Retire all existing and planned fossil fuel power plants to limit warming to 1.5°C
Jul 03, 2019 21:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
It will be very difficult to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by enough to halt global heating at 1.5C the threshold at which catastrophic climate change becomes more likely according to a new paper published in...
Total solar eclipses reveal the dark and stormy side of the sun we never see
Jul 03, 2019 20:54 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
In astronomy, we have a common saying: good luck, and clear skies. For an eclipse chaser like me, this is especially important. We have two minutes and no second chance one small cloud can spoil everything. Thousands...
Jul 03, 2019 20:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Greenland has been in the news a bit lately. From Huskies seemingly walking on water, to temperatures soaring to 20℃ above average for the time of year, to predictions of the vast ice sheet being lost entirely, what is...
Six amazing facts you need to know about ants
Jun 23, 2019 13:57 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Have you have seen ants this year? In Britain, they were probably black garden ants, known as Lasius niger Europes most common ant. One of somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000 species, they are the scourge of gardeners ...
The extreme tactic of self-amputation means survival in the animal kingdom
Jun 23, 2019 13:56 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Imagine yourself in the grips of a deadly predator. You see your life flash before your eyes: this looks like the end of the road. But wait! With a quick yank, your limb pops off in the predators mouth and you make a break...
Why Canada's single-use plastic ban could help the environment and wildlife
Jun 23, 2019 13:55 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
Canada recently announced a ban on single-use plastics. Items like straws, cotton swabs, drink stirrers and Styrofoam fast-food containers and cups will be banned by 2021. But even as the list of countries that have...
Solar panels all over the Sahara desert? – Imagine newsletter #2
Jun 07, 2019 15:55 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature
You may have seen a variant of this meme before. A map of North Africa is shown, with a surprisingly small box somewhere in Libya or Algeria shaded in. An area of the Sahara this size, the caption will say, could power the...
Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects