December, 2021

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Climate Clues from the Past Prompt a New Look at History

Yale E360

As scientists rapidly improve their ability to decipher past climate upheaval through ice cores and other "proxies,” historians are re-examining previous political and social turmoil and linking it to volcanic eruptions, prolonged droughts, and other disturbances in the natural world. Read more on E360 ?.

Politics 363
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Perspective: More Attention Needed on Freshwater Biodiversity

Circle of Blue

Freshwater species are dying off and decreasing in abundance. Yet conservation funding centers on lands and oceans. Boats ply the waters of the Mekong River Delta, near Can Tho, Vietnam. Home to about 65 million people across four countries, the lower Mekong is also prized for its diversity of aquatic species. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue. By Stefan Lovgren – December 16, 2021.

Ocean 363
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Making predictions with the CMIP6 ensemble

Real Climate

The CMIP6 multi-model ensemble is a unique resource with input from scientists and modeling groups from around the world. But as we’ve discussed before ( #NotAllModels ) there are some specific issues that require users to be cautious in making predictions. Fortunately, there are useful ‘best practices’ that can help avoid the worst pitfalls.

2021 349
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2021 Year in Review: Five Stories of Clean Energy Progress

Union of Concerned Scientists

The end of the year can be a fine time for taking stock, and that’s true in the energy space just as in our personal lives. Lots of stories of clean energy progress caught my eye for 2021. Here are five of them–about renewable energy technologies and markets that seem particularly worthy of note and […].

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How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES

Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions

Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.

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Human brain cells in a dish learn to play Pong faster than an AI

New Scientist

Hundreds of thousands of brain cells in a dish are being taught to play Pong by responding to pulses of electricity – and can improve their performance more quickly than an AI can

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The Benefits of Vaccinating Kids against COVID Far Outweigh the Risks of Myocarditis

Scientific American

Vaccination is likely to prevent many more COVID cases than it is to cause a rare and nonfatal heart side effect in 5–11-year-olds. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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More Trending

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Rising Cost of Water in Michigan Leads to Affordability Problems

Circle of Blue

A growing number of Michigan households are burdened by high water bills, report finds. The community action group Detroit Water Brigade delivered water in August 2014 to city residents whose water had been shut off because of late payments. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue. The rising cost of water and sewer service is a problem across Michigan, but especially for high-poverty communities.

2018 363
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Entangling a live tardigrade, radiation warning on anti-5G accessories

Physics World

Tardigrades are tiny organisms that can survive extreme environments including being chilled to near absolute zero. At these temperatures quantum effects such as entanglement become dominant, so perhaps it is not surprising that a team of physicists has used a chilled tardigrade to create an entangled qubit. According to a preprint on the arXiv server, the team cooled a tardigrade to below 10 mK and then used it as the dielectric in a capacitor that itself was part of a superconducting transmon

Radiation 145
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DC’s Shifting Indoor Mask Mandate: Follow the Science, Mayor Bowser

Union of Concerned Scientists

The mayor’s decision to lift DC's indoor mask mandate is not based on the best available science and evidence.

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Hundreds of Salvadorans claim money is vanishing from bitcoin accounts

New Scientist

El Salvador's attempt to become the world's first state to adopt bitcoin as legal tender hits another stumbling block as hundreds of citizens claim that funds are disappearing from their accounts

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The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing

Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions

In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene

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Hollywood Can Take On Science Denial; Don't Look Up Is a Great Example

Scientific American

This new release uses a comet hurtling toward Earth to satirize the way we dismiss scientific fact and the scientists who discover them. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Protecting Earth: If ‘Nature Needs Half,’ What Do People Need?

Yale E360

The campaign to preserve half the Earth’s surface is being criticized for failing to take account of global inequality and human needs. But such protection is essential not just for nature, but also for creating a world that can improve the lives of the poor and disadvantaged. Read more on E360 ?.

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HotSpots H2O: Ongoing Madagascar Famine Is Driven By Poverty, Not Climate Change

Circle of Blue

A new study shows the vulnerability of the world’s poorest nations even without climate breakdown, its authors say. Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, chronically battles food insecurity. Image © Heinonlein / Wikimedia Commons. Madagascar is in the grip of a deadly famine. For months, international’s organizations have blamed the calamity on climate change.

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Sensing gravity, the quantum way

Physics World

Much of quantum technology is linked to computing. It is easy to imagine how a better, more powerful computer, capable of solving complex problems, could be useful. But what is a computer, after all, if not a data-processing machine. Computers, quantum or otherwise, transform data into information, which is then used to steer scientific, medical, industrial processes.

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Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation

Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition

Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.

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Illinois Can Still Say “Knope” to Pawnee Gas Plant

Union of Concerned Scientists

The proposed methane gas plant makes it clear our fight against fossil fuel interests is not over.

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We’ve seen our galaxy’s huge black hole more clearly than ever before

New Scientist

Astronomers have observed Sagittarius A* – the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy – closer than ever before, and Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity still holds up

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Is There More to a Healthy-Heart Diet Than Cholesterol?

Scientific American

A high-fat diet is thought to increase the risk of a heart attack. But some say that the long-held dogma of “bad” cholesterol might be flawed. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Why the Luster on Once-Vaunted 'Smart Cities' Is Fading

Yale E360

“Smart cities” built from scratch have so far failed to live up to their much-hyped promise. Some critics argue that rather than grafting a new city onto the landscape, it is better to integrate high-tech for clean, efficient energy and transportation into existing cities. Read more on E360 ?.

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Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations

Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital

As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.

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2021 – Open Science Is Saving Lives

Frontiers

Kamila Markram, CEO and Co-founder. A year ago, I wrote about the strength of the human spirit that saw all of us come together as we rose before the challenge in front of us. Twelve months on, while COVID-19 remains a significant challenge to us all, more than eight billion vaccine doses have been administered to people around the world. 55% of the world’s total population have now received at least one dose of a vaccine.

2021 142
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‘Cosmological coupling’ is making black holes bigger, study suggests

Physics World

The observation of black holes with unexpectedly high masses could be partly explained by an effect related to the expansion of the universe, astronomers in the US have proposed. The team, led by Kevin Croker at the University of Hawai’i at M?noa, used comparisons between simulated black hole mergers, and gravitational waves detected by the LIGO–Virgo collaboration, to show how ignoring the expansion of the universe may be limiting our understanding of black-hole physics.

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Is California About to Give Up the Driver’s Seat on Electric Vehicles?

Union of Concerned Scientists

A rapid transition to zero-emissions vehicles is a critical solution to address the largest source of climate pollution in California.

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The Amazon is turning into savannah – we have 5 years to save it

New Scientist

We have been hearing warnings about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest for decades, but experts say a catastrophic tipping point is now just over the horizon. Are they right? And if so, what can we do to pull things back?

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Sustainability at Retail

Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.

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How Biotech Crops Can Crash--and Still Never Fail

Scientific American

The U.N. Food Systems Summit put biotechnology at center stage, although agroecological innovations offer greater promise for sustainability. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Embracing a Wetter Future, the Dutch Turn to Floating Homes

Yale E360

Faced with worsening floods and a shortage of housing, the Netherlands is seeing growing interest in floating homes. These floating communities are inspiring more ambitious Dutch-led projects in flood-prone nations as far-flung as French Polynesia and the Maldives. Read more on E360 ?.

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The West Sizzled in a November Heat Wave and Snow Drought

Inside Climate News

A regional warming and drying trend continues to intensify concerns about water and energy security. By Bob Berwyn GOLDEN, Colorado—Even as one of Denver’s longest snow droughts on record—232 days—was forecast to end on Friday, nerves in the Mile High City were frayed after a summer of climate extremes, and a heat wave that has stretched into late autumn. .

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Physics books that captured the imagination in 2021

Physics World

In keeping with our festive tradition, the December episode of Physics World Stories is all about physics books. Host Andrew Glester is joined by Physics World ’s reviews and careers editor Laura Hiscott and the magazine’s editor-in-chief Matin Durrani to discuss a handpicked selection of popular-science books reviewed in 2021. One of the year’s most memorable titles is Hawking Hawking: the Selling of a Scientific Celebrity by Charles Seife.

2021 145
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Oil Execs Spout Disinformation at House Climate Disinformation Hearing

Union of Concerned Scientists

The fact that they were testifying under oath didn't seem to matter.

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DeepMind experiment shows AI must grow smarter, not just bigger

New Scientist

The dominant approach to building more advanced artificial intelligences is simply to scale up their computing power, but AI firm DeepMind says we are reaching a point of diminishing returns

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The James Webb Space Telescope Has Launched: Now Comes the Hard Part

Scientific American

After years of delay, the most ambitious observatory ever built has at last left Earth. It now faces a high-stakes series of deployments in deep space. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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U.S. Is World’s Top Generator of Plastic Waste

Yale E360

The U.S. generates more plastic waste than any other country, producing roughly 287 pounds of plastic per person per year, according to a new congressional report. Read more on E360 ?.

Waste 296
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Warming Trends: A Potential Decline in Farmed Fish, Less Ice on Minnesota Lakes and a ‘Black Box’ for the Planet

Inside Climate News

A column highlighting climate-related studies, innovations, books, cultural events and other developments from the global warming frontier. By Katelyn Weisbrod Inside the “black box” recovered from an airplane crash, investigators can find out everything that led up to the mishap, piecing together weather conditions, mechanical failures and the dialogue between the pilot, the copilot and the control tower, to figure out what went wrong.

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The ten-billion-dollar gamble: The JWST’s magnificent mirrors

Physics World

Building a mirror the size of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) 6.5-metre primary isn’t a problem per se. Building a 6.5-metre mirror that can fit inside an Ariane 5 rocket fairing just 4.57 metres wide, without being too heavy to launch into space – well, that is a problem, and the task of solving it fell to NASA’s Lee Feinberg , who leads the telescope’s optical team.