Prof. Sara Seager speaks to Guy Raz of NPR’s TED Radio Hour about the search for habitable planets outside of our solar system. “We know that there are lots of planets in their star's habitable zones that gives us confidence, but we still need a lot more information,” says Prof. Seager.
Los Angeles Times writer Amina Khan examines the planets that surround dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 – highlighting that most planets near earth’s size are likely to be rocky. “It will be really fascinating when we get to dive into the atmosphere of each of these planets and see how different or similar they are," said postdoc Julien de Wit.
A study by Prof. Daniel Rothman shows that there could be enough carbon in the Earth’s oceans by 2100 to trigger a sixth mass extinction, reports Mark Fischetti and Jen Christiansen for Scientific American.
A new study by MIT researchers found that the Clean Air Act has had a larger impact on reducing the mortality rate than originally thought, reports Alan Moses for U.S. News & World Report. The researchers found that, “the decline in organic aerosol may account for more lives saved than the EPA had estimated.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Matthews highlights a new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel that shows Texas faces an increased risk of devastating rainfall due to climate change. The study demonstrated how greenhouse gas emissions, “help warm offshore waters—a phenomenon that can magnify the severity of storms and generate more rain, creating bigger floods.”
Prof. Kerry Emanuel released a new paper that analyzes the impact of Hurricane Harvey, writes Bloomberg’s Eric Roston. Emanuel found that “Harvey’s rainfall in Houston was ‘biblical’ in the sense that it likely occurred around once since the Old Testament was written.”
Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press reports on a new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel, which finds that hurricanes with extreme rainfall could become common as a result of global warming. Borenstein explains that the odds of 20 inches of rain occurring over a large area of Texas is “6 in 100 and by 2081, those odds will be 18 in 100.”
A study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel finds that climate change will triple the likelihood of storms with 20 inches of rainfall hitting Texas, writes Doyle Rice for USA Today. Using computer models of past, present, and future storms, Emanuel “hurried the study to help Houston officials think about what conditions they should consider when they rebuild,” Rice explains.
A study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel finds that storms like Hurricane Harvey, which produced 20 inches of rain, are six times more likely to occur as a result of global warming, reports Robinson Meyers of The Atlantic. Rainfall will worsen because “storms of all types—not just hurricanes—will retain more moisture in a warmer climate,” explains Meyers.
Chris Mooney at The Washington Post writes about a new study from Prof. Kerry Emanuel, which suggests that the extreme rains during Hurricane Harvey were made more likely by climate change, and “such extreme flooding events will only become more frequent as the globe continues to warm.”
Writing for U.S. News & World Report, Alexa Lardieri highlights how Prof. Daniel Rothman has analyzed carbon changes over the past 540 million years and found that the next mass extinction could start in 2100. Rothman found that, “mass extinctions can occur if changes in the carbon cycle over long time periods outpace global ecosystems' abilities to adapt to those changes.”
In this video, Nicholas Cardona reports for USA Today that Prof. Daniel Rothman has predicted that the Earth’s next mass extinction event could begin in 2100, based on an analysis of the last five mass extinction events. Rothman found that, “each of the events saw high increases in global carbon. That leads to a destabilized ecosystem,” Cardona reports.
In a new study, Prof. Daniel Rothman has predicted that the oceans may hold enough carbon to trigger a sixth mass extinction by 2100, reports Trevor Nace for Forbes. Rothman’s analysis showed that, “given the current rate of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere, we will likely reach a mass extinction threshold by the year 2100.”
HuffPost reporter Thomas Tamblyn writes that Prof. Daniel Rothman has analyzed the Earth’s five previous mass extinctions and found that a sixth could be triggered by 2100. Rothman found that, “if a certain amount of carbon dioxide was added to the oceans on top of its existing levels it would result in a sixth mass extinction event.”
A new study by Prof. Daniel Rothman provides evidence that by 2100 the world’s oceans may hold enough carbon to trigger a sixth mass extinction, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. Rothman found that if, “310 gigatons of carbon dioxide are added to the oceans, it could be a crucial tipping point for the carbon cycle.”