Climate Change Series

Climate explained: seven reasons to be wary of waste-to-energy proposals

Dec 11, 2019 03:57 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question youd like an expert to answer, please...

Climate Change Series

As heat strikes, here's one way to help fight disease-carrying and nuisance mosquitoes

Dec 11, 2019 03:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Mosquito-borne disease is a concern for health authorities around Australia. Each year, thousands fall ill to Ross River virus disease caused by mosquito bites. Tracking mosquito populations can help us respond to these...

Climate Change Series

How to design a forest fit to heal the planet

Dec 10, 2019 05:22 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Reforestation has enormous potential as a cheap and natural way of sucking heat-absorbing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and restoring the degraded natural world, while supporting local livelihoods at the same time....

Climate Change Series

Flash flooding is a serious threat in the UK – here's how scientists are tackling its prediction

Dec 09, 2019 04:46 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Its becoming a familiar scene on the news: sodden British people wading through streets up to their knees in flood water. From Stirling to Sheffield, many parts of the UK in 2019 felt the impact of severe surface water...

Climate Change Series

The digital economy's environmental footprint is threatening the planet

Dec 09, 2019 04:40 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology Nature

Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint. Our smartphones rely on rare earth...

Invasive grasses are fueling wildfires across the US

Dec 04, 2019 12:20 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

The Santa Ana winds that help drive fall and winter wildfires in California have died down, providing welcome relief for residents. But other ecological factors contribute to fires in ways that scientists are still...

Climate Change Series

Did people or climate kill off the megafauna? Actually, it was both

Dec 04, 2019 12:12 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Earth is now firmly in the grips of its sixth mass extinction event, and its mainly our fault. But the modern era is definitely not the first time humans have been implicated in the extinction of a wide range of...