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Melting Glacier in Italy Gets a Giant Thermal Blanket
In hopes of slowing the rate at which ice is melting in the mountains of northern
Italy, officials have begun covering one their most threatened glaciers with insulating
fabric, creating what is essentially a giant security blanket to help keep the ice from
melting in the summer heat. It may sound a bit unusual, but tests have shown that the
thermal blanket may be just the thing to save the region's glaciers from disappearing
completely, for the time being, at least.
Evolution may occur faster than once thought
Two graduate students at Harvard University claim to have shown that evolution can happen much faster than previously thought. Physics student Peter Lu and his former roommate, economist Motohiro Yogo, decided to apply an economics model to a well-known marine fossil record in order to predict how fast life can adapt to changes in the environment. The technique, vector autoregression, is used to predict the stock market based on its historical behavior.
Copenhagen climate conference opens
A deal is within our reach —- Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Second round of Bonn UN Climate Change negotiations continue
The 2013 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 16) negotiations continued this week in Bonn, Germany
United Nations Report: Deserts threatened by global warming
A new report, titled "Global Deserts Outlook," has been released on World Environment Day by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report suggests that the world's deserts face dramatic changes as a result of global climate change: high water demands, tourism and salt contamination of irrigated soils. Desert margins and mountainous areas within deserts that have been important for people, wildlife and water supplies for millennia, are under particular threat,
say UNEP.