Future of Coal Series

China Crisis Series

Oil in Global Economy Series

Climate Change Series

Has China's coal use peaked? Here's how to read the tea leaves

Apr 12, 2016 12:23 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

As the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, how much coal China is burning is of global interest. In March, the countrys National Bureau of Statistics said the tonnage of coal has fallen for the second year...

Did the earth move for you? How GPS tracks the slow movements of a world in motion

Apr 12, 2016 08:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature Technology

If you feel that the earth beneath your feet is moving, its because it is. Since the late 1980s geophysicists including myself have been building a network of advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments to...

Climate Change Series

19th century weather data is helping climate scientists predict the future

Apr 12, 2016 08:10 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

The 19th-century English historian Lord Acton famously advised people to live in both the future and the past, and said those who do not live in the past cannot live in the future. It may seem a stretch to apply this...

Climate Change Series

Burning fossil fuels is responsible for most sea-level rise since 1970

Apr 12, 2016 06:27 am UTC| Insights & Views Law Nature

Global average sea level has risen by about 17 cm between 1900 and 2005. This is a much faster rate than in the previous 3,000 years. The sea level changes for several reasons, including rising temperatures as fossil...

Climate Change Series

Here's a way to make carbon markets work better

Apr 08, 2016 16:26 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Carbon markets could play a crucial role in delivering promises made at the Paris climate conference. The idea behind carbon markets is simple. A government issues a limited number of permits, which companies can then...

Climate Change Series

We keep flushing valuable thermal energy down the drain

Apr 08, 2016 09:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Every time you flush your toilet or drain the bath, youre losing something surprisingly valuable: heat. It takes a lot of energy to warm up the water in the first place, and vast amounts of this energy simply disappear...

Climate Change Series

Climate change threatens entire ecosystems -- let's pick them up and move them

Apr 08, 2016 09:38 am UTC| Nature

Climate change poses a major threat to the worlds ecosystems. As the world warms, animals and plants will move to keep pace with their preferred climate, but many will be unable to keep up with the speed of change,...