Antarctica
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Critical List: Antarctic ice sheets’ soft underbellies; monkey sets traps
The undersides of Antarctic ice sheets, thought to be fairly safe for now, are melting. Robert Abbey, the head of the Bureau of Land Management, is planning to retire at the end of the month. Bill McKibben said yesterday that climate campaigners need to be “willfully naive and demand that our system work the way […]
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Climate change threatens baby seals
You could probably intuit that climate change would threaten seal pups, being as how they’re vulnerable critters who require cold climates. But just in case you had doubts, new research has arrived to tell you that yup, Antarctic fur seal pups are screwed.
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Critical List: Too many tornadoes; scientists help plant seeds reach Antarctica
Super Tuesday results: The rich guy who would be terrible for the environment won primaries in six states, the scary evangelist who would be terrible for the environment won three, and the sad nerd who should know better but would probably be terrible for the environment just to fit in won one. March has already […]
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Scientists drill into ancient buried lake
Russian scientists have confirmed that they successfully drilled into Lake Vostok, a subglacial lake that has spent the last several million years isolated from Earth’s surface by a thick slab of ice. And I mean THICK — drilling down to the lake has taken 20 years of work. But the team has finally hit water, […]
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Antarctica’s about to lose a New York City-sized chunk
Normally when icebergs split off from glaciers, it’s called “calving,” but I think it would be fair to say that Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is about to have a cow. Pine Island Glacier, which is the continent’s fastest-melting glacier and unusually well-situated to contribute to sea level rise, is getting set to shed a chunk […]
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Critical List: Sumatran elephants critically endangered; Al Gore goes on a cruise
Sumatran elephants are critically endangered. Watch out for the solar flare that’s supposed to hit Earth today! It’s the strongest since 2005. President Obama might pump increased domestic oil and gas production in his State of the Union.
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Critical List: Ghost octopi in the Antarctic; without ethanol subsidies, gas prices rise
The creatures discovered living in thermal vents near Antarctica -- ghost octopi, limpets, yeti crabs -- are le awesome.
Two major solar industry groups are merging in order to focus on state-level policies.
With ethanol subsidies gone, gas will cost more. -
Don’t call the Antarctic ice shelf; it’ll call you
Back when I was in middle school, the internet was still something of a novelty, but we did have email. So when I was assigned a report on Antarctica, my mom dug up the email address of a real, live scientist living at the research station there. We emailed him a few report-related questions, and […]
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This is what Antarctica looks like naked
Scientists have made a detailed map of Antarctica's rock bed — what the land looks like underneath the ice — as part of their attempt to predict how the continent might respond to global warming. Figuring out what will happen when Antarctic ice melts requires an understanding of what's going on down below: Scientists are […]