Posting: Difference between revisions

[https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/behind-the-rise-of-csiros-climate-model/ by Dr Ian Smith 21/6/25 cosmos]

  Meteorologist and historian Dr Ian Smith, writing in “Historical Records of Australian Science,” pays tribute to two men who developed the first long term climate model in Australia which indicated the impacts of enhanced emissions in the atmosphere. Here, for Cosmos, Smith summarises the process of model development and explains the global impact of this research.

=====Greener green and bluer blue: Ocean poleward greening over the past two decades=====

[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr9715 by Marine Ecology 19/6/25 Science]

  The oceans are becoming greener toward the poles and bluer in the subtropics. Zhao et al. report measurements of ocean color made by satellites between 2003 and 2022 showing that a disparity in chlorophyll abundances is causing this trend, signaling a profound shift in the distribution of plankton biomass (see the Perspective by Kudela). This shift, which is most pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere, could cascade to higher trophic levels and cause unforeseen impacts on fisheries and national economies.  

=====Global warming may increase the burden of obstructive sleep apnea=====

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60218-1?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_content=null&utm_campaign=CONR_JRNLS_AWA1_GL_PCOM_SMEDA_NATUREPORTFOLIO by Bastien Lechat 16/6/25 nature communications]

  High ambient temperatures are associated with reduced sleep duration and quality, but effects on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity are unknown. Here we quantify the effect of 24 h ambient temperature on nightly OSA severity in 116,620 users of a Food and Drug Administration-cleared nearable over 3.5 years. Wellbeing and productivity OSA burden for different levels of global warming were estimated. Globally, higher temperatures (99th vs. 25th; 27.3 vs. 6.4 °C) were associated with a 45% higher probability of having OSA on a given night (mean [95% confidence interval]; 1.45 [1.44, 1.47]). Warming-related increase in OSA prevalence in 2023 was estimated to be associated with a loss of 788,198 (489,226, 1,087,170) healthy life years (in 29 countries), and a workplace productivity loss of 30 (21 to 40) billion United States dollars. Scenarios with projected temperatures ≥1.8 °C above pre-industrial levels would incur a further 1.2 to 3-fold increase in OSA burden by 2100.

=====Tree methane exchange in a changing world=====

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-025-00692-9 by Vincent Gauci 19/6/25 nature reviews earth & environment]

  Tree surfaces facilitate methane (CH4) exchange between terrestrial systems and the atmosphere. In this Perspective, I consider methane emission and uptake in trees, the underlying mechanisms and their response to environmental changes. Methane emitted from trees predominantly originates in soils, being transferred through the stem. The highest tree methane emissions occur in waterlogged soil conditions. As such, trees in wetland and riparian forests are a net source of methane, with topical wetland trees emitting up to ~44 Tg CH4 yr−1. By comparison, trees on free-draining upland soils are a net sink of methane on the order of 50 Tg CH4 yr−1, with microbially mediated methanotrophy along the soil–tree continuum dominating the vertical attenuation of soil-derived methane fluxes.  

=====UCSF researchers suggest this 4-minute Yosemite video boosts happiness=====

[https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/ucsf-researchers-suggest-4-minute-yosemite-video-20381794.php by Olivia Harden 17/6/25 SFGATE]

  A group of researchers at UC San Francisco conducted a study to prove that small acts of joy can add up. One of their methods was showing a 4-minute video to immerse participants in the most popular national parks in California.

=====30-Min ‘Japanese Walking’ Trend Goes Viral As Expert Says It Beats 10,000 Steps=====

[https://www.aol.com/30-min-japanese-walking-trend-182323703.html by Renan Duarte 14/6/25 AOL]

  The fix-all “10,000 steps per day” method credited with longevity and healthy aging has been bettered by a surprisingly easier fitness hack.

=====Solar grazing undergoing rapid growth, census finds=====

[https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/06/18/solar-grazing-undergoing-rapid-growth-census-finds/ by Rachel Metea 18/5/25 PV magazine]

  The scale of livestock grazing in agrivoltaic installations is much larger than previously understood, found the first solar grazing census by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the American Solar Grazing Association.

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/19/2296750/-Climate-Brief-Declining-world-birth-rates-mean-immigration-is-now-indispensable-pt-1?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web by Angmar 19/6/25 DAILY KOS]

  The latest UN population projections reveal a world on the cusp of a stunning demographic transformation. The global baby bust continues to deepen, countries almost everywhere are aging, and a growing number face long-term demographic decline. In this Vantage Point, we discuss the coming global demographic transformation, as well as the daunting social, economic, and geopolitical challenges it poses group

=====Shrinking Populations, Shifting Economies=====

[https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/disconnection-dynamics/202505/shrinking-populations-shifting-economies by Nigel R. Balrstow 22/5/25 Psychology Today]

  By the early 2030s, many advanced economies will begin experiencing absolute population declines, not just aging. Japan, South Korea, Italy, Germany, and China are already at or near this tipping point (United Nations, 2022). Japan has lost nearly 3 million people since its population peaked in 2008. South Korea’s fertility rate dropped to an unprecedented 0.72 in 2023, far below the replacement level of 2.1 (Statistics Korea, 2024). China saw its population fall in 2022 for the first time in over 60 years (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2023).

=====The Reagan-Appointed Judge Fast-Tracking Trump to Trial=====

[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/us/politics/judge-william-g-young-trump.html?auth=login-google1tap&login=google1tap&smid=url-share&unlocked_article_code=1.QE8.6N93.ICeRtmR7NE0X by Zach Montague 18/6/25 The New York Times]

  After 40 years on the federal bench, Judge William G. Young recently experienced what he viewed as a career first, and it didn’t sit well with him.

=====Harriet Tubman’s church in Canada was a crucial force in the abolitionist movement. It’s still standing today=====

[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/19/harriet-tubman-church-canada-abolition by Adria R. Walker 19/6/25 The Guardian]

  Salem Chapel is one of the oldest Black churches in Ontario. Though it may not be widely known to most Americans or Canadians, its influence on both countries’ history is undeniable. The church, which is still in use as a religious institution, is considered a sacred site and tourist destination because of its importance for people who participated in the Underground Railroad and for their descendants.

=====Solar Panels Give Edge to Tomatoes Grown Underneath=====

[https://cleantechnica.com/2025/06/18/solar-panels-give-edge-to-tomatoes-grown-underneath/amp/ by US Department of Energy 18/6/25 CleanTechnica]

  Experiments lead to a greater understanding, deeper insights, and sometimes they even bear fruit. That was certainly the case last summer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where researchers nurtured a dozen tomato plants.

=====Scientists demonstrate superior cognitive benefits of outdoor vs indoor physical activity=====

[https://www.psypost.org/scientists-demonstrate-superior-cognitive-benefits-of-outdoor-vs-indoor-physical-activity/#google_vignette by Eric W. Dolan 18/6/25 PsyPost]

  A new study published in Physiology & Behavior has found that children experience greater improvements in attention, memory, and thinking speed after physical activity when it takes place outdoors rather than indoors. The findings suggest that combining exercise with time in nature may offer unique benefits for brain function—benefits that neither exercise nor outdoor exposure alone can fully explain.

=====Sea ice controls net ocean uptake of carbon dioxide by regulating wintertime stratification=====

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02395-x by Elise S.Droste 18/6/25 communications earth & environment]

  Sea-air exchange of carbon dioxide in the Southern Ocean is strongly seasonal, with ocean uptake in summer, which is partly offset by carbon dioxide outgassing in winter. This seasonal balance can shift due to sea ice conditions, inducing interannual variability in the Southern Ocean carbon sink. A decade (2010–2020) of unique, year-round marine carbonate chemistry observations from the Rothera Time Series (West Antarctic Peninsula) reveals that interannual variability in seawater fugacity of carbon dioxide depends on wintertime processes.

=====Juneteenth Means Protecting Our History and Safeguarding Our Joy=====

[https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/juneteenth-means-protecting-our-history-and-safeguarding-our-joy/ by Jazmyne Owens 18/6/25 NEW AMERICA]

  On June 19, 1865, a Union army under the leadership of General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved African Americans were free—two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, and two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, ending the Civil War. Despite the enormous economic and social impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the United States, Juneteenth only became a federal holiday in 2021. The first Juneteenth celebration, however, took place in 1866 and Black communities have been celebrating it on a yearly basis ever since.

=====Indians 101: The California treaties of 1851-1852=====

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/24/2137836/-Indians-101-The-California-treaties-of-1851-1852 by Ojibwa 24/11/22 DAILY KOS]

  In 1850, California became a U.S. state. The American system, unlike the Spanish and Mexican systems, viewed Indians not as an economic asset but as an impediment to civilization, to the ability to acquire individual wealth.  

=====Indians 101: The Franciscans in the American Southwest=====

[https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/11/928141/-Indians-101:-The-Franciscans-in-the-American-Southwest- by Ojibwa 11/12/10 DAILY KOS]

  "you must explain to the natives of the land that there is only one god in heaven, and the emperor on earth to rule and govern it, whose subjects they must all become and whom they must serve."

=====Indians 201: American Indians and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo=====

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/18/2169672/-Indians-201-American-Indians-and-the-Treaty-of-Guadalupe-Hidalgo by Ojibwa 18/5/23 DAILY KOS]

  While Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 16, 1810, it did not actually obtain its independence until September 27, 1821. In the Plan de Iguala, Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians. In other words, Mexico, unlike the United States, gave Indians full citizenship and recognized that Indians had rights to their land.

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/25/2312021/-Indians-101-American-Indians-and-Mexico-200-years-ago-1825 by Ojibwa 25/3/25 DAILY KOS]

  Mexico obtained its independence from Spain in 1821. Mexican territory as this time extended into the American Southwest (the present-day American states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California). Under the Treaty of Córdobav between Spain and Mexico all Indians were granted Mexican citizenship. In the Plan of Iguala which outlined Mexico’s political and social structure Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians.

  In 1821 Mexico obtained independence from Spain. In the Plan of Iguala, Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians.

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/29/2088493/-Indians-101-The-death-toll-in-the-California-missions by Ojibwa 29/3/22 DAILY KOS]

  Indian people did not come joyously or freely to live and work at the new missions. In his book Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places, Peter Nabokov writes:

=====Indians 201: Indian Rebellions at the California Missions=====

[https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/04/1282022/-Indians-201-Indian-Rebellions-at-the-California-Missions by Ojibwa 4/3/14 DAILY KOS]

  While it is not uncommon for some textbooks to give the impression that the California Native Americans passively accepted the missions, Spanish domination, and conversion to Christianity, this was not the case. In fact, the initial reception of the Franciscans by the California Indians was anything but hospitable. Resistance to the Spanish Franciscans was organized by village chiefs and influential shamans and this resistance was expressed through attacks on both the Spanish soldiers and the Franciscan missionaries. During the first years of the Franciscan mission program the overt hostility of the Indians slowed the rate of the establishment of the new missions and created a reliance on soldiers to protect the Franciscans.

[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/30/1964625/-Indians-101-A-very-short-overview-of-the-California-missions by Ojibwa 30/7/20 DAILY KOS]

  In 1769 Father Junípero Serra leads a group of Franciscan friars from Baja California to establish a series of 21 missions, starting with San Diego de Alcalá in the south. The group is accompanied by a column of Spanish soldiers under the leadership of Captain Gaspar de Portolá. As with other Christian missionaries throughout the world, there was little concern for aboriginal lifeways: to become Christian required abandoning aboriginal traditions and fully assimilating to European way of life.

=====Early humans survived in a range of extreme environments before global migration, study says=====

[https://apnews.com/article/ancient-humans-migration-adaptability-homo-sapiens-d7c15932203b50221d3ff321f10da44b by Christina Larson 19/6/25 AP]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Humans are the only animal that lives in virtually every possible environment, from rainforests to deserts to tundra.

=====ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses=====

[https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-ice-raids-undocumented-workers-aa451dc90dda76004fdc5636b21bde97 by Paul Wiseman 19/6/25 AP]

   Farmers, cattle ranchers and hotel and restaurant managers breathed a sigh of relief last week when President Donald Trump ordered a pause to immigration raids that were disrupting those industries and scaring foreign-born workers off the job.

=====Alzheimer’s Risk Linked to Increased Social Activity, Not Isolation=====

[https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/06/17/photo-looking-at-black-lives-matter-mural-in-downtown-santa-cruz-from-above/ by Shmuel Thaler 24/6/25 Santa Cruz Sentinel]

  https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/06/17/photo-looking-at-black-lives-matter-mural-in-downtown-santa-cruz-from-above/

=====Marijuana use dramatically increases risk of dying from heart attacks and stroke, large study finds=====

[https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/17/health/marijuana-heart-death-wellness by Sandee LaMotte 18/6/25 CNN]

  “This is one of the largest studies to date on the connection between marijuana and heart disease, and it raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk,” said pediatrician Dr. Lynn Silver, a clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco.

[https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/06/18/nx-s1-5436960/maha-rfk-toxic-chemicals-trump-hhs-epa by Will Stone 18/6/25 npr]

  "It was definitely our study," says Brander, an ecotoxicologist at Oregon State University who co-authored the research along with a team at Portland State University.

=====Study identifies where psychopaths are most likely to live=====

[https://www.newsnationnow.com/science/study-dark-personality-psychopath-map-us/amp/ by Anna Kutz 19/6/25 NewsNation]