Scientific news in small doses

A few milligrams of all the scientific news of the week.

GES: is it the millionaires’ fault?

If there are more and more millionaires by 2050, the planet is likely to suffer. This is the conclusion of a study recently published in the journal Elsevier. According to Swedish researchers Stefan Gössling and Andreas Humpe, the proportion of American millionaires among the world’s population will increase from 0.7% to 3.3% by 2050, which will lead to a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse (GES). According to their calculations, these GHGs will total 286 billion tonnes of CO equivalent₂or 72% of the remaining carbon budget (400 billion tonnes) which would limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.

Quiz

A microbe to absorb CO₂ ?

Scientists have discovered a microbe in a volcanic hot spring that has the ability to quickly absorb carbon dioxide. They hope that this discovery will lead to the design of a method capable of capturing CO₂ in large scale. One of the researchers behind the discovery, Braden Tierney of Harvard University, however, told the daily The Guardian that “there really is no one-size-fits-all solution to climate change and carbon sequestration. There will be circumstances where the tree will overpower microbes or fungi [pour la capture du carbone] “.

The number

500 billion

According to an international team of researchers, the value of the ecosystem services provided by the underwater kelp forests is estimated at 500 billion US per year. These underwater algal forests provide nutrients to fish and store significant amounts of nitrogen and CO₂. However, these forests are increasingly threatened, among other things by the warming of the oceans. The study was published in the journal NatureCommunications.

Floods more deadly for the poorest

Swedish researchers analyzed data from 67 countries where floods occurred between 1990 and 2018 and their conclusions are clear. The countries with the greatest income disparities had the most flood victims. In these polarized societies, the poor are indeed more vulnerable to flooding, while wealthy neighborhoods concentrate the majority of services, invested resources and appropriate infrastructure. This correlation link had already been demonstrated for isolated cases, “but this comparison between countries now allows us to affirm that it is a model”, said Sara Lindersson, doctoral student at Uppsala University and co-author of the study, at Agence France-Presse. It should be noted that the poor countries, not included in this study, still deplore the highest mortality rate during floods. The study was published in the journal Nature.

Eco-anxiety on the rise in Australia

An organization dedicated to the mental health of young people in Australia recently released a report that sheds light on the eco-anxiety experienced by young Australians. The Orygen group notably surveyed 19,000 young people aged 15 to 19 and the results indicate that 26% of them say they are very worried or extremely worried about the climate crisis. Nearly 40% also say they experience great psychological distress. Catriona Davis-McCabe, president of the Australian Association of Psychologists, reported to the Daily The Guardian that “psychologists are seeing an increase in people of all ages showing symptoms of psychological distress about the climate crisis.” Remember that Australia has experienced several extreme weather events in recent years, including intense periods of drought, floods and forest fires.