Laura Paddison, CNN More than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs have lost significant amounts of water over the last three decades, according to a new study, which pins the blame largely on climate change and excessive water use. Roughly one-quarter of the world’s population lives in the basin of a drying lake, according to the study… Read More Why the world’s largest lakes are shrinking dramatically
It takes the expansive perspective of an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist who ponders the origins and unfolding of the universe to place today’s parochial debates over intelligent technology in the context of planetary evolution. BY NATHAN GARDELS In Noema, Sara Walker bends the modern mind to link the coming future to the primordial past. “The technologies we are… Read More From Biosphere To Technosphere
Laura Paddison, CNN Countries could slash plastic pollution by 80% in less than two decades, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic pollution is a scourge that affects every part of the world, from the Arctic, to the oceans and the air we breathe. It’s even changing ecosystems. Scientists recently found rocks made from plastic on a remote… Read More The world can cut plastic pollution by 80% by 2040: UN
Helena Horton Microbes that can digest plastics at low temperatures have been discovered by scientists in the Alps and the Arctic, which could be a valuable tool in recycling. Many microorganisms that can do this have already been found, but they can usually only work at temperatures above 30C (86F). This means that using them… Read More Microbes discovered that can digest plastics at low temperatures
NEW DELHI: Breakthrough Science Society, a collective of scientists and researchers across India, has raised concerns over the deleted ‘Theory of Biological Evolution’ from National Council of Educational Training and Research (NCERT) books for Class 10. Condemning NCERT’s decision, the collective wrote that learning “evolutionary biology is important not just to any subfield of biology, but is… Read More NCERT Books: 1,800 scientists, researchers demand restoration of Darwin’s evolution theory
The rationalist in me knows that coincidences are inevitable, mundane, meaningless. But I can’t deny there is something strange and magical in them, too Paul Broks The term “coincidence” covers a wide range of phenomena, from the cosmic (in a total solar eclipse, the disc of the moon and the disc of the sun, by… Read More Are coincidences real ?
Eco-anxiety stems from a sense of hopelessness and the realisation that there are limits to how much agency we have as individuals to affect global change. But we are not hopeless, far from it. The future is still unwritten; we cannot know what it holds, but we will make it first in our minds, in our… Read More Does climate breakdown mean we’re doomed? No: if we’re brave, big change can happen fast
Pascal Soriot The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is a grim, yet unsurprising, reminder of the catastrophic effect global heating is having on our planet. The message from leading climate scientists is clear: action is needed now. Not tomorrow, not next year, not by the end of the decade. Even drastic carbon reduction today… Read More Climate emergency is the biggest health crisis of our time: bigger than Covid
Eric Moses Gurevitch Two recent books force us to rethink what knowledge is, where it is located, and how it moves. Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science – James Poskett From Lived Experience to the Written Word: Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World – Pamela H. Smith According to a familiar story,… Read More How Not to Tell the History of Science
Smells hover just below our conscious awareness, conjuring up emotions and memories that shape how we perceive and navigate the world. An unexpected whiff of a long-forgotten snack or a dusty book can transport a person to years past — enabling a kind of time travel that makes hazy memories more vivid. It’s puzzling then that… Read More The smell of history
After the truth-shower 