Blogging the End of the World™
3 November 2013 (AAP) – The federal government has approved a massive coal mining project in central Queensland that will be the largest in the country. Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the 37,380 hectare Kevin’s Corner project on Friday. The mine, to be operated by a joint India-Australia consortium, GVK-Hancock, is the first to be […]
By Genevra Pittman 4 November 2013 (Reuters) – Heavier girls tend to hit puberty at younger ages, according to a new study. Rising obesity rates seem to be a ‘prime driver’ behind breast development starting earlier. Girls are developing breasts at younger and younger ages, a new study confirms. And upward trends in childhood obesity […]
By Aaron Akinyemi2 November 2013 (International Business Times UK) – The bushfires that have ravaged large swathes of Australia are now advancing towards Sydney, the country’s biggest city. The bustling metropolis has been enveloped in a shroud of smoke due to bushfires burning to the west, with iconic landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House […]
President Obama Establishes a Task Force on Climate “We’re going to need to get prepared. And that’s why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid. States and cities across the country are already taking it upon themselves […]
By Michael Carlowicz; design by Paul Przyborski22 October 2013 (NASA) – About 300 to 500 kilometers (200 to 300 miles) offshore, a city of light appeared in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. There are no human settlements there, nor fires or gas wells. But there are an awful lot of fishing boats. Adorned […]
29 October 2013 (mongabay.com) – Roads are rapidly expanding across the Brazilian Amazon opening up once remote rainforests to loggers, miners, ranchers, farmers, and land speculators, finds a new study published in the journal Regional Environmental Change. Researchers from Imperial College London and Brazil-based Imazon used maps of existing roads and satellite imagery to track […]
By Tamino19 October 2013 (Open Mind) – Many of you are probably aware of a “report” which is intended to contradict the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report. Its authors call it the “NIPCC” report for “Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change.” It’s supposed to represent the very best that so-called “skeptics” have to […]
This Landsat 5 satellite image shows the Amur/Heilong River on 19 September 2010. The Landsat 8 satellite acquired this image on 27 September 2013. The Amur River, swollen by record rainfall, has swallowed up the Chinese town of Bachaxiang. By Holli Riebeek27 October 2013 (NASA) — The Amur River (Heilong Jiang in Chinese) flows […]
By Emily Badger28 October 2013 (The Atlantic) – Poverty shapes people in some hard-wired ways that we’re only now beginning to understand. Back in August, we wrote about some provocative new research that found that poverty imposes a kind of tax on the brain. It sucks up so much mental bandwidth – capacity spent wrestling […]
By Adam Sobel28 October 2013 (CNN) – Many of our immediate responses to Hurricane Sandy were successful. Scientists accurately forecast the storm; authorities ordered the proper actions; many people heeded the orders; and there was a massive government response in the aftermath. What went most wrong, and continues to go wrong, is our handling of […]
