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Archive for the ‘climatology’ category: Page 25

Nov 7, 2023

Rare Primate Found in Nebraska Is a Clue About the Future

Posted by in categories: climatology, futurism

A new study shows how some species might be able to persevere during a drastically changing climate.

Nov 6, 2023

Historical trends demonstrate a pattern of increasingly frequent and severe spillover events of hiconsequence zoonotic viruses

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, climatology, health

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on patterns of infectious disease spillover. Climate and land-use changes are predicted to increase the frequency of zoonotic spillover events, which have been the cause of most modern epidemics. Characterising historical trends in zoonotic spillover can provide insights into the expected frequency and severity of future epidemics, but historical epidemiological data remains largely fragmented and difficult to analyse. We utilised our extensive epidemiological database to analyse a specific subset of high-consequence zoonotic spillover events for trends in the annual frequency and severity of outbreaks. Our analysis, which excludes the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, shows that the number of spillover events and reported deaths have been increasing by 4.98% (confidence interval [CI]95% [3.22%; 6.76%]) and 8.7% (CI 95% [4.06%; 13.62%]) annually, respectively. This trend can be altered by concerted global efforts to improve our capacity to prevent and contain outbreaks. Such efforts are needed to address this large and growing risk to global health.

Nov 5, 2023

New batteries for electric cars and wearables, backed by multi-million US$ funding, are both fire resistant and flexible

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, sustainability, wearables

Batteries are regarded as crucial technologies in the battle against climate change, particularly for electric vehicles and storing energy from renewable sources. Anthro Energy’s novel flexible batteries are presently available to wearable manufacturers and could be employed in a variety of areas, including electric cars and laptops.

The innovative batteries score well in fire safety, thanks to new materials and design features that eliminate internal and external mechanical safety risks like explosions. Many of today’s batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, contain a flammable liquid as an electrolyte.

Anthro Energy’s David Mackaniac and his team have created a flexible polymer electrolyte that is malleable like rubber. The new technology provides increased design flexibility for use across a range of devices, with adaptable shapes and sizes to suit specific applications.

Nov 3, 2023

Textbook knowledge turned on its head: 3-in-1 microorganism discovered

Posted by in categories: climatology, sustainability

A team of researchers has now been able to show that there is an incredibly high biodiversity of environmentally relevant microorganisms in nature. This diversity is at least 4.5 times greater than previously known. The researchers recently published their findings in the journals Nature Communications and FEMS Microbiology Reviews.

The hidden world of microorganisms is often overlooked, even though many climate-relevant processes are influenced by microorganisms, often associated with an incredible diversity of species within the groups of bacteria and archaea (“primitive bacteria”).

For example, sulfate-reducing microorganisms convert a third of the organic carbon in marine sediments into . This produces toxic hydrogen sulfide. On the positive side, sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms quickly use this as an energy source and render it harmless.

Oct 30, 2023

Will AI help Europe catch up with US tech titans like Google, Apple?

Posted by in categories: climatology, robotics/AI, sustainability

While European nations are ahead on dimensions like equality, social progress, and climate change redressal, they lack technological advancements in comparison to the United States. The European region, including the UK, still lacks the investment and culture necessary for a startup ecosystem prevalent in California’s Silicon Valley.

The Valley is a globally recognized hub for technology and innovation. Many of the world’s leading technology companies, like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, are based there. However, Europe also has notable… More.


Silicon Valley overshadows the EU in tech, but with the advent of new-age artificial intelligence, Europe’s leading entrepreneurs think it could offer the Euro startup ecosystem to be a key player in the race.

Oct 28, 2023

How Humans Survived the Ice Age

Posted by in category: climatology

We weathered the Ice Age while similar species disappeared. Specialists still struggle to understand why.

Oct 27, 2023

Devastation followed by desperation in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis rips through

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, climatology, existential risks, habitats

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — First came the devastation, then people’s desperation.

Hurricane Otis blasted the Mexican tourist port of Acapulco like no other storm before in the Eastern Pacific. As a monstrous Category 5 meteor, with its 165 mph (266 kph) winds, it destroyed what it found in its path: large residential buildings, houses, hotels, roads and stores.

Fallen trees and power line poles covered practically all the streets in this city of more than 1 million people. The walls and the roofs of buildings and houses were left partially or totally ripped off, while some cars were buried under debris.

Oct 25, 2023

Ancient Landscape Not Seen For 14 Million Years Discovered Beneath Antarctic Ice

Posted by in categories: climatology, space, sustainability

An ancient landscape that has remained hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) for at least 14 million years has been revealed by a new satellite data and radar imaging study. According to the researchers, the preservation of this primordial scenery attests to the fact that the EAIS has remained relatively unchanged for eons, yet this stability could soon be threatened by an unprecedented rise in global temperatures.

The study authors used satellite data to identify undulations in the ice sheet’s surface that provided clues as to the nature of the terrain beneath. Using radio-echo sounding techniques, they were then able to image the landscape covered by the ice over an area of 32,000 square kilometers (12,355 square miles).

“The land underneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is less well known than the surface of Mars,” explained study author Professor Stewart Jamieson in a statement. “And that’s a problem because that landscape controls the way that ice in Antarctica flows, and it controls the way it might respond to past, present and future climate change.”

Oct 24, 2023

Japan’s Sakurajima Volcano Erupts in A Spectacle of Fire, Smoke, and Volcanic Lightning

Posted by in category: climatology

In the early hours of October 24, 2023, the southern peak of Sakurajima roared, dramatically punctuating the Kagoshima City skyline. The volcanic eruption, Japan’s second-largest this year, sent a plume of smoke spiraling 3,400 meters above the crater. This follows another eruption on October 19, which reached an even greater height of 3,600 meters. A Spectacle of Fire and Lightning The eruption was not just a spectacle of fire and smoke…

Oct 22, 2023

NOAA scientists link exotic metal particles in the upper atmosphere to rockets, satellites

Posted by in categories: chemistry, climatology, particle physics, satellites

NOAA scientists investigating the stratosphere have found that in addition to meteoric ‘space dust,’ the atmosphere more than seven miles above the surface is peppered with particles containing a variety of metals from satellites and spent rocket boosters vaporized by the intense heat of re-entry.

The discovery is one of the initial findings from analysis of data collected by a high-altitude research plane over the Arctic during a NOAA Chemical Science Laboratory mission called SABRE, short for Stratospheric Aerosol processes, Budget and Radiative Effects. It’s the agency’s most ambitious and intensive effort to date to investigate aerosol particles in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that moderates Earth’s climate and is home to the protective ozone layer.

Using an extraordinarily sensitive instrument custom-built at NOAA in Boulder, Colorado, and mounted in the nose of a NASA WB-57 research aircraft, scientists found aluminum and exotic metals embedded in about 10 percent of sulfuric acid particles, which comprise the large majority of particles in the stratosphere. They were also able to match the ratio of rare elements they measured to special alloys used in rockets and satellites, confirming their source as metal vaporized from spacecraft reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

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