• Ancient Italian Fossils Reveal Risk of Parasitic Infections Due to Climate Change

    In 2014, a team of researchers led by a paleobiologist from the University of Missouri found that clams from the Holocene Epoch (that began 11,700 years ago) contained clues about how sea level rise due to climate change could foreshadow a rise in parasitic trematodes, or flatworms. The team cautioned that the rise could lead to outbreaks in human infections if left unchecked. Now, an international team from Mizzou and the Universities of Bologna and Florida has found that rising seas could be detrimental to human health on a much shorter time scale. Findings from their study in northern Italy suggest that parasitic infections could increase in the next century, if history repeats itself.

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  • Thawing permafrost releases old greenhouse gas

    The thawing permafrost soils in the Arctic regions might contribute to the greenhouse effect in two ways: On the one hand rising temperatures lead to higher microbial methane production close to the surface. On the other hand deeper thawing opens new pathways for old, geologic methane. This is shown in a study in the Mackenzie Delta (Canada), conducted by scientists from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and partners in the US. The study is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

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  • Mixed outcomes for plants and animals in warmer 2080s climate

    More than three quarters of plants and animals in England are likely to be significantly affected by climate change by the end of the century, say researchers.

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  • Want To Slow Global Warming? Researchers Look To Family Planning

    We've all heard of ways to reduce our carbon footprint: biking to work, eating less meat, recycling.

    But there's another way to help the climate. A recent study from Lund University in Sweden shows that the biggest way to reduce climate change is to have fewer children.

    "I knew this was a sensitive topic to bring up," says study co-author Kimberly Nicholas on NPR's Morning Edition. "Certainly it's not my place as a scientist to dictate choices for other people. But I do think it is my place to do the analysis and report it fairly."

    The study concludes that four high-impact ways to reduce CO2 gas emissions include having fewer children, living without a car, avoiding airplane travel and eating a vegetarian diet.

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  • Satellite Shows a Weaker Hurricane Fernanda

    Hurricane Fernanda appears to be weakening on infrared satellite imagery. NOAA's GOES-West satellite imagery on July 19 showed a more disorganized hurricane nearing the Central Pacific Ocean.    

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  • Scientists shed light on carbon's descent into the deep Earth

    Examining conditions within the Earth’s interior is crucial not only to give us a window back to Earth’s history but also to understand the current environment and its future. This study offers an explanation of carbon’s descent into the deep Earth. “The stability regions of carbonates are key to understanding the deep carbon cycle and the role of the deep Earth in the global carbon cycle.” says Leonid Dubrovinsky, from the University of Bayreuth. “The intense X-rays from the ESRF allow us to access the extreme conditions within the entire Earth’s mantle.” underlines Valerio Cerantola, lead author, former PhD student at the University of Bayreuth and now postdoctoral scientist at the ESRF.

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  • NASA Spots a Diminished, but Drenching Ex-Tropical Cyclone Don

    Tropical Storm Don didn't live long before it weakened to a remnant low pressure area in the North Atlantic Ocean. Before it weakened NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the storm on its approach to the Windward Islands. The GPM satellite analyzed the storm's rainfall as it developed and moderate to heavy rainfall is expected to accompany the remnants in the Windward Islands on July 19.

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  • Sea temperature changes contributing to droughts

    Fluctuations in sea surface temperature are a factor in causing persistent droughts in North America and around the Mediterranean, new research suggests. 

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  • Record-breaking marine heatwave cooks Tasmania's fisheries

    Climate change was almost certainly responsible for a marine heatwave off Tasmania’s east coast in 2015/16 that lasted 251 days and at its greatest extent was seven times the size of Tasmania, according to a new study published today in Nature Communications.

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  • NASA Looks at Compact Tropical Storm Don in Infrared Light

    NASA's Aqua satellite passed over newly formed Tropical Storm Don gathering temperature data from the compact storm's clouds.

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