What wind, currents and geography tell us about how people first settled Oceania

Oct 25, 2016 17:12 pm UTC| Nature

Just look at a map of Remote Oceania the region of the Pacific that contains Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, French Polynesia and Micronesia and its hard not to wonder how people originally settled on these islands. Theyre...

Climate Change Series

How to reverse the dangerous decline in low-carbon innovation

Oct 24, 2016 09:34 am UTC| Nature

The Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming to less than 2C at the end of the 21st century demands that we sharply reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, reaching near zero in less than 100 years. Achieving this...

Climate Change Series

Bolivia's fast-melting glaciers are leaving behind lakes that could cause catastrophic floods

Oct 21, 2016 09:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Bolivias glaciers have shrunk by more than 40% in the past few decades. This puts further pressure on an already stressed water supply, while the meltwater lakes left behind risk collapsing in sudden and catastrophic...

Catching the waves: it's time to embrace ocean renewable energy

Oct 18, 2016 05:59 am UTC| Nature

Wind and solar may be currently leading the way in Australias renewable energy race, but theres another contender lurking in the nations oceans. Australia arguably possesses the worlds largest wave energy resource,...

Climate Change Series

How a saviour of the ozone hole became a climate change villain – and how we're going to fix it

Oct 18, 2016 05:40 am UTC| Nature

Over the weekend, international leaders meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, agreed to a remarkable deal to phase-out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), used as refrigerants and propellants. HFCs are potent greenhouse gases. The...

Climate Change Series

'We must keep the lights on': how a cyclone was used to attack renewables

Oct 04, 2016 08:17 am UTC| Nature

The mid-latitude cyclone with no name that hit South Australia last week, spawning two tornadoes and 80,000 electricity strikes, destroyed 22 massive transmission towers carrying electricity across the state. The...

Climate Change Series

How to Think About 1.5 Degrees

Oct 04, 2016 07:38 am UTC| Nature

Astonishment was universal last December when the Paris Agreement on climate change included the aspiration to limit warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, a much tougher target than the standard of 2 degrees,...