a transition to renewable sources such as solar and wind power, but it will be quite some time before fossil fuels are only a minor part […]
Crop variety and diversity are critically important for global food security as well as for the livelihoods of millions of people. This diversity entails both the different species of food crops as well as the so-called farmer varieties of crops that in many cases have been cultivated and safeguarded for millennia. It is well-known that […]
The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw drastic reductions in travel and other economic sectors across the globe that greatly decreased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. These dramatic changes occurred quite suddenly. This abrupt set of changes gave scientists the unprecedented opportunity to observe the results of changes that would ordinarily have taken […]
There are plenty of solar panels on residential rooftops but there are also increasing numbers of arrays of them on croplands, arid lands, and grasslands. Large solar arrays are mostly built in open spaces like these rather than in developed areas. The reason is that it is cheaper to build on undeveloped land than on […]