Global warming

Polar bear swims for nine straight days in search of ice

A female polar bear recently swam over 400 miles in water barely above freezing, apparently in search of ice that had not been melted by climate change. It’s a tale that’s equal parts insane, tragic, and completely terrifying. The bear was being tracked with a GPS collar by researchers from the US Geological Survey. Zoologist…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 25

Are carbon dioxide leaks killing animals in Saskatchewan?

Storage of carbon dioxide was supposed to be a boon to the environment in Canada. But are reports of dead animals and bubbling ponds signs that it’s a danger? Since carbon dioxide causes a lot of trouble when it’s zooming around the atmosphere, heating everything up and suffocating all the animals, measures had to be…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 21

Climate change has guided 2,500 years of European history

Climate has been the secret driver of history, particularly in the preindustrial world. Empires and kingdoms rose to power when it was warm and wet and toppled when it became cool and dry…and climate might not be done guiding history. Researchers have long suspected a link between climatic variations and historical trends, but we generally…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 13

Insect meat is the new beef

Cattle and other livestock create tons of damaging greenhouse gases, particularly when you consider everything humans have to do to turn a cow in a field into dinner on your plate. There may be one environmentally friendly solution: eating bugs. Yes, that’s the conclusion reached by Dutch researchers at Wageningen University, who have been looking…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 11

Another consequence of environmental collapse: Bear maulings

Bear attacks are on the rise, and changes in the environment are to blame. There are three factors making it more likely that you’ll get a bear claw in the face. Yellowstone is known for its close encounters with bears. Local park bears have learned to break into cars, they’ve pushed their cubs into trees…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 5

A rarely-considered aspect of global warming

If all we are is dust in the wind, it turns out we could be pretty lasting and important. Dust plays a major role in climate – possibly more of one than we give it credit for. Fit of rage, moment of clumsiness, evening in a Greek restaurant; we’ve all smashed something in our time.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 28

Alastair Reynolds’ next trilogy: An optimistic saga that takes place after climate change

Everybody wants more optimistic science fiction, but the near future is full of nightmare scenarios like global climate change. How do we get around that? Alastair Reynolds has one idea: a 22nd century saga set after the climate’s already changed. In a way, it’s not too different than what Gene Roddenberry did with Star Trek:…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Dec 6

Fight global warming or face the wrath of the dinosaurs

Three hundred million years ago there was a period of global warming. Two hundred million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the land, wreaking havok and spreading terror. Scientists think the two events were intimately linked. Around three hundred million years ago, the world was a very different place. North America and Europe had a firm grip…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 30

Venus is a planetary experiment in the perils of trying to control global warming

A recent proposal to control global warming is to release sulfur droplets into the atmosphere, which would hopefully block out some of the Sun’s rays. Venus has been running an eons-long simulation of just that plan…and it doesn’t look good. Back in 2008, the Venus Express probe detected a layer of sulfur dioxide about 100…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 30

Grizzly Bear vs. Polar Bear – Who Will Win?

Climate change is steering grizzly bears and polar bears on a collision course. When they meet in the middle, fights are inevitable. Find out who is favored to win, evolutionarily speaking. Image by Steven J. Kazlowski. It’s long been shown that the rapidly warming earth is bad news for polar bears. Their habitat is shrinking,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 24

Neon Trees

Taiwanese researchers have stumbled onto something truly magical. When gold nanoparticles were introduced into Bacopa caroliniana plants they caused the chlorophyll to produce reddish light. Bye-bye street lights? But wait, there’s more: While lit, the glowing trees vegetation consumed more carbon from the atmosphere than normal (i.e. the luminescence causes the cells to undergo photosynthesis).…

Tech News Jack Loftus Nov 14

Global warming could mean a golden age for tropical rain forests

Climate change could have devastating consequences for much of the world’s ecosystems, but at least one area might benefit. Ancient rain forests thrived during severe warming millions of years ago, helping to create today’s species diversity. 56.3 million years ago, planet Earth was going through one of its hottest periods. Average temperatures were 3-5 degrees…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 12

How will Tuesday’s election results affect the future of science?

Science was rarely mentioned on the campaign trail, so what exactly does the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives mean for science? For environmental science, it looks very bad. But on other issues, there’s reason for a little optimism. The Republican platform, “The Pledge to America”, never mentions the words “science”, “technology”, “NASA”, “research…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 5

Goose eggs could help polar bears survive global warming

The polar ice caps are melting, damaging habitats and robbing animals of their basic resources. But polar bears have a decent chance of surviving the upheaval, thanks to snow goose eggs…and a little random good luck. If an animal moves from one habitat to another – or if their habitat changes around them – there’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 5

Programmer Develops Twitter Bot to Troll Climate Change Deniers

Preaching the climate change gospel can be tough work, especially on Twitter. Software developer Nigel Leck got tired rehashing the same 140-character arguments against climate change deniers, so he programmed a bot that does the work for him. With citations! Leck’s bot, @AI_AGW, doesn’t just respond to arguments directed at Leck himself, it goes out…

Climate Change Kyle VanHemert Nov 4

Global warming will kick the crap out of different hemispheres in different ways

Global warming affects all of us, but that doesn’t mean it’ll unite the world. If anything, it’ll split the planet in two: Storms in the northern hemisphere will follow a very different pattern than storms in the southern hemisphere. Paul O’Gorman, at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, noticed that the strong winds…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 25

The best way to slow global warming is to stop having babies

Despite the many possible technological and political solutions to global warming, one highly effective way to reduce carbon emissions is pretty straightforward: stop procreating. This seems, at first, like one of those painfully self-evident scientific conclusions. Fewer humans generate less greenhouse gases, so global warming slows. This study, published in the Proceedings of the National…

io9 Ed Grabianowski Oct 22

Blotting out the Sun to slow down global warming could be outlawed

Blocking out the Sun is being seriously considered as a temporary solution to slow down global warming. But the U.N. might ban these solar shades, perhaps because someone there knows The Simpsons already did it…and it didn’t work out well. The United Nations’s Convention on Biological Diversity is expected to either ban outright or limit…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 17

Humanity will need two Earths to sustain itself in just twenty years

At humanity’s present rate of consumption, by 2030 we’ll need the resources of two Earths just to survive long-term. There are really two options: start building another Earth, or drastically change our lifestyles. Which one is supposed to be easier? According to the latest “Living Planet” report from the World Wildlife Fund, Earth’s 6.8 billion…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 14

A waterpocalypse in Earth’s southern hemisphere?

Evapotranspiration, the movement of water from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere, has been steadily decreasing in the southern hemisphere. What’s causing this unprecedented moisture shortage, and how will it affect people down under? Evapotranspiration comes from a couple different sources, the evaporation from land surfaces and the transpiration of water from plants. It’s part…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 11

Polar bear swims for nine straight days in search of ice

Are carbon dioxide leaks killing animals in Saskatchewan?

Climate change has guided 2,500 years of European history

Insect meat is the new beef

Another consequence of environmental collapse: Bear maulings

A rarely-considered aspect of global warming

Alastair Reynolds’ next trilogy: An optimistic saga that takes place after climate change

Fight global warming or face the wrath of the dinosaurs

Venus is a planetary experiment in the perils of trying to control global warming

Grizzly Bear vs. Polar Bear – Who Will Win?

Neon Trees

Global warming could mean a golden age for tropical rain forests

How will Tuesday’s election results affect the future of science?

Goose eggs could help polar bears survive global warming

Programmer Develops Twitter Bot to Troll Climate Change Deniers

Global warming will kick the crap out of different hemispheres in different ways

The best way to slow global warming is to stop having babies

Blotting out the Sun to slow down global warming could be outlawed

Humanity will need two Earths to sustain itself in just twenty years

A waterpocalypse in Earth’s southern hemisphere?

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