If butterflies’ and dragonflies’ colours fade, blame global warming
According to a new study the colour of butterflies and dragonflies depends on climate. Global warming is changing the way they are distributed in favour of lighter-coloured ones.
Even in western countries people used to eat bugs
Entomophagy, a diet consisting of insects, is a practice at which Westeners look with disgust. Yet, it is not the same in many regions of the world, including Mexico, Japan and Australia, where insects don’t represent a food taboo, but rather a tasty and high-in-protein alternative to meat. According to Maurizio Paoletti of the
Say farewell to the Statue of Liberty (and to a fifth of UNESCO sites)
Who doesn’t remember the disaster film by Roland Emmerich, The day after tomorrow (2004), in which New York is submerged by water and ice because of crazy weather? The fantastic images of the big screen may be replaced in a few decades by real pictures. Actually, according to a joint study of the University of Innsbruck
Google Earth shows global warming
How much has temperature in your region raised? Did global warming modify the climate of your country? The answer is just a click away. You only need to download CRUTEM4 for Google Earth, released by the research unit (UEA CRU) of the University of East Anglia. It contains temperature data collected by 6,000 weather stations
What is fracking (or hydraulic fracturing)
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a technique introduced in the first decades of the 20th century to extract natural gas and oil from shale rocks, i.e. exfoliating rocks that lie deep below the Earth’s surface. How it works Hydraulic fracturing consists in perforating the ground until shale gas deposits are found and injecting pressurised
Shale gas and fracking: methane extracted from rocks
Something is changing in the world’s energy market: shale gas, gas extracted from porous rocks through fracking, plays now the lead role.
What are carbon credits?
Imagine a stock exchange where a multitude of brokers scream to sell and buy. Calls, handshakes, shouts. But there’s something different. Brokers do not exchange stocks, but… trees.
What is the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is the first international agreement to mandate reductions in gas emissions that caused the greenhouse effect, climate change and global warming. It is based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty, signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 during the famous Earth Summit. During the 1997 Kyoto Conference,
Food taboos
A few peoples appreciates food items that other peoples hate. Which are food taboos in the different countries of the world?