Ecology
Urban Farming Key in Fight Against Hunger and Climate Change
The urban farms sprouting up and across cities around the world aren’t just feeding mouths—they are “critical to survival” and a “necessary adaptation” for developing regions and a changing climate, according to a new study. Urban farms—which include plain ol’…
World’s Coral Reefs Reaching The Point Of No Return
The vast majority of the world’s coral reefs are now reaching the point of no return — the point at which it wouldn’t even theoretically be possible to save them from disappearing completely (some argue that this point has long…
Researchers Determine Future Climate Change Will Make Power Outages More Costly
Researchers from Virginia Tech have published findings that show future climate change will likely make power outages more costly for European households as residents seek to avoid summer outages. In a study published to the new online journal Nature Energy,…
Scotland Moves to Ban Plastic Cotton Buds
The Scottish government has today revealed new plans to become the first UK country to ban the manufacture and sale of plastic cotton buds, one of the most common pieces of litter washed up on beaches around the British Isles.…
Great Barrier Reef: 99% of These Sea Turtles Are Turning Female
A new study reveals increasing temperatures are turning green turtle populations almost completely female in the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The Current Biology paper says the northern GBR population of more than 200,000 nesting females—one of the largest in…
New Study Showing Ozone Recovery Hailed as Model for Tackling Climate Crisis
Hailed as an example of how concerted global action can help solve a planetary crisis, a new study conducted by NASA scientists documented the first direct evidence that an international effort to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has led to the recovery…
Oceans Losing Oxygen at Breathtaking Speeds
Ocean dead zones quadrupled in size since 1950, while low oxygen sites around the world increased tenfold, threatening large swaths of marine life, scientists warned in a study released on Friday. “Major extinction events in Earth’s history have been associated…