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Extincția în masă din Permian-Triasic, numită și „Marea Moarte”, a avut loc acum 252 de milioane de ani și a fost cauzată de erupții vulcanice masive care au dus la încălzirea globală. Ea a ucis 95% din viața de pe Pământ. Aceasta a fost cea mai mare extincție în masă din istoria Pământului dintr-un total de cinci. Ecosistemele sănătoase se bazează pe interacțiunea complexă a diferitelor specii, inclusiv plante, prădători și pradă, fiecare dintre acestea având un rol unic în menținerea echilibrului ecologic. Cu toate acestea, dacă mai multe specii dispar și numărul de specii în fiecare rol ecologic scade, ecosistemul devine din ce în ce mai instabil. Odată ce ultima specie din fiecare rol dispare, ecosistemul se prăbușește rapid. Oamenii de știință conduși de Dr. Yuangeng Huang, de la…

India and China faced criticism at COP26 for pushing to weaken the language on coal consumption in the final version of the Glasgow Climate Pact. As a result, the final version only called for nations to "phase down" coal power rather than "phase out" unabated coal power. At COP27, India's proposal to phase down all fossil fuels was supported by over 80 governments but did not make it into the final text of the summit. This proposal would have included oil and gas, which developed nations tend to rely on more than coal. Dezbaterile politice privind schimbările climatice stau sub egida obiectivului de 1,5C al Grupului Interguvernamental de Experți în Schimbări Climatice (IPCC). Metodele...

While electric vehicles are recognized as a way to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change, there has been limited research on the actual health benefits of reduced air pollution from these vehicles. Most studies have been hypothetical and not based on actual data. Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC led by associate professor Erika Garcia, have started a study using real-world data from the State of California to examine the impact of electric vehicle adoption on air pollution and public health. This is the first study of its kind and it was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. Researchers compared data from 2013 to 2019 on zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) registration, air pollution levels...

Frequent extreme weather and increased food demand have caused a reliance on plastics in agriculture, such as in greenhouses, films for temperature control, irrigation pipes, and seed coatings. When all these products decompose, they release microplastics into the soil, altering its physiochemical properties. When humans come in contact with plastic contaminated food and water, they ingest microplastics that reach their intestines, lungs, blood, brain, and breast milk, causing inflammation of the tissues. Additionally, compounds added to plastic (like plasticizers, stabilizers and pigments) can affect the endocrine system. Researchers Liuyue He and Zhongbin Li of Wuhan University, Qian Jia of Tongji University, and Zhenci Xu of the University of Hong Kong call on authorities to encourage research...

New research suggests that large deposits of natural hydrogen may exist all around the globe a result of the water-rock reactions deep within the Earth. This hydrogen percolates up through the crust and can accumulate in underground traps. The US Geological Survey has presented a model that suggests there may be enough natural hydrogen to meet global demand for thousands of years. Dozens of startups are acquiring exploration rights for hydrogen. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists also formed its first natural hydrogen committee last year, and the USGS has started identifying potential hydrogen production areas in the United States. Mali, Australia and Spain may also become large producers of natural hydrogen...

According to Wang Dapeng, an official from the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA), the country added 125GW of new wind and solar capacity to its grid in 2022, bringing its cumulative renewable energy capacity to over 1,200GW. Wind energy saw 37.6GW of new capacity, while solar capacity saw 87.4GW. China's wind and solar energy generation is now close to the amount of electricity needed to power every home in the country, Bloomberg announces. In 2022, renewable generation is expected to hit 1,190TWh, while residential power consumption will reach 1,350TWh, indicating a big milestone for China. That being said, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported in 2020 that only 17% of ...

It takes from three to 10 years, for a coral to build an adult-sized skeleton, depending on the species. To accelerate the process of growing replacement corals, Coral Maker, a company founded by Taryn Foster, is utilizing an innovative technique. She is designing and constructing artificial reef structures that mimic the natural skeletons of corals and are optimized to promote coral growth. Foster is using materials such as limestone and builds the skeletons with ...

Myles Allen, a professor of geosystems science at the University of Oxford along with four other scientists from the US and the Netherlands, have proposed that fossil fuel companies should be required to capture and store the carbon dioxide generated by their products as a condition of being allowed to operate. This idea is outlined in a paper the group of scientists published in the magazine Environmental Research Letters. Under a so called "carbon take back obligation", fossil fuels extracted or imported into a nation or group of nations would be offset by storing underground an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to that generated by that fuel. This could help the world store 100% of emissions by 2050. It is...

Rising sea levels and climate change together could lead to consecutive hurricanes and tropical storms hitting coastal areas like the Gulf Coast as often as every 3 years, according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change. In 2017, after a particularly destructive hurricane season (Harvey, Irma and Maria), researchers started raising questions about the increasing frequency of sequential hurricanes. Their theories were confirmed in 2021 when hurricane Ida struck Louisiana, followed shortly by Tropical Storm Nicholas in Texas. Researchers are broadly in agreement that climate change will increase the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes in the coming century, although they remain at odds over whether it will also lead to an increase in their frequency. But storms of greater intensity...

Global warming is driving a greater number of human-wildlife conflicts all over the world, on all continents and oceans, shows a new research paper published in Nature Climate Change. The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Washington's Center for Ecosystem Sentinels. The team examined human-wildlife conflicts specifically linked to the effects of climate change. Events like drought, floods, wildfires, warmer air and ocean temperatures cause aggressive behavior, while alterations of animal habitats cause disruption of food webs, driving wild animals into human settlements in search of food. As climate change intensifies, human-wildlife conflicts are likely to increase. In order to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts...