https://www.science.org/content/article/electrified-cement-could-turn-houses-and-roads-nearly-limitless-batteries By Robert F. Service, Science.  Excerpt: ...Researchers have come up with a new way to store electricity in cement, using cheap and abundant materials. If scaled up, the cement could hold enough energy in a home’s concrete foundation to fulfill its daily power needs. Scaled up further, electrified roadways could power electric cars as they drive. And if scientists can find a way to do this all cheaply the advance might offer a nearly limitless capacity for storing energy from intermittent renewable sources, such as solar and wind. So far, the cement devices are small, only big enough to power a few LED lightbulbs. But efforts are already underway to scale them up. ...The cement devices are a kind of simplified battery called supercapacitors. They consist of two electrically conductive plates separated by an ion-conducting electrolyte and a thin membrane. As the device is ch

https://eos.org/articles/displaced-from-home-and-sheltered-in-an-extreme-environment By Humberto Basilio , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Millions of people, displaced from their home countries, take refuge in areas that are highly vulnerable to extreme weather. ...Kakuma refugee camp, ...which includes refugees from more than 20 countries, often lacks access to services such as clean water and nutritious food. A common building material in the camp is wood-iron sheets, which are vulnerable to dust storms and hailstorms. The refugee community must also endure the latent threat posed by Kenya’s increasing heat, combined with unprecedented drought and a lack of trees. ...In a study  published  in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , scientists analyzed refugees’ exposure to extreme weather events in Kakuma and 19 other large refugee settlements. The results confirmed that refugee camps are exposed to harsher conditions than those found in the rest o

https://www.science.org/content/article/shocking-levels-stress-marine-heat-wave-devastating-florida-s-corals By Warren Cornwall, Science.  Excerpt: Ocean water temperatures off southern Florida have spiked to record levels, with sea surface temperatures hovering at more than 2°C above typical seasonal peaks for the past few weeks. The heat wave threatens coral reef ecosystems already buffeted by years of ocean warming, disease, and pollution. Coral bleaching, in which heat-stressed coral polyps eject the symbiotic algae that live in their tissues and help nourish the coral, is already widespread this year off Florida’s coast. Corals are also shedding tissue and swiftly dying without going through bleaching.... [Interview with Ian Enochs, a coral reef ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, heads the coral program at the agency’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory]

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2023/07/27/making-renewable-infinitely-recyclable-plastics-using-bacteria/ By Lauren Biron, Berkeley Lab.  Excerpt: Scientists engineered microbes to make the ingredients for recyclable plastics – replacing finite, polluting petrochemicals with sustainable alternatives. The new approach shows that renewable, recyclable plastics are not only possible, but also outperform those from petrochemicals. ...Most plastics can’t be recycled, and many use finite, polluting petrochemicals as the basic ingredients. But that’s changing. In a  study published today in  Nature Sustainability , researchers successfully engineered microbes to make biological alternatives for the starting ingredients in an infinitely recyclable plastic known as poly(diketoenamine), or PDK. ...PDKs can be used for a variety of products, including adhesives, flexible items like computer cables or watch bands, building materials, and “tough thermosets,” rigid plastics made through a curing process

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/business/energy-environment/israel-gas-europe.html By  Stanley Reed , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Chevron finds itself with an abundance of natural gas on Europe’s doorstep. Amid competing regional interests, the question is how to develop it....

https://www.science.org/content/article/farmers-paid-millions-trap-carbon-soils-will-it-actually-help-planet By Gabriel Popkin, Science.  Excerpt: Lance Unger ...on his farm near the Wabash River in southwestern Indiana ...rather than leaving his fields fallow, he sowed some of them with cover crops of oats and sorghum that grew until the winter cold killed them off. And before [spring] planting ..., Unger drove a machine to shove aside yellowing stalks—last season’s “trash,” as he calls it—rather than tilling the soil and plowing the stalks under. For these efforts, a Boston-based company called Indigo paid Unger $26,232 in late 2021 and an even larger chunk late last year. That’s how much an emerging market values the hundreds of tons of carbon that, in theory at least, Unger yanked out of the atmosphere with his cover crops or left in the soil by not tilling. Slowing climate change isn’t a priority for him, he says, ...[but] the money made it worthwhile. Indigo also made money in th

https://eos.org/articles/meltwater-from-antarctic-glaciers-is-slowing-deep-ocean-currents By Veronika Meduna , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Antarctic ice drives crucial deep-ocean currents that help regulate Earth’s climate. But the system is slowing down. ...When the sea freezes around Antarctica’s fringes in winter, the ice expels salt into the water below. Trillions of metric tons of this briny, supercooled, heavy water cascade down Antarctica’s continental slope, dropping into the deep ocean in submarine waterfalls. As these waters sink from the Antarctic shelf, they spread north through the Southern Ocean, driving abyssal circulation—the lower limb of the global ocean overturning circulation. They are the densest water masses in the world’s oceans and the engine room of a current system that conveys heat, dissolved gases, and nutrients around the world. ...But diminishing glaciers in West Antarctica—primarily the Amundsen Sea—are freshening the shelf waters in the Ross Sea and slowing the

https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-people-china-systematically-mined-and-burned-coal-3600-years-ago By Celina Zhao, Science.  Excerpt: Long before coal fueled the Industrial Revolution, ancient societies around the world were already exploiting its power to smelt metal or heat water for toasty baths. Now, excavations at a Bronze Age site in northwestern China show people were burning coal on a large scale up to 3600 years ago, 1 millennium earlier than previously thought. The research,  reported today in Science Advances , also traces where the coal came from and how a shortage of other fuel may have encouraged ancient people to turn to this new energy source....

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/25/water-temperatures-in-florida/70463489007/ By Dinah Voyles Pulver , USA Today.  Excerpt: Water temperatures in the bays between the mainland and the Florida Keys were so warm that meteorologists say they were among the hottest ocean temperatures ever recorded on Earth. Water temperature at a buoy in Manatee Bay south of Miami reached an incredible 101.1 degrees Monday evening. That's higher than an unofficial 99.7 degrees once reported in Kuwait, but meteorologists say the Florida gauge's location in shallower, darker water near land means the two measurements can't be fairly compared. Heat has been building in South Florida for weeks as the region and  much of the western United States sweltered in temperatures much warmer than normal. ...Federal officials say  more than 40% of the world's oceans are experiencing marine heat waves , a figure that could reach 50% by September.... See also The Guardian article Florid

https://www.wsj.com/articles/july-heat-waves-nearly-impossible-without-climate-change-study-says-a6dad9e1 By Eric Niiler , The Wall Street Journal.  Excerpt: Record temperatures have been fueled by decades of fossil-fuel emissions. ...The  extreme heat  blanketing the southern regions of the U.S., Mexico, and Europe this month would have been nearly impossible without the warming effects of human-induced climate change, according to a study released Tuesday by a group of European scientists who carry out rapid assessments of extreme weather events. The study by World Weather Attribution, a group of researchers based in London and the Netherlands, found that three separate  heat waves in July  across the Northern Hemisphere  were made much worse  because of decades of fossil-fuel emissions that have raised the planet’s average temperature by 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century....

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/saguaro-cacti-collapsing-arizona-extreme-heat-scientist-says-2023-07-25/ By Liliana Salgado , Reuters.  Excerpt: Arizona's saguaro cacti, a symbol of the U.S. West, are leaning, losing arms and in some cases falling over during the state's record streak of extreme heat, a scientist said on Tuesday. Summer monsoon rains the cacti rely on have failed to arrive, testing the desert giants' ability to survive in the wild as well as in cities after temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) for 25 days in Phoenix, said Tania Hernandez....

https://eos.org/articles/the-inequality-of-heat-stress By  Rebecca Owen , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: When record-breaking  temperatures  and  heat domes  envelop swaths of the United States each summer, people across the country experience these extreme heat events differently. Those living in historically  redlined  neighborhoods, where discriminatory land use and housing policies caused segregation and racism to flourish, are still, even today, at higher risk for hotter temperatures and the health effects caused by heat stress. In a new study published in  One Earth , researchers showed that heat stress disproportionately affects poor and non-white residents in 481 American cities . ... 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/19/climate-crisis-james-hansen-scientist-warning By Oliver Milman , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because “we are damned fools” for not acting upon warnings over the climate crisis, according to James Hansen, the US scientist who alerted the world to the greenhouse effect in the 1980s. Hansen, whose testimony to the US Senate in 1988 is cited as the first high-profile revelation of global heating, warned in a  statement  with two other scientists that the world was moving towards a “new climate frontier” with temperatures higher than at any point over the past million years, bringing impacts such as stronger storms, heatwaves and droughts. ...The world has  already  warmed by about 1.2C since mass industrialization, causing a 20% chance of having the sort of extreme summer temperatures currently seen in many parts of the northern hemisp

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/climate/us-china-climate-issues.html By Lisa Friedman , The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...China, the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, produces  12.7 billion metric tons  of emissions annually. That dwarfs U.S. emissions, currently about  5.9 billion tons  annually. ...Since 1850, China has emitted  284 billion tons  of carbon dioxide. But the United States, which industrialized far earlier, has released almost  twice  that amount:  509 billion tons  of emissions. ...The average Chinese person uses far less energy than the average American, about  10.1 tons  of carbon pollution annually compared to  17.6 tons  in the U.S. ...The United States consumes  20 percen t of the world’s oil and China consumes about  14 percent . The United States is also a top oil exporter. China imports most of its oil. ... Natural gas  now accounts for about  30 percent  of energy use in the United States. In China, natural gas, most of it imported, accounts for  9

https://newatlas.com/energy/fervo-geothermal-test/ By  Loz Blain , New Atlas.  Excerpt:   There's a near-unlimited amount of clean energy under our feet, in the form of hot rocks. You can generate clean electricity 24/7 – not intermittently, like solar and wind – if you can get water down into that rock and back to the surface to drive steam turbines. A reliable source like this would make the clean energy transition much smoother. . . However . . . there are only limited places where  geothermal  power currently makes economic sense – places like Iceland and New Zealand, for example, where the heat is close to the surface, easily accessible, and the site is close enough to a grid connection to make it worth exploiting. Fervo's solution is a bit more down-to-Earth, as it were, and draws on much more established, high-volume machinery and techniques from oil and gas production. Essentially, Fervo aims to do for geothermal what shale oil and fracking did for hydrocarbons, radical

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/18/climate/canada-record-wildfires.html By  Nadja Popovich , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Wildfires in Canada have burned a staggering 25 million acres so far this year, an area roughly the size of Kentucky. ...“The recipe for a wildfire is simple,” said Mike Flannigan, a professor who studies wildland fires at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. “You need three ingredients: First, vegetation. We call it fuel. Second: ignition, which in Canada is people and lightning. And, third: hot, dry, windy weather.” Those ingredients came together over and over again this year across much of the country, he said, resulting in a fire season that stands “head and shoulders above any other year.”... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/world/extreme-heat-wave-us-europe-asia.html By Alan Yuhas , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Punishing heat waves gripped three continents on Tuesday, breaking records in cities around the Northern Hemisphere less than two weeks after the Earth recorded what scientists said were likely  its hottest days in modern history . Firefighters in Greece scrambled to put out wildfires, as parched conditions raised the risk of more blazes throughout Europe. Beijing logged another day of 95-degree heat, and people in Hangzhou, another Chinese city, compared the choking conditions to a sauna. From the Middle East to the American Southwest, delivery drivers, airport workers and construction crews  labored under blistering skies. ...In the United States, Phoenix broke a nearly half-century-old record on Tuesday, with the city’s 19th consecutive day of  temperatures above 110 degrees  Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius).... See also  June Was Earth’s Hottest on Record. August M

https://eos.org/articles/soil-fungi-are-a-major-carbon-sink By  Caroline Hasler , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Mycorrhizal fungi—soil-dwelling fungi that exchange nutrients with plant roots—are important players in plant and soil health. A new  study  suggests they are also significant carbon pools. Researchers estimated that the fungi receive the equivalent of 13 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) annually from plants—equal to 36% of current annual fossil fuel emissions.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/climate/climate-geodesic-dome-house.html By  Christopher Flavelle , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Jon duSaint, a retired software engineer, recently bought property near Bishop, Calif., in a rugged valley east of the Sierra Nevada. The area is at risk for wildfires, severe daytime heat and high winds — and also heavy winter snowfall. But Mr. duSaint isn’t worried. He’s planning to live in a dome. The 29-foot structure will be coated with aluminum shingles that reflect heat, and are also fire-resistant. Because the dome has less surface area than a rectangular house, it’s easier to insulate against heat or cold. And it can withstand high winds and heavy snowpack. ...As weather grows more extreme, geodesic domes and other resilient home designs are gaining new attention from more climate-conscious home buyers, and the architects and builders who cater to them.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/business/energy-environment/electric-vehicles-backup-power.html By Ivan Penn , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Some energy experts say battery-powered vehicles will increasingly help keep the lights on and support electric grids, rather than straining them....

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/climate/invasive-worms-arctic-environment.html By Sofia Quaglia , The New York times.  Excerpt: Worms are ...taking over territory in the Far North that’s been wormless since the last ice age. Scientists say the expansion will inevitably change northern ecosystems, with implications for the whole planet, in ways we don’t fully understand and probably can’t undo. ...In much of the temperate world, shoveling up a clump of ground full of common earthworms is a sign of  healthy soil full of flora, fungi and good bacteria . Earthworms actively contribute to soil health by munching on decaying organic matter and pooping out nutrient-rich fertilizer. But that means worms also have the potential to upend the natural balance of ecosystems in Arctic and sub-Arctic zones. For example, by encouraging the growth of certain plants at the expense of others,  altering entire food webs  and  squeezing out rare, native flora that is already threatened by climate change

https://www.entrepreneur.com/green-entrepreneur/scientist-invents-the-worlds-whitest-paint-to-cool-down/455739 By Jonathan Small, Entrepreneur.  Excerpt: A scientist at Purdue University concocted a white paint that can cool down buildings and prevent global temperatures from rising. Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering, created white paint that reflects 98% of the sun's rays away from the Earth's surface. When applied to the roof of structures, the paint cools down surfaces as much as eight degrees during the day and up to 19 degrees cooler at night, according to a report in  The New York Times . "If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet [93 m2], we estimate that you could get a cooling power up to 10 kilowatts. That's more powerful than the air conditioners used by most houses," Ruan said....

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/climate/natural-gas-leaks-coal-climate-change.html By Hiroko Tabuchi , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Natural gas, long seen as a cleaner alternative to coal and an important tool in the fight to slow global warming, can be just as harmful to the climate, a new study has concluded, unless companies can all but eliminate the leaks that plague its use. It takes as little as 0.2 percent of gas to leak to make natural gas as big a driver of climate change as coal, the study found. That’s a tiny margin of error for a gas that is notorious for leaking from drill sites, processing plants and the pipes that transport it into power stations or homes and kitchens. ...The peer-reviewed study, which also involved researchers from Harvard and Duke Universities and NASA and is set to be published next week  in the journal Environmental Research Letters , adds to a substantial body of research that has poked holes in the idea that natural gas is a suitable transition

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/12/us/arizona-southwest-heat-wave/index.html By Christina Maxouris , CNN.  Excerpt: Arizonans have endured  scorching temperatures for more than two weeks  and that hot streak is about to get even hotter, with a brutal heat wave starting to take shape ahead of the weekend. Temperatures in Phoenix have reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit every single day this month. On Wednesday, the city’s high was 111 degrees, making it the third longest streak in history during which Phoenix recorded continuous temperatures of at least 110 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.  The longest streak, set in 1974, was 18 days. Meteorologists expect the weekend heat will be  record-breaking , reaching a staggering 119 degrees in some parts. ...CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward said “Over the coming days many locations will experience some of the top 10 temperatures they have ever recorded. This type of heat has to be taken seriously as heat stress can occur very quickly fo

https://www.science.org/content/article/massive-lava-outburst-may-have-led-snowball-earth By Maia Wei-Haas, Science.  Excerpt: About 717 million years ago, a climate catastrophe struck the planet, as temperatures plunged and glaciers enveloped the globe. The cause of this “Snowball Earth” episode has been mysterious, but it took place around the same time as a massive outburst of volcanism. Many researchers thought there might be a connection. But the timing was uncertain. Now, more precise dates, reported last month in  Earth and Planetary Science Letters  (EPSL) and in November 2022 in  Science Advances , show the eruptions preceded the Snowball Earth event by 1 million to 2 million years. The lag points to a particular way the fire could have triggered the ice: through a chemical alteration of the fresh volcanic rocks known as weathering, which sucks carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere, turning down the planetary thermostat. The studies highlight the power of weathering as a

https://eos.org/articles/taking-a-fine-grained-approach-to-investigating-climates-impact-on-crops By Jane Palmer , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Studying the effects of variable weather on all three aspects of production—planting, harvesting, and yield—can help farmers and policymakers build resilience to climate change. ...To study climate change’s impacts on food and other crop systems, scientists have typically measured the change in crop yield in different weather scenarios. But when it comes to building a resilient food production system, it is valuable to look beyond this single metric, according to the authors of a new  study  published in  Nature Sustainability ....

https://apnews.com/article/florida-ocean-heat-climate-coral-record-bfc3010460eb077fc14d53a6f768931d By Seth Borenstein and Mike Schneider, AP.  Excerpt: ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Record global ocean heating has invaded Florida with a vengeance. Water temperatures in the mid-90s (mid-30s Celsius) are threatening delicate coral reefs, depriving swimmers of cooling dips and adding a bit more ick to the Sunshine State’s already oppressive summer weather. Forecasters are warning of temperatures that with humidity will feel like 110 degrees (43 degrees Celsius) by week’s end. If that’s not enough, Florida is about to get a dose of dust from Africa’s Saharan desert that’s likely to hurt air quality. ...Water temperature near Johnson Key came close to  97 degrees (36.1 degrees Celsius) Monday evening , according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy. Another buoy had a reading  close to 95 (35 Celsius) near Vaca Key  a day earlier. These are about 5 degrees warmer than normal th