In The News

Phys.org: Earth Risks Tipping Into “Hothouse” State

Kerry Sheridan August 8, 2018
Consequences of humans’ over-reliance on fossil fuels are rapidly unfolding, and failure to transition to a green economy could put Earth into a permanent “hothouse state” with many uninhabitable areas, warns a study published by the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers reviewed the fossil record for previous conditions and cascading effects and urge immediate lifestyle change. “Fossil...

Grist: Climate Change Is Here

Eric Holthaus July 27, 2018
Climate change and warming temperatures intensify wildfires in Greece and the American West, flooding in Northeast America, heavy rainfall and unbearable temperatures in Asia. In Greece, people tried to escape fires by running into the Aegean Sea and at least 80 died. Heavy rain in Laos caused a hydroelectric dam under construction to fail, forcing entire communities forced to evacuate with...

CNN: All 12 Boys, Coach Freed in Thai Cave Rescue

Euan McKirdy, Kocha Olarn and Steve George July 10, 2018
Divers escorted the last members of the Wild Boars soccer team from a cave today – in a complex three-day mission that required racing the clock against rains flooding the cave and oxygen depletion. Each phase of the mission took at least nine hours from divers’ entry to exit. The 12 boys and their young coach had been underground for more than two weeks, trapped by floodwaters. An international...

The Interpreter: International Rescue and the Thai Cave Response

Daniel Flitton July 5, 2018
Disasters bring the international community together. Rescue, medical and engineering specialists gather at the scene to offer expert opinions and plan search-and-rescue operations as viewers watch, wait and send donations: the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2010 Chilean mine, the 2014 Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 to name just a few. The rescue of a group of boys and their soccer coach from a...

Bloomberg Businessweek: Climate Change Could Make Borrowing More Expensive

Emily Chasan January 23, 2018
The value of bond holdings for locales or companies struck by disaster can plunge: “bond rating agencies such as Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings are looking at whether they should be including more disaster forecasting in calculating the grades they give to government debt and to companies in industries ranging from insurance to construction,” writes Emily Chasen for...

Fortune: Yellowstone Supervolcano Could Erupt Sooner Than We Thought

Grace Donnelly October 19, 2017
An eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano in the western United States may occur sooner rather than the centuries once assumed, suggest researchers at Arizona State University. They examined minerals of fossilized deposits that showed changes in temperature and composition from a previous eruption, and also found that the supervolcano’s magma reservoir is large and could fill more quickly than...

Deutsche Welle: Climate Change Sets the World on Fire

October 18, 2017
Fast-moving wildfires are striking densely populated communities throughout the Americas and Europe, resulting in mass evacuations, with dozens of deaths, thousands of homes destroyed, mass evacuations and disrupted businesses. “With global temperatures rising, scientists say wildfires are likely to become increasingly frequent and widespread,” reports Deutsche Welle. “Even Greenland, not known...