A new comprehensive study of climate change has painted over 5 million pictures of humanity’s potential future, and few foretell an Earth that has not severely warmed. But with immediate action and some luck, there are pathways to a tolerable climate future, according to a research team led by Tufts University.
Abstract
The aim of the passive igloo project is to explore the possibilities of creating an ecological and self-sufficient habitat by using sound constructive measures and renewable energy resources to guarantee thermal comfort in the most severe cold climates.
The passive igloo is a self-sufficient housing module built into a polar exploration sailboat to accommodate a crew of 2 to 6 people in conditions of severe cold to live and work. In order to test the passive igloo, the boat was voluntarily trapped in the ice in North West Greenland during the winter of 2015–2016 and monitored during the 10 months of ‘stationary navigation’.
Widespread and sometimes drastic marine oxygen declines are stressing sensitive species—a trend that will continue with climate change.
According to the Bulletin, we’ve done nothing in the past year to make the situation any less precarious — humanity still faces not one, but two “existential threats” in the form of nuclear weapons and climate change.
While the clock remains set at 11:58, the potential of either threat to destroy humanity has increased over the past 12 months, according to the Bulletin’s 2019 statement. We must do something to alter our path.
“Though unchanged from 2018, this setting should be taken not as a sign of stability but as a stark warning to leaders and citizens around the world,” the scientists wrote. “The current international security situation — what we call the ‘new abnormal’ — has extended over two years now… Th e longer world leaders and citizens carelessly inhabit this new and abnormal reality, the more likely the world is to experience catastrophe of historic proportions.”
China has opened its first Mars simulation base to the public to encourage young people to get involved in space exploration.
The Mars simulation base, which opened on Friday, is located in Mangya city, in Northwest China’s Qinghai Province.
The red rock area in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai has been called the most “Martian” place on Earth, with its natural features, landscape and climate all similar to those on the red planet, said Gao Junling, the project founder.
The phenomenon of ‘microdosing’, that is, regular ingestion of very small quantities of psychedelic substances, has seen a rapid explosion of popularity in recent years. Individuals who microdose report minimal acute effects from these substances yet claim a range of long-term general health and wellbeing benefits. There have been no published empirical studies of microdosing and the current legal and bureaucratic climate makes direct empirical investigation of the effects of psychedelics difficult. In Study One we conducted a systematic, observational investigation of individuals who microdose. We tracked the experiences of 98 microdosing participants, who provided daily ratings of psychological functioning over a six week period. 63 of these additionally completed a battery of psychometric measures tapping mood, attention, wellbeing, mystical experiences, personality, creativity, and sense of agency, at baseline and at completion of the study. Analyses of daily ratings revealed a general increase in reported psychological functioning across all measures on dosing days but limited evidence of residual effects on following days. Analyses of pre and post study measures revealed reductions in reported levels of depression and stress; lower levels of distractibility; increased absorption; and increased neuroticism. To better understand these findings, in Study Two we investigated pre-existing beliefs and expectations about the effects of microdosing in a sample of 263 naïve and experienced microdosers, so as to gauge expectancy bias. All participants believed that microdosing would have large and wide-ranging benefits in contrast to the limited outcomes reported by actual microdosers. Notably, the effects believed most likely to change were unrelated to the observed pattern of reported outcomes. The current results suggest that dose controlled empirical research on the impacts of microdosing on mental health and attentional capabilities are needed.
Citation: Polito V, Stevenson RJ (2019) A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics. PLoS ONE 14: e0211023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
Editor: Danilo Arnone, King’s College London, UNITED KINGDOM
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When the housing startup Arkup revealed its plan to build a floating, hurricane-proof yacht in 2017, South Florida had just witnessed the devastating effects of Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 storm that destroyed hundreds of residences.
The company’s models were designed to weather a storm of that magnitude, but it would be another two years before they became a reality.
Understanding the global carbon cycle provides scientists with vital clues about the planet’s habitability.
It’s the reason why the Earth has a clement stable climate and a low carbon dioxide atmosphere compared to that of Venus, for instance, which is in a runaway greenhouse state with high surface temperatures and a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere.
One major difference between Earth and Venus is the existence of active plate tectonics on Earth, which make our environment unique within our solar system.
