Wildfires, and the nutrients they bring, could make the Arctic Ocean more productive. In August 2014, the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole was suddenly awash with microscopic life—gripped by an algae bloom that covered the Laptev Sea, a large chunk of the East Siberian Sea, and part of the open Arctic Ocean. In a […]
climate change
Turning city planning into a game
Ursula Eicker lets people play around while designing the cities of the future. Ursula Eicker builds ‘digital twins’ of cities, and she hopes to someday build one for yours. Her research team creates sophisticated computer models to explore how building materials, energy sources and people’s mobility patterns affect the energy use and carbon emissions of […]
The scientists who switched focus to fight climate change
Four researchers describe how they found different ways of responding to the planet’s biggest threat — from quitting tenure to overhauling their academic programme. It was during a car journey to California in temperatures sometimes exceeding 40 °C that Sophie Gilbert decided she needed to make a major career change. Driving to visit family from […]
Lake heatwaves driven by human-caused climate change
Just like the atmosphere and the ocean, lakes can be subject to extreme spikes in temperature, and new research shows that the vast majority of these heatwaves over the past 25 years are the result of human-caused climate change. Read more in Great Lakes Now.
Lakes freezing later in winter leads to less algae in the spring
A unique experiment in a Canadian lake has found that the timing of when ice forms can have a big impact on the organisms that live in it the following year. The timing of when ice forms on lakes in the winter can have big knock-on effects on life in the water the next spring […]
Kelp Rafts Are Bringing Invaders to Antarctica
Animals have long rafted around the planet, but the southern continent was considered too remote, too isolated, and too cold for that to be a problem—until now. Antarctica is, for the most part, cut off from the rest of the planet by swirling ocean currents, raging winds, and frigid temperatures. The continent’s physical isolation has […]
Can negative emission technologies overcome climate catastrophe?
Humanity is running out of time to deal with the climate crisis. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that we need to limit atmospheric carbon dioxide to less than 450 parts per million in order to have a chance to keep average global surface temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by the end […]
Climate facts subject to rules on partisan advertising in Canada
Environmental charities and campaigners in Canada’s upcoming federal election this fall say they are facing new restrictions on how they talk about climate change after a warning from the country’s election watchdog that the topic will be subject to rules around third party “issue advertising.” Read more in Science.
Acid rain: it’s not over yet for this tiny shrimp
Ecosystems have bounced back remarkably well from the environmental scourge of the ’70s and ’80s, but Canadian scientists are finding impacts to the food chain remain. Over the past year, Michael Rennie has dumped 30,000 tiny freshwater shrimp into a remote lake in northern Ontario. Rennie, a freshwater ecologist at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, […]
The Environmental Benefits of Making Gin from Peas
New distilling technique creates a new, refreshing use for mashed peas. A cold gin and tonic on a hot afternoon can really hit the spot, and now researchers in the U.K. have found a way to make that refreshing cocktail more environmentally friendly — by making the gin out of peas. Read more in Inside […]