Australian winemakers have lost smoke-tainted crops and political leaders apparently cannot solve the Murray Darling crisis. Perhaps climate change is getting the better of us.
Darwin wondered: what if species change over time in response to their environment?
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In just five Florida Panhandle counties, sea level rise could swamp more than 500 archaeological sites that tell the story of when and how Native Americans lived along the Gulf Coast.
Extreme flooding during Hurricane Maria in 2017 was hazardous for the Puerto Rican people. But a new study finds that it helped native fish populations rebound after years of drought.
AP Photo/Alvin Baez
Big storms with lots of flooding, like hurricanes Dorian and Maria, actually restore the Caribbean’s delicate balance between native and nonnative fish species, new research finds.
Come what may. Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge was staged on Broadway this year and is headed for Australian stages.
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Stages worldwide seem to have been taken over by musicals made for movie-lovers. While this creative process has a long history, it can limit opportunities for original works.
A heavily fished lake could mean you go home empty handed.
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The fish at your favourite lake may be outsmarting you.
Artistic view of the evolution of elephants. From left to right, Moeritherium (30 million years old), Deinotherium (5 million years old) and a modern African elephant.
Alex Bernardini (Simplex Paléo) and Sophie Vrard (Creaphi).
A shift in climate, along with other environmental disruptions and the invasion of competitors and new predators all likely played an important role in reshaping ancient elephants’ brains.
Stucco frieze from Placeres, Campeche, Mexico, Early Classic period, c. 250-600 AD.
Wolfgang Sauber/Wikimedia
Many people think climate change caused Classic Maya civilization to collapse abruptly around 900 A.D. An archaeologist says that view is too simplistic and misses the bigger point.
Here’s a close-up picture of a head louse. The eggs of the female head louse are what we call ‘nits’.
We like to think that all creatures play a role in the local ecosystem. We’re especially interested in insects that provide a benefit for people too. But that’s not always how it is.
Male collared flycatcher, singing for multiple females.
Kennerth Kullman/Shutterstock.com
Biologists investigated whether birds that search for multiple mates would evolve ever more elaborate songs to attract them. What they found might have surprised Darwin.
A young shore crab displaying varied colouring.
Aleksey Stemmer/Shutterstock
Hazardous professions including agriculture and heavy engineering are already having to find ways to adapt.
Bamboo structures on the Brahmaputra river in Majuli, northeastern India, intended to help prevent land erosion in a region experiencing erratic weather patterns and bursts of intense rainfall.
AP Photo/Anupam Nath
Climate change is a serious threat now for poor people in developing countries, but the COP24 conference in Poland offered them little hope of near-term emissions cuts or economic aid.
Mangroves growing strong.
Ali Suliman/Shutterstock
Natural selection isn’t the only factor deciding human evolution.
Protecting coastal wetlands, like this slough in Florida’s Everglades National Park, is a cost-effective way to reduce flooding and storm damage.
NPS/C. Rivas
Coastal development is destroying marshes, mangroves and other wetlands that provide valuable protection from hurricanes and storms. Research shows these benefits can be worth millions of dollars.
Paris “under water” and other European cities facing drastic climate change should trigger planners to think urban spaces differently.
S.Faric/Flickr
Dagmar Haase, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ
In the future, Europe will suffer from more heat waves as well as extreme rainfall, presenting new challenges for planners and health care services. Building resilient cities can help.
Children march at the welcoming ceremony of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany.
(UNclimatechange/flickr)
As delegates meet in Bonn for the latest rounds of climate talks, civil society, NGOs, cities, regional governments and businesses, are stepping up to work together toward climate goals.