Although growing human numbers, climate change and other crises threaten the world‘s ability to feed itself, researchers believe that if we used water more sensibly that would go a long way towards closing the global food gap. Politicians and experts have simply underestimated what better water use can do to save millions of people from starvation, they say. For the […]
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There is little dispute that in the wake of European colonists’ arrival in the New World, Native American populations were decimated by disease and conflict. But when it comes to the timing, magnitude, and effects of this Native American depopulation — it depends on who you ask. Many scholars claim that disease struck the native population shortly after their first […]
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An influential panel of climate scientists has expressed higher confidence than ever that human activity is the main cause of the rise in global temperatures since the 1950s, Reuters.com reports. A leaked draft of an upcoming report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, based on a broad analysis of published scientific studies, concludes with 95 percent certainty […]
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Today’s solar cell technology has its roots in the early days of America’s space program, when in 1958, NASA launched the solar-powered Vanguard I satellite. Solar power technology has become more efficient. But the cost is still two to four times more than other energy sources. 10. The Netherlands Most solar energy in The Netherlands comes from solar cells […]
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Despite no exposure to sunlight or fresh air for more than a million years, a lake located half a mile beneath the Antarctic ice sheet sustains an entire ecosystem, scientists have confirmed—raising the prospect that life might exist in similar environments elsewhere in the universe. Researchers had long suspected the existence of tiny life-forms living below the ice pack, and […]
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We invented plastic to make our lives better but the dependence on plastic has caused an environmental crisis. Will we be able to reduce our use before it’s too late? Your day has begun by turning off the alarm of your cell phone, you have brushed your teeth, brushed and combed your hair, gotten dressed, grabbed a juice bottle, water […]
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Stare out upon the ocean at sunset and you can almost convince yourself that all is well beneath the surface. Sadly, the exact opposite is very true. Three new studies reveal just how sick the oceans are, as well as just how big a role humans are playing. Let’s begin with climate change: according to a report from NASA and […]
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UK researchers have unearthed ancient fossil forests, thought to be partly responsible for one of the most dramatic shifts in Earth’s climate in the past 400 million years. The fossil forests, with tree stumps preserved in place, were found in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago situated in the Arctic Ocean. They were identified and described by Dr Chris Berry of Cardiff […]
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Scientists have concluded for the last decade that more-acidic seas have been harming coral, making it more difficult for coral reefs to grow or regenerate themselves. Conducting an experiment over the course of 22 days, scientists flooded Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with an antacid. They found that by lowering the water’s acidity, it caused the coral to grow. Research has […]
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The amount of plastic garbage in the North Pacific Ocean has risen a hundredfold since the 1970s, and the floating debris is now so abundant that marine life is adapting to its presence. Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography sampled an expanse of the sea between Hawaii and California, where currents tend to deposit flotsam from around the Pacific […]
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