Another sign of our global connectedness has manifested itself in a new satellite analysis linking dust in North Africa and West Asia with stronger monsoons in India. The study shows that as airborne dust from North Africa and West Asia absorbs sunlight it warms the air and strengthens the eastern winds carrying moisture. The heavy…

“Costa Rica opposition group says to scrap 2021 carbon neutrality target,” reads the headline of a recent Reuters news article. Standing on its own, the headline is accurate. However, lacking context, it could be misleading, causing readers who don’t venture beyond the headline to conclude that Costa Rica will be dropping its goal of achieving…

What do mountains have to do with climate change? More than you’d expect: new research shows that the weathering rates of mountains caused by vegetation growth plays a major role in controlling global temperatures. Scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Sheffield have shown how tree roots in certain mountains “acted like…

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that bison can roam outside the park boundaries for winter and early spring forage without being shot. In 2008, more than 1,400 bison – about one-third of the current size of Yellowstone’s bison population – were captured and slaughtered by government agencies while leaving Yellowstone in search of food.…

It has long been said by fitness trainers that building and maintaining muscle mass is important to vitality, stamina, and weight control as we age. But does it also contribute to longevity? Apparently it does! New UCLA research suggests that the more muscle mass older Americans have, the less likely they are to die prematurely.…

Human-caused climate change is altering the habitat of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae). In an article recently published in PLOS ONE, a team of researchers led by Amélie Lescroël from the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CNRS) in France, found that changes in sea-ice content and newly formed icebergs significantly impacted Adélie penguin communities in the…

According to researchers the Ross Sea will “be extensively modified by future climate change” in the coming decades creating longer periods of ice-free open water and affecting life cycles of all components of the ecosystem in a paper published and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The researchers have drawn their information from the…

[BOGOTA] People in densely populated highlands of Africa and South America — who have so far been protected from malaria by cooler temperatures — may be seeing more of the disease as the climate changes, according to a study in Science (6 March).

As the realities of climate change set in, so too are realizations that building technologies impact both internal and external environments. The percentage increase of asphalt and blacktopped roofs create urban heat islands. Resultantly cities have become earth’s newest desserts exhibiting high temperatures and arid conditions with little vegetation. Urban expansion as a stand-alone factor…

Due to it’s restricted range in the prairies and sandhills of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas, the Lesser Prairie Chicken is considered a “vulnerable” species. Because of human activity as well as persistent drought, habitat destruction has directed the species towards candidacy for a threatened or endangered listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).…