Humanity is now a geological force. Industries belch greenhouse gases into the sky; dams reroute waterways. People are changing major planetary cycles in the atmosphere, cryosphere, and ocean. These complex, multi-faceted effects have feedbacks that, in turn, affect society. And … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
Tag Archives: climate change
Could expanding social webs help humans cooperate altruistically on a global scale?
Celebrities and social media influencers are reaching global audiences on unprecedented scales. Such audiences are already forming cooperative groups that could one day tackle complex problems such as climate change, argues a recent perspective published in One Earth. Drawing on … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Sustainability Science
Tagged altruism, biodiversity loss, climate change, empathy, hunter gatherer, protest, social science, sustainability
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Forests fight drought, even from far away
Forests are said to be the lungs of the Earth—they also provide a moist breath that travels tens to thousands of miles. Dense stands of trees release foggy clouds of condensation. The water molecules from those clouds ride wind currents … Continue reading
Categories: Environmental Sciences | Journal Club
Tagged aforestation, climate change, conservation, drought, IPCC, precipitationshed, rainforest, reforestation
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Drought causes lasting changes to the rice root microbiome
Beneficial microbes living in and around a crop’s roots could be powerful allies in the fight to keep plants alive through droughts, especially as climate change worsens. But before scientists can harness these microbial partners to make crops more resilient, … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Climate science | Journal Club | Microbiology | Plant Biology
Tagged climate change, drought, microbiome, rice, roots, Streptomyces
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In Mesopotamia, early cities may have faltered before climate-driven collapse
Some of the earliest cities, now buried in the soil of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, are thought to have collapsed because of rapid climatic change. Drought along with lower temperatures descended on these settlements some 4,200 years ago, forcing … Continue reading
Categories: Anthropology | Climate science | Journal Club
Tagged archaeology, climate change, climate science, collapse, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, urbanization
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To predict the success of tree-planting schemes, look to villagers’ involvement
Tree-planting projects are sprouting up worldwide in an effort to sequester carbon. Acres of saplings are quick to plant but don’t necessarily have staying power: many die or are cut down before the trees grow to maturity. A recent study … Continue reading
Climate disasters fuel only a small boost in green energy investments
In the wake of devastating floods in Germany in 2013, some affected householders recognized the connection between extreme weather and climate change and sought out green energy sources, according to analyses of insurance payouts and Internet searches conducted by … Continue reading
Categories: Climate science | Energy | Environmental Sciences | Journal Club | Sustainability Science
Tagged climate change, disaster, extreme weather, flood, green energy
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Journal Club: Single gene mutation may boost recombination and help produce better crops
As climate change and population growth threaten to destabilize global food security, plant breeders are ramping up efforts to create better, more productive crops. But in order to introduce new traits, breeding techniques typically rely on rare genetic recombination events … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged agriculture, chromosome, climate change, meiosis, plant breeding, recombination, RECQ4
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Journal Club: Cooler temperatures might make some mosquitoes better dengue spreaders
Migrating mosquitoes that carry diseases from the tropics to cooler climes might be better at spreading disease in their new, cooler home, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers from Yale University in … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Biochemistry | Climate science | Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences | Infectious disease | Medical Sciences
Tagged Aedes aegypti, climate change, dengue, mosquito, RNAi
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Journal Club: Aerosols, global warming may dampen cyclone activity in some regions
A recent study suggests that human activity may have decreased the number of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific. A separate study predicts that the total number of intense tropical cyclones will decrease globally in the decades to come, … Continue reading
Journal Club: Antarctic cyanobacteria show no changes due to warming—yet
Captain Robert Scott’s Antarctic Discovery expedition took place over 100 years ago—and yet its participants recently racked up another contribution to science. Thanks to the samples of bacterial mats they collected from polar ponds—samples that were pressed, dried, and stored … Continue reading