Author Archive

An El Niño is Upon Us! But What Does That Mean?

Nature World: Remember that El Niño that experts were predicting? Well, it's finally here, but the NOAA is warning that that might not mean more rain for America's thirsty southwest coast, despite traditional weather patterning. El Niño southern oscillations (ENSO) are largely characterized by north-eastward shifts of warm water across the globe, with water often harmful to tropical corals gradually shifting away from Australia's northern coast and towards the Americas, affecting even the United States' southwest...

Climate Change Caused the War in Syria?

Nature World: Wars are usually caused by struggles for land or power, but one new study is blaming climate change, at least in part, for the start of the Syrian war. A nationwide drought, the worst Syria has ever seen, ravaged the region from 2006-2010, destroying the agricultural industry and driving farmers to poverty-stricken cities. Coincidentally, in spring 2011, unrest escalated into a full-blown Syrian war that has since killed at least 200,000 people and displaced millions. "We're not saying the...

Golden Mussels Threaten the Amazon, What’s to be Done?

Nature World: The Amazon River has long been a symbol of nature's pristine balance - a powerful rush of water carving its way through dense forests full of live. However, these days that river is in danger, but not by man or machine. Instead, its biggest threat is a tiny freshwater mussel. Since hitching its way from Chinese waters in the early 1990s, the golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei) has earned a great deal of infamy as a hardy and fast-spreading invasive species. And while many invasive species will...

Plants Tricked Into Tolerating Drought

Nature World: In a new breakthrough study, scientists have successfully tricked plants into tolerating drought and given vegetation across the globe hope of survival amidst the world's ever-changing climate. Crops and other plants are constantly up against hostile environmental conditions, such as warming temperatures (2014 was the warmest year on record) and a lack of fresh water. But drought is among the top plant stressors, affecting their growth and development. What's more, with extreme weather patterns...

Radical Evolution Isn’t as Random as You’d Think

Nature World: Evolutionary biologists have always wondered that if we were to hit that "restart" button, would things still turn out as they have? A new study says that's more than likely, as many species seem to have stumbled upon the same few saving-grace traits on their own accord. That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Genetics, which details how an international team of experts set out to investigate the evolutionary history of three groups of aquatic mammals - the...

Decline of Early Mesoamericans Due Climate Change

Nature World: The drastic decline of a group of early Mesoamericans from the region around Canton was due, at least in part, to climate change, according to a new study. Cantona was one of the largest cities in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, located near present-day Mexico City, with a population of 90,000 inhabitants. And by 1150 AD, this population was completely wiped out, and researchers are just beginning to understand why. Described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers...

Global Wheat Yield May Drop as Temperatures Rise

Nature World: As if they haven't heard enough bad news already, researchers are now letting farmers know that the world's wheat yields are excepted decline in the near future, with the world standing to lose six percent of its wheat crop for every degree Celsius that the annual global temperature increases. That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, which details how expected wheal loss could total up to one fourth of the annual global wheat trade, which reached...

It’s Official: 2014 Hottest Year Ever Recorded

Nature World: Yea, so 2014's December may have been bone-chillingly cold for some parts of the world. But when measurements from every corner of the Earth from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 were finally combined and averaged, it was revealed that this past year was easily the hottest ever recorded. That's at least according to Japan's Meteorological Agency, one of the four primary record-keeping organizations that routinely measure, gather, and asses net temperature data from across the globe. This data includes both terrestrial...

Is Lake Michigan Being Poisoned by Diabetes Drugs?

Nature World: Water pollution is not exactly an underappreciated concern. For years state and federal officials have been working with experts to improve water quality, limit pollution, and test for potential consequences. However, it should go without saying that things can be overlooked. That appears to be the case concerning pollution from a common diabetic drug, which may now be poisoning fish in Lake Michigan. That's at least according to a team of researchers with the School of Freshwater Sciences at...

Drought Recovery? California Will Need 11 Trillion Gallons Water

Nature World: California has been suffering from a three-year-drought that is the worst the region has seen in more than a millennium. Now an analysis conducted by NASA has revealed that in order for the state to recover from its current predicament, it's going to have to gain 11 trillion gallons of water back somehow. That finding was part of an overall review of the drought's recent peak, which was conducted by NASA experts and presented Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco....