year

Anthropocene: Geologists will choose birthplace of a new epoch this year

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Whether we are in a new geological epoch is still up for debate, but geologists have almost decided where on Earth should be the official birthplace of the Anthropocene Earth 25 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Crawford Lake in Ontario, one of the candidate sites to mark the dawn of the Anthropocene wildnerdpix / Alamy … Read more

Lots of People Die Every Year During or After Having Sex. A Pathologist Explains Why

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Sex has many beneficial physical and psychological effects, including reducing high blood pressure, improving the immune system and aiding better sleep. The physical act of sex and orgasm releases the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which is important in building trust and bonding between people.   But there’s a dark side: people sometimes die … Read more

Brain development: Giving low-income US families $4000 a year boosts child brain activity

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Poverty has been linked with changes in child brain development, and a scheme to give $333 a month to low-income families improved brain activity in a child’s first year Health 24 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Improvements in brain activity related to increased family income can be seen in children as young as 1 … Read more

Physicists Just Smashed a Record by Keeping a Bubble Intact For Over a Year

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When you think of the word “ephemeral”, many people will immediately conjure up the image of a soap bubble: delicate, gorgeous, and gone in a blink (or maybe a few). Now a team of physicists led by Aymeric Roux of the University of Lille in France has defied this cliché, creating a bubble that maintained … Read more

China’s population may start to shrink this year, new birth data suggest | Science

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After many decades of growth, China’s population could begin to shrink this year, suggest data released yesterday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The numbers show that in 2021, China’s birth rate fell for the fifth year in a row, to a record low of 7.52 per 1000 people. Based on that number, demographers estimate … Read more

Ozone pollution: Gas causes $63 billion damage per year to East Asian crops

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Rising levels of ground-level ozone in China and nearby countries are having a big effect on the yields of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize Environment 17 January 2022 By Michael Le Page Emissions from vehicles in places like Beijing, China, are contributing to a rise in ozone pollution in East Asia AerialPerspective … Read more

Last 9 Years Are Now Among 10 Hottest Ever Recorded

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The nine years spanning 2013-2021 all rank among the 10 hottest on record, according to an annual report a US agency released Thursday, the latest data underscoring the global climate crisis.   For 2021, the average temperature across global surfaces was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.84 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, making the year the … Read more

Oceans Break Heat Record for Third Year in a Row

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The world’s oceans reached their hottest levels on record in 2021. It’s the third year in a row it’s happened, and it’s driven almost entirely by human-caused climate change, scientists announced yesterday. The findings are presented in a paper published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. As excess heat accumulates in the atmosphere, caused by continued greenhouse … Read more

Ocean Temperatures Just Smashed a New Record For The Sixth Year in a Row

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Ocean temperatures the world over are building at a relentless rate as humans continue to alter the atmosphere around them. In 2021, according to a new summary of two international datasets, the wave of warmth in our oceans hit a new peak, eclipsing the influence of cooler regional episodes.   While last year’s ocean warming … Read more