| Just How Sensitive Is Earth's Climate to Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide? Carbon dioxide levels climbing toward a doubling of the 280 parts per million (ppm) concentration found in the preindustrial atmosphere pose the question: What impact will this increased greenhouse gas load have on the climate? If relatively small changes in CO 2 levels have big effects--meaning that we live in a more sensitive climate system--the planet could warm by as much as 6 degrees Celsius on average with attendant results such as changed weather patterns and sea-level rise. A less sensitive climate system would mean average warming of less than 2 degrees C and, therefore, fewer ramifications from global warming. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Disease Decimating Bats in Northeastern U.S. NEW YORK -- Disease has killed more than 90 percent of some bat populations in Northeastern states, according to a survey released yesterday by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation .The DEC survey in New York, Connecticut and Vermont examined 23 caves that are believed to have once been home to more than 55,000 bats, roughly 10 percent of the regional bat population. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Living On a New Earth Forget banking and the automotive industry. Earth is the one system that is truly “too big to fail.” For centuries humans have used up the planet’s resources, saddled it with our waste and simply moved on when a wellspring dried up or the back forty became polluted. But now we’ve exhausted that strategy. Scientists, social thinkers and the global public are realizing that humankind has transformed the natural planet into an industrialized one, and we must transition again to a sustainable planet if we are to survive.So what is the bailout plan? The first step is determining how close to “failure” the world is. Environmental scientist Jonathan Foley presents the results of a major international collaboration that calculated safe limits for pivotal environmental processes, such as climate change and ocean acidification, that could undermine sustainability if allowed to go too far. The numerical boundaries may need fine-tuning, but knowing which processes matter most tells us where to look for solutions. Scientific American invites eight experts to propose specific remedies . [More] rss.sciam.com |
Street Basketball Scene at Rucker Park in Harlem Where winning a good nickname and humiliating opponents may be more important than winning the game. nytimes.com |
150 Years Ago: Honest Abe's Patent DECEMBER 1960 Evolution and Behavior [More] rss.sciam.com |