Half Neck Ten percent: Every nation on earth should reserve this much land for nature conservation. What sounds like little is overwhelmed by many states - it means setting priorities when selecting the area. But which ones? You have to look for wild nature in Germany with a magnifying glass:
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2006 fifth warmest year on record The year 2006, with its pronounced hot spells in Europe, parts of Asia and North America, made it among the five warmest years since 1890 and thus since climate records began in the USA. This is what Nasa reports with reference to land and sea temperature data from weather stations worldwide and satellite measurements from space.
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No time The German he althcare system does not have a good reputation at the moment: accusations are that it is too expensive, too ineffective, too bad. But what is he missing? In an international comparison, those who know their system firsthand - patients and doctors.
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High feeding pressure in devil gardens Heavy grazing prevents a uniform vegetation known as the Devil's Garden from spreading uncontrollably across the Amazon region - although the ant species Myrmelachista schumanni tries to protect the pure stocks of the blushing family Duroia hirsuta.
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Javanese mud volcano to be plugged Possibly this week, Indonesian engineers and geophysicists want to try to seal the Javanese mud volcano "Lusi". The chimney is to be closed by means of chains of 4 reinforced concrete balls, thus preventing the continued release of hot sludge.
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Climate change intensifies coastal upwelling Global warming is increasing the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich deep water in the eastern fringes of the great oceans. Helen McGregor from the University of Bremen and her colleagues were able to prove this using two drill cores from the upwelling area off the Moroccan coast.
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Unprecedented global warming underway By the end of the century, the earth is threatened with unprecedented global warming of up to 6.4 degrees Celsius in the most extreme case. The UN Climate Council IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warns of this in its fourth report published in Paris on Friday [
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We're picking up speed The new final report of the UNO climate panel will present alarming figures and forecasts on the global warming on Friday. The latest data, meanwhile, confirm - and even exceed - the trends predicted five years ago. There will probably only be a softened version when the 500 participating climatologists, biologists, geoscientists and oceanologists from all over the world have put their findings into words together with government representativ
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Crumbling Bastion "Oh, I'm so longing/I'm losing my mind/I want to go back to the North Sea/I want to go back to Westerland", so the German punk rock band "Die Ärzte" once sang with a wink in their successful homage the island of Sylt.
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New Perspectives The earth is round - much to the chagrin of cartographers. Because if you try to depict our planet on two-dimensional maps, you always have to make compromises in terms of the accuracy of the depiction of reality. If thematic content is then also to be presented in an impressive manner, a small borrowing from fluid physics can help.
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More precise climate model created for Germany A newly calculated computer projection on the effects of climate change confirms previous results, but it shows regional differences within Germany more clearly. Accordingly, northern Germany and the foothills of the Alps will warm up more than the rest of the country, which will have to reckon with warming of 1.
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Hidden Heat Shield Sweet grasses are true survivors: they settle in all climate zones, even dry steppes or savannahs are not safe from them. And if it becomes too inhospitable, look for suitable subtenants. Over the millennia, plants have managed to penetrate almost every area of our planet.
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Javanese Mud Volcano Remains Active The "Lusi" mud volcano, which was newly formed on Java in 2006, will probably remain active for at least a few months, but more likely for several years, and is likely to pump between 7,000 and 150,000 cubic meters of hot mud per day in the future.
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Again earthquakes in Basel In the night from Monday to Tuesday, the earth shook again slightly in the Basel region. The Swiss Seismological Service registered a tremor with a magnitude of 3.2 on the Richter scale at 1.09 CET, the State Office for Geology, Natural Resources and Mining of the Freiburg Regional Council reported a magnitude of 3.
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Lessons from the past The monsoon is Asia's curse and blessing, bringing long-awaited rain and sometimes deadly masses of water in equal measure. But if it does not come at all, drought, hunger and fire threaten. A look into the past therefore helps to better predict one's future.
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El Niño and global weather vagaries Spring in January in Germany, no snow in the United States, heavy rainfall in Malaysia and northern Peru, extreme drought with forest fires in Australia, unusual floods in the Horn of Africa - these are the weather reports of the last few days and weeks.
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Sulphur isotopes prove past volcanic eruptions Climatologists may now be one step further in dating volcanic eruptions of the past and estimating their extent and consequences for the Earth's climate: conclusions can be drawn about correspondingly large eruptions and their atmospheric how climatic consequences.
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On the edge Empires come and go - in Europe, in America or in distant China. Traditional dynasties were usually shaken by wars or internal unrest, making room for the new. But the monsoon also had a say. China, in the year 907: The country is in chaos.
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Climate change robs fish of oxygen The rise in temperature as a result of climate change reduces the oxygen content of the seas and thus also puts the fish in distress: If their need for oxygen is not met, they grow less and have a shorter life expectancy.
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Huge ice break-off in Arctic Off Ellesmere Island in Canada, what is probably the largest ice floe in the Arctic in the last 25 years broke off and may endanger shipping and oil production in the Beaufort Sea in the summer. The ripped body of ice is about 66 square kilometers in size - roughly the size of Manhattan - and apparently broke away from the ice shelf on the north coast of the Arctic island, which is around 800 kilometers from the North Pole, in the summer of 20
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Tides affect glacial flows The flow rate of one of the world's largest ice flows - West Antarctic Rutford Glacier - is determined to a significant degree by differences in the tidal range of the Weddell Sea, into which it flows. It fluctuates by around twenty percent in a two-week cycle, and the differences are still noticeable 40 kilometers inland.
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Sea Level Rising Faster Sea levels could rise faster than previously expected in the coming decades. This is the conclusion of a new study by the German ocean expert Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
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Protect the heritage Statues, reliefs, antique works of art - the cultural heritage of many peoples arouses the desires of we althy collectors who are not satisfied with admiring the unique pieces in exhibitions or on site. Cambodia is now defending itself against the illegal sell-off with targeted public relations work.
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Hotspots unsuitable as a protection concept? The idea of limiting global nature conservation to biodiversity hotspots in view of meager financial resources is not sufficient in the long term to meet the needs of species and habitats that are worthy of protection.
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Unknown Native American Before man first set foot on New Zealand soil, the islands were considered a mammal-free kingdom of birds. Only bats were allowed on land - and supposedly since the beginning of time. But this natural history must now be rewritten.
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Existence of mantle plumes confirmed? Geoscientists working with Bernard Bourdon at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have found evidence that confirms the existence of so-called mantle plumes. In doing so, they consolidate the common hotspot theory, which has been the subject of frequent criticism lately.
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Mass deaths of great apes from Ebola The Ebola virus killed thousands of western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and probably chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Central Africa. This is the report of an international research team led by primatologist Magdalena Bermejo from the University of Barcelona and ECOFAC ( Eco systèmes F orestiers d' A frique Centrale) in Libreville, Gabon.
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Mild early winter weather Christmas is coming and there's no snow in sight. Instead it remains too mild for the time of year: Harbinger of climate change or normal early winter weather? "At the beginning of the week there will be further rainfall and sometimes strong winds due to the persistent low pressure.
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The Global Piggy Bank The world is rich, incredibly rich. In view of an immensely large private we alth, we should all be swimming in money. But an even distribution is and remains a dream. Who has how much in their piggy bank? The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations in Helsinki provides the answer in a comprehensive study on the global distribution of private we alth in 2000.
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Indian Monsoon: Extreme weather events on the increase Over the last few decades, the number and intensity of extreme precipitation events during the monsoon over central India has increased significantly. On the other hand, there is also a significant decrease in moderate rainfall.
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Little Ice Age due to weak Gulf Stream? An important reason for the occurrence of the so-called Little Ice Age in Europe between 1200 and 1850 has probably been clarified: During these 650 years, the Gulf Stream could have been a tenth weaker than it is at present.
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Etna triggered tsunami A landslide on the Sicilian volcano Etna probably triggered a large tsunami in the Mediterranean around 8000 years ago. This was provided by computer simulations by geologists led by Maria Pareschi from the Italian National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology in Pisa.
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Cause of the Mount St. Helens earthquake revealed The reason for the thousands of small tremors that have shaken Mount St. Helens since its renewed phase of activity in autumn 2004 has probably been deciphered: they form in the volcano's crater around a huge stone dome, which is caused by increased magmatic activity is pressed up.
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Progress is a snail The knowledge is there and so are the declarations of intent from the global community. But behind the noble words against global warming there are rather few actions. The new World Assembly of Climate Protection was no exception.
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Ozone mini holes from volcanic eruptions Even small volcanic eruptions can cause spatially restricted ozone holes in the stratosphere. In contrast to the Antarctic thinning of the earth's own UV filter, however, these holes close again completely in a relatively short time.
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All organic? Gone is the time when shopping in he alth food stores was only for organic people: products with the corresponding seal have long been found in all supermarkets. And in view of rotten meat, genetically modified maize and the like, more and more buyers are tending to reach for organic products.
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Ocean currents linking North and South in the Ice Age Although climate time series of Greenland and Antarctic ice cores look very different, the climates of the Arctic and Antarctic are directly linked. This was discovered by researchers led by Hubertus Fischer from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven using an ice core from Antarctica.
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Exciting Earthquakes often only last a few seconds, but release the energy of many atomic bombs - making them one of the deadliest dangers for humans. South Asia may be threatened with another such catastrophe soon. On October 8, 2005 at 8.
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Germany 2050: minus 10 million According to new figures from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of inhabitants in the Federal Republic of Germany will fall from the current 82.4 million to just 69 to 74 million people in the next few decades - as long as the current demographic conditions do not change.
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Indonesia: Wildfires Kill Rare Orangutans Around a thousand orangutans may have died in the wildfires that raged in Sumatra and Borneo during this year's dry season. As the habitat of the primates continues to shrink, the situation for the great apes, which are threatened with extinction, has worsened.
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