extent

Antarctica sea ice as of February 21, 2023. Annotated with the 1981-2010 median sea ice extent.The long-term trend for sea ice in the south is still flat, while the global trend points downward.In February 2023, sea ice around Antarctica reached the lowest extent ever observed since the start of the satellite record in 1979. But despite several recent years of low extents, the long-term trend for sea ice in southern polar waters is essentially flat; it is the declines in sea ice at the other pole—in the Arctic—that are…

Photo taken in 2015 of a burning forest in Belterra, in the Brazilian Amazon. In this photo, the flames are about 30cm high. The continuous fire line can be seen at the back of the photo, together with a lot of smoke. Credit: Adam Ronan/Rede Amazônia SustentávelA new study recently published in Science reveals that the Amazon rainforest has been damaged to a much greater extent than previously thought, with over a third of the remaining forest impacted by human activity.A study led by a team of 35 international scientists…

Illustration of the principle underlying ‘corruption risk’, as applied to nepotism. A measured treatment effect at the tie level can either be explained by pure nepotism or by other uses of social capital such as the dissemination of information. Credit: Corruption risks in a mature democracy: Mechanisms of social advantage and danger zones for corruption (2023). DOI: 10.3384/9789180750073 There is a risk that individuals may…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new report reveals the extent of public sexual harassment (PSH) experienced by Black and minoritized girls in the U.K.—with many saying it has impacted on their mental health, self-esteem and identity. The report, written by researchers at the University of York, is believed to be the first…

Increasingly tempestuous winds have been sweeping dust from Earth's deserts into our air at an increasing rate since the mid-1800s. New data suggests that this uptick has masked up to 8 percent of current global warming.Using satellite data and ground measurements, researchers detected a steady increase in these microscopic airborne particles since 1850. Soil dust in ice cores, ocean sediments, and peat bogs shows the level of mineral dust in the atmosphere grew by around 55 percent over that time.By scattering sunlight…

Understanding the ecosystem of robots is quite overwhelming, there are war robots, industrial robots, and humanoid robots, then there are cute-looking adorable dog robots that we can keep as pets in our homes, the most terrifying aspect of robots is the emergence of creepy-looking small robots. Now this robot can truly terrify you! Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University have developed an affordable, small-legged robot can climb and descend stairs of any height, basically,…

November 11, 2022 feature Credit: Background Stories. Drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions is of utmost importance to mitigate climate change and its detrimental effects. To…

Gender distribution of founders by technology. Credit: Theresa Treffers et al, Gender diversity in German and French startups - still a long way to go to close the gap (2022) https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/doc/1690861/1690861.pdf Women are significantly underrepresented in German and French start-ups, especially in technical industries. This applies to both founders and employees, as a study from TUM in collaboration with the Roland…

Hurricane Ian knocked out big sections of the Sanibel Causeway, completely cutting off the barrier island from the mainland.Gif: Gizmodo / NOAAThe storm caused heavy damage to the 3-mile-long Sanibel Causeway, the only road connecting Sanibel Island to Florida’s mainland. Repairs on another, smaller bridgeconnecting Pine Island are already underway, according to a report from Politico. But so far, state Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced any specific timeline for the Sanibel Causeway’s re-building.“I can’t tell ……

Optus says its recent data breach impacted 1.2 million customers with at least one form of identification number that is valid and current. The Australian mobile operator also has brought in Deloitte to lead an investigation on the cybersecurity incident, including how it occurred and how it could have been prevented. Optus said in a statement Monday that Deloitte's "independent external review" of the breach would encompass the telco's security systems, controls, and processes. It added that the move was supported by the…