For the second year in a row, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States have increased, according to the latest official figures. However, unlike 2013, when emissions and gross domestic product (GDP) grew at similar rates (2.5% and 2.2%, respectively), 2014's CO2 emissions growth rate of 0.7% was much smaller than the 2014 GDP growth rate of 2.4%.
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Electric vehicle sales booming in France, Germany, UK
France is leading Europe’s electric vehicle revolution with the nation now accounting for more than a quarter of EV sales across the EU, new figures reveal.
Data released by the European Environment Agency shows around 38 000 electric vehicles were registered in 2014, up by 57 % compared to 2013.
The color of light and our daily rhythms
Research by scientists at The University of Manchester has revealed that the colour of light has a major impact on how the brain clock measures time of day and on how the animals' physiology and behavior adjust accordingly. The study, for the first time, provides a neuronal mechanism for how our internal clock can measure changes in light colour that accompany dawn and dusk.
In research publishing on April 17th in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, the researchers looked at the change in light around dawn and dusk to analyze whether colour could be used to determine time of day. Besides the well-known changes in light intensity that occur as the sun rises and sets, the scientists found that during twilight light is reliably bluer than during the day.
Lake Mead water levels continuing to drop
The historic four-year drought in California has been grabbing the headlines lately, but there's a much bigger problem facing the West: the now 14-year drought gripping the Colorado River basin.
One of the most stunning places to see its impact is at the nation's largest reservoir, Lake Mead, near Las Vegas. At about 40 percent of capacity, it's the lowest it's been since it was built in the 1930s.
Estudio muestra cómo el clima afecta a la biodiversidad
Una cuestión clave en el debate sobre el clima, es la forma como se ven afectadas por el cambio climático la ocurrencia y la distribución de las especies. Pero es difícil de contestar si no tenemos información sobre la variación natural en la abundancia de las especies. En un importante estudio, publicado en la principal revista científica Current Biology, los investigadores pueden ahora por primera vez de darnos una imagen detallada de la variación natural.
El impacto del cambio climático sobre la ocurrencia y distribución de las especies es un tema central en el debate sobre el clima, dado que la influencia humana sobre los riesgos climáticos impone amenazas a la biodiversidad. Pero hasta ahora han faltado métodos para investigar cómo la variación natural del clima en el pasado, ha afectado a la abundancia de especies.
Solar power and Native American rights clash in the Mojave Desert
In a remote corner of the Mojave Desert, 15 miles from Las Vegas, stands the expansive Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Occupying 5 square miles, the facility seems to swallow up a stunning expanse of desert including animals, plants and now, spiritual and cultural resources.
Native elders filed a suit against the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Energy in 2010, for failure to properly consult with the tribes in regard to the development of six renewable projects.
Litigants Alfredo Figueroa (Yaqui/Chemehuevi), Phillip Smith (Chemehuevi), and Reverend Ron Van Fleet (Mojave) complain that the government and the companies involved have lent a deaf ear to their concerns, which has brought a new level of anxiety and spiritual pain to people who have long felt their voices muffled in the face of commercial development by others.