Rain in the Arctic from 2060
In the Arctic, the effects of a warming climate are already being felt and could accelerate even more as early as 2060, when the majority of snowfall turns to rain. This is the finding of a team of scientists who published their results in the journal Nature Communications. According to the authors, snow will give way to rain a decade or two earlier than expected. Remember that the Arctic is warming much faster than the planet average, which is leading to a retreat of the sea ice and an increase in humidity in the air. This decrease in snow and ice cover will have the perverse effect of reducing the ability of this part of the world to reflect solar energy, thereby worsening global warming.
Quiz
What will Earth look like in 200 million years?
Animation provided by NASA Center for Climate Simulation
This is the question asked by Michael Way and Sophia Davis, researchers respectively at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and at the University of Lisbon. What could our planet look like as a result of climate change? Using simulations obtained with powerful computers, they notably put forward the hypothesis that the current continents could come together to form a single one. Their work has been published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
Divorces on the rise among albatrosses
PHOTO KIAH WALKER, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The albatrosses would be less faithful than before …
Albatrosses are usually very loyal birds. Once they find a mate, it is usually for life. But things are starting to change for this seabird typically found in the Southern Hemisphere. Breakdowns are more and more frequent and the fault lies … with climate change. Researchers at the University of Lisbon have found an increase in “divorces” in years when the ocean warms more. One of the hypotheses put forward is that a warmer climate makes it more difficult to find food, which would lead to a decline in fertility within a couple. In 2017, for example, the albatross divorce rate in the Falkland Islands fell from 3.7% to 7.7%. The study was published in the journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
The number
1.65
PHOTO FROM THE CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY WEBSITE
The golden-headed platyrhynch has seen his size decrease.
In the Amazon rainforest, the average temperature during the dry season has increased by 1.65 ℃ since 1966. During the rainy season, it has increased by 1 ℃. This would explain why tropical birds have shrunk in size during the same period, say scientists at the California Ecology Research Center. Some species would have lost 2% of their mass per decade. One of the explanations of the study published in Science Advances would be that birds find fewer insects to feed on. However, researchers have failed to explain the fact that the scale (wingspan) of some species has also increased.
Mice that walk again
PHOTO LEON KUEGELER, REUTERS ARCHIVES
A paralyzed mouse was able to resume walking.
A promising breakthrough in mice is raising much hope among scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago. The researchers managed to inject a special gel into the spinal cord of paralyzed mice, which were able to resume walking four weeks later. The gel made of different proteins allows in particular to stimulate regeneration of the nerves. However, we will have to wait to see if this discovery could also apply to humans. The study was published in the journal Science.