“The research team analyzed pollution levels in more than 1,400 regions in 35 European countries, representing 543 million people. The results, published in Nature Communications, show that overall suspended particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels have decreased in most parts of Europe.”
From Phys.org.
The Guardian | Conservation & Biodiversity
“Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild.
New research suggests the population may be recovering. Australian scientists and international colleagues spent two decades listening for their distinctive songs and calls, and have found the whales – the largest animals ever to have lived – swimming across the Southern Ocean with growing regularity.”
From The Guardian.
“Brilliant Planet, a UK-based climate technology company … aims to harness the power of marine algae to remove emissions by the gigaton, and then sell its service within the broader carbon marketplace. Brilliant Planet relies on a mix of modern engineering coupled with the carbon-capturing capacities of some of the world’s most ancient aquatic organisms.
The startup essentially replicates the natural algal coastal blooms that sustain marine ecosystems –– albeit on land.”
From C3.
“In the first study of its kind, published in the journal Science, scientists from dozens of research institutes reviewed 665 trials of conservation measures, some from as far back as 1890, in different countries and oceans and across species types, and found they had had a positive effect in two out of every three cases.
Co-author Dr Penny Langhammer, executive vice-president of environment charity Re:wild, told BBC News: ‘If you read the headlines about extinction these days, it would be easy to get the impression that we are failing biodiversity – but that’s not really looking at the whole picture.
‘This study provides the strongest evidence to date that not only does conservation improve the state of biodiversity and slow its decline, but when it works, it really works.'”
From BBC.
Live Science | Science & Technology
“Scientists have created a ‘digital twin’ of our planet that can be used to predict weather far faster than traditional services.
The technology could help prevent some of the catastrophic impacts of disasters such as typhoons and flooding. The intensive data-crunching system could also give us a more detailed view of the future effects of climate change and reveal clues about how to mitigate it.”
From Live Science.
