dioxide

Once upon a time, when our planet Earth was very young and very new, there was not a single scrap of life on it to be found.Then, somewhere, somehow, some quirk of chemistry happened, and the molecular building blocks of our very first single-celled ancestors emerged: the amino acids and nucleic acids that came together in just the right way to continue a chain reaction that gave rise to life.  We're not entirely sure of the details of this emergence, which took place billions of years ago, and left no trace on the…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Rail systems around the world could help mitigate climate change and clean the air of CO2 by capturing the sustainable energy generated when trains break and decelerate. US-based startup, CO2Rail Company have been working with a team of researchers, including…

Credit: Kpboonjit, Shutterstock If we're to have any shot at meeting the climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement, scientists estimate that countries would need to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by mid-century. And that's just the start of things. We'd also have to continue removing increasing amounts every year thereafter.…

The Supreme Court on Thursday handed down a decision that says the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants without authorization from Congress, drastically limiting the policy tools the EPA can use to address climate change. The vote in the West Virginia v. EPA decision on Thursday was 6-3, with the Court’s three liberal members dissenting. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the EPA “must point to ‘clear congressional…

Three-dimensional models of astronomical objects can be ridiculously complex. They can range from black holes that light doesn't even escape to the literal size of the Universe and everything in between.  But not every object has received the attention needed to develop a complete model of it, but we can officially add another highly complex model to our lists.Astronomers at the University of Arizona have developed a model of VY Canis Majoris, a red hypergiant that is quite possibly the largest star in the Milky Way. And…

A new and thorough analysis of the chemistry of clouds on Venus has revealed none of the biomarkers indicative of airborne, sulfur-metabolizing life.For now, that means the question of detectable life in the clouds of Venus is pretty much answered. Until we get new information, it's likely to remain that way. The complex chemistry of the upper Venusian atmosphere simply cannot be explained by the presence of life as we know it.  After a team of scientists controversially announced that they had found phosphine gas in the…

By now, few people question the reality that humans are altering Earth's climate. The real question is: How quickly can we halt, even reverse, the damage?Part of the answer to this question lies in the concept of 'committed warming,' also known as 'pipeline warming.'  It refers to future increases in global temperatures that will be caused by greenhouse gases that have already been emitted. In other words, if the clean energy transition happened overnight, how much warming would still ensue?Earth's energy budget is out…

Planting more crops isn't the only way to feed a growing population. Cutting air pollution could go a long way towards increasing crop production while saving precious land and money, according to new research.  If the world cuts the emissions of just one type of air pollutant in half, estimates suggest winter crops could yield about 28 percent more in China and up to 10 percent more in other parts of the world. The pollutants in question are oxides of nitrogen, a family of invisible, poisonous gasses produced by car…

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May were 50 percent higher than during the pre-industrial era, reaching levels not seen on Earth for about 4 million years, the main US climate agency said on Friday.  Global warming caused by humans, particularly through the production of electricity using fossil fuels, transport, the production of cement, or even deforestation, is responsible for the new high, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.May is usually the month with the highest…

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii is a benchmark site for measuring carbon dioxide, or CO2. Photo: NOAACarbon dioxide levels on the only planet known to be habitable are now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association reported Friday. They’re at the highest levels in millions of years.CO2 levels measured last month at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory reached 421 parts per million. It’s a devastating milestone, but not surprising,considering that…