Built for the desert heat using stone, coral and mud brick, the UAE’s traditional homes are central to the country’s heritage. Today, old Gulf-style houses are being studied by an academy of German and Arab scientists to help solve the newer problem of climate change. Researchers involved in the project, which looks at the architecture of the […]
Plants facing both a warming climate and rapidly declining pollinator populations may be pulled in competing evolutionary directions. A University of Michigan study suggests that, instead of adapting primarily to climate pressures, some plants may be evolving traits that help them attract pollinators. In morning glories, researchers found that the population’s rate of adaptation fell […]
Tackling air pollution and climate change together could save lives and boost economies, UN reports show. Climate change-driven wildfires and heatwaves are worsening air pollution, with damaging consequences for nature and human health, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Global warming is making these events worse as they release microscopic airborne pollutants that risk […]
A persistent patch of unusually warm tropical ocean helped intensify snowfall over East Antarctica, contributing to a temporary net ice sheet mass gain of about 695 billion tons, according to a new study published in Nature on August 19. Researchers found that sustained warming in the tropical warm pool during 2021-23 set off a chain of atmospheric […]
Tropical peatland fires rank among the most dangerous and stubborn fires on Earth. Instead of racing through trees and vegetation, these fires smolder through dried wetland soils and large deposits of peat, often continuing underground at relatively low temperatures. That makes them extremely difficult to extinguish and exceptionally polluting. By one estimate, peat fires produce three […]
A solar bonds scheme could absorb the financial impact of rooftop solar, while keeping your energy bill savings. Here’s how. Interest in rooftop solar has surged in recent months, as Europeans scramble to protect themselves from the spiralling costs of fossil fuels. According to an EU-wide analysis published in the Nature Energy journal, rooftop solar photovoltaics (solar […]
Local communities in Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan are turning to the Indigenous practice of glacier grafting as water shortages take hold. The world’s highest peaks are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges, part of a vast mountain belt stretching across Asia. But beneath their grandeur lie some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. […]
Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the northern hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the sea. Until now, only a very few have been found in the Antarctic. In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, I […]
China has seen an explosive growth in its renewable installation, with coal’s share in its energy mix edging down in recent years. China’s solar energy capacity has surpassed that of coal-fired power for the first time ever. “As of the end of July this year, China’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts,” China’s National Energy […]
Weather forecasters have warned that parts of Europe will be entering “flash-flood season” following a blistering summer. Europe’s blistering summer was a “grim illustration” of human-caused climate change. That’s what the European Commission said in June, when much of the continent was already baking under its third heatwave of the year. July and August provided […]
