Solar geoengineering’s high stakes, and tracking student’s moods

Picture two theoretical futures: one in which nations counteract climate change by reflecting sunlight back into space, and another where the world continues heating up. There are big differences between the two, but a lot of smaller, more subtle changes too. 

Take malaria, for example. By 2070, the overall risk of malaria transmission ends up roughly the same in the two worlds. But in the hypothetical geoengineered version of Earth, the threat of the disease has moved on the map, from East to West Africa. 

These scenarios underscore the complex trade-offs that could accompany solar geoengineering. And they raise difficult questions about who gets to determine how or whether the world ever uses tools that alter the entire climate system, in ways that may benefit many but also create new dangers for some. Read the full story.

—James Temple

Teachers in Denmark are using apps to audit their students’ moods

No one knows why, but in just a few decades, the number of Danish children and youth with depression has more than sextupled. 

To help address the problem, some schools are adopting platforms that frequently survey schoolchildren on a variety of wellbeing indicators, and use algorithms to suggest particular issues for the class to focus on.

Picture two theoretical futures: one in which nations counteract climate change by reflecting sunlight back into space, and another where the world continues heating up. There are big differences between the two, but a lot of smaller, more subtle changes too. 

Take malaria, for example. By 2070, the overall risk of malaria transmission ends up roughly the same in the two worlds. But in the hypothetical geoengineered version of Earth, the threat of the disease has moved on the map, from East to West Africa. 

These scenarios underscore the complex trade-offs that could accompany solar geoengineering. And they raise difficult questions about who gets to determine how or whether the world ever uses tools that alter the entire climate system, in ways that may benefit many but also create new dangers for some. Read the full story.

—James Temple

Teachers in Denmark are using apps to audit their students’ moods

No one knows why, but in just a few decades, the number of Danish children and youth with depression has more than sextupled. 

To help address the problem, some schools are adopting platforms that frequently survey schoolchildren on a variety of wellbeing indicators, and use algorithms to suggest particular issues for the class to focus on.