https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ice-melting-dipole-arctic-oscillation By arolyn Gramling , Science. Excerpt: From 2007 to 2021, winds over North America and Eurasia were circulating in such a way that  they reduced the influx of warmer Atlantic water into the Arctic , researchers report in the Sept. 1  Science . That helped slow the rate of sea ice loss during that time period —  even as atmospheric warming ramped up  ( SN: 8/11/22 ). But that grace period may come to an end within just a few years. When the winds shift back, enhanced “Atlantification” of the Arctic may speed up sea ice loss, by giving an extra oomph of warming from below. “This phase has lasted about 15 years. We’re about at the end,” says physical oceanographer Igor Polyakov of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. ...From 1979 to 2006, the Arctic Dipole was in a “negative” phase, with winds rotating counterclockwise over North America and clockwise over Eurasia. That brought more Atlantic w...

https://eos.org/articles/greenland-was-much-greener-416000-years-ago By Bill Morris , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: In 2019, a team of scientists glimpsed an ancient, shrubby landscape at the base of a long-forgotten ice core—rare evidence that Greenland wasn’t always completely covered in ice. Now, they have pinpointed the age of that ecosystem, and the implications are disturbing—Greenland’s ice sheet, the finds show, could melt at any time, contributing to catastrophic sea level rise. ...The team  reported  the find in 2021 but at the time were unable to accurately date the deposits. Doing so, said coauthor  Tammy Rittenour , a paleoclimatologist with Utah State University, is crucial for “understanding the conditions at which you can melt the Greenland ice sheet.” ...Climate variability driven by the  El Niño–Southern Oscillation , North Atlantic Oscillation, and other patterns, Cronin said, could have driven Earth’s climate, ocean circulation, and ice dynamics to tipp...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/us/heat-migrant-deaths-texas-mexico.html By Edgar Sandoval , The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...at 100 degrees or higher. The heat has been stifling for many Texans, but deadly for some of those making their way through the hot, barren shrub land where migrants travel to avoid detection from Border Patrol agents. ...Fewer people are crossing from Mexico this year compared with last year, but already there have been more than 500 deaths in 2023....

https://www.science.org/content/article/human-ancestors-may-have-survived-brush-extinction-900-000-years-ago By ELIZABETH PENNISI , Science.  Excerpt: About 1 million years ago, our distant ancestors hunted in small bands and gathered their food with sophisticated stone tools. Then, about 900,000 years ago, something happened: The number of breeding individuals dwindled to only about 1300, according to a new study modeling ancient population sizes. Our ancestors came within a hair’s breadth of extinction, and populations remained that low for the next 100,000 years or more, researchers argue today in Science . ...Janet Kelso, a computational biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, is skeptical. She notes that the genetic signal for the bottleneck is strongest only in present-day African populations, and not in people who today live outside Africa.... The conclusions, “though intriguing, should probably be taken with some caution and explored f...

https://www.science.org/content/article/gardens-blooming-endangered-plants-could-prove-boon-conservation By GRETCHEN VOGEL , Science. Excerpt: ...For years, conservationists have heralded the benefits of growing native species in yards and gardens. But the potential for gardeners to help slow biodiversity loss by planting threatened species has received less attention, says Ingmar Staude, a botanist at the University of Leipzig. He and his colleagues now report in Scientific Reports that if more gardeners opted for conservation-relevant species, the overall threat level for plants—defined as the ratio of at-risk plant species to all species—could fall by 25% across Germany. They suggest other countries could see similar benefits.....

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh8183 By THOMAS R. BENSON ,  MATTHEW A. COBLE , and  JOHN H. DILLES , Science. Excerpt: Developing a sustainable supply chain for the global proliferation of lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles and grid storage necessitates the extraction of lithium resources that minimize local environmental impacts. Volcano sedimentary lithium resources have the potential to meet this requirement, as they tend to be shallow, high-tonnage deposits with low waste.... Illite-bearing Miocene lacustrine sediments within the southern portion of McDermitt caldera (USA) at Thacker Pass [Nevada] contain extremely high lithium grades (up to ~1 weight % of Li), more than double the whole-rock concentration of lithium in smectite-rich claystones in the caldera and other known claystone lithium resources globally (<0.4 weight % of Li). Illite concentrations measured in situ range from ~1.3 to 2.4 weight % of Li within fluorine-rich ill...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/08/28/climate-action-poll/ By Kate Selig  and  Emily Guskin , The Washington Post.  Excerpt: A slim majority of Americans think their individual actions can reduce the effects of climate change, according to a  Washington Post-University of Maryland poll . But do they know which actions are the most effective? Not quite. The poll finds most people believe recyclinghas a lot or some impact on climate change. About three-quarters say not eating meat or dairy would have a little or no effect on climate change. Climate experts say they’re wrong on those and other counts. ...Among the 10 actions Americans were polled on, experts said flying less and cutting out meat and dairy are among the best steps people can take....