Science Shouts

World average land temperatures have risen by almost 1 degree since 1955 – says 4th consecutive study

Whom would you rather believe? The world’s three best-established atmospheric research institutes – or a Berkeley dream team with the current Physics Nobel Prize laureate, backed up by the largest collection of land temperature measurements ever? So sorry to confuse … Continue reading →

Biomaterials should be more important than biofuels

When talking about a biobased economy, most people think biofuel. And who can blame them, since gasoline alone is good for about half of global petroleum use? A transition from petroleum to biomass as a source for fuel would put … Continue reading →

Arctic sea ice has reached new melting record – doesn’t NSIDC say

Today is September 14 2011, the day the Climate Reality Project makes a stand against the ‘new normal of climate denial.’ Over 24 times zones there will be 24 climate presentations in which public attention will be focused on the … Continue reading →

Nature: climate change leads to 67-84 percent intraspecific biodiversity loss by 2080 – Holocene Mass Extinction within this century

The better we define the richness of life on Earth, the larger the percentage we are going to lose becomes. Life won’t go extinct. The number of domains and kingdoms will very-very likely remain the same. But as we go … Continue reading →

Until 2050 97% of population growth comes from less developed regions

This year we will hit 7 billion. But the big demography news is not just the net growth figure, but also the differentiation – where it takes places. A new Harvard study has sifted through the billions of unborn people … Continue reading →

Eemian sea level rise of 8m was 95% meltwater – another paleo warning?

Sounds like there’s new food to calibrate our oceans’ sea level sensitivity. In red the image shows inundations around the Gulf of Mexico under Eemian sea levels. That’s ‘bye bye Houston, New Orleans, Miami.’ Two days ago we looked at … Continue reading →

Ocean warming speeds up ice sheet melting Greenland and Antarctica

In March we learned ice sheet formation is two-sided. On Sunday, sipping coffee whilst reading the latest Nature Geoscience, we learned the same might go for ice sheet melting. If so, melting would likely accelerate over this century and sea … Continue reading →

Oceans to enter Holocene Mass Extinction

The cumulative effect of environmental threats like climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing, brings the world’s interconnected ocean close to a phase of extinction of marine species that is ‘globally significant’ and unprecedented in human history, an international panel of … Continue reading →