News
Japan's samurai spirit still burns in cooler conditions
2+ hour, 51+ min ago (864+ words) Japan's thousand-year-old samurai horse festival has survived wars, earthquakes and a nuclear disaster. Now it's battling a new challenge -- climate change. The Soma Nomaoi began as a way to train mounted warriors and it still looks the same a millennium…...
Typhoon batters Japan, cuts power to 60, 000 homes
1+ day, 8+ hour ago (248+ words) Typhoon Jangmi ripped across Japan on Wednesday morning, with fierce "winds and torrential rain disrupting transport and businesses, and knocking out power for tens of thousands of homes. The typhoon's "center lay off the central, main island "of Honshu, tracking…...
A warmer world creates bigger and more damaging hailstones, study says
2+ day, 12+ hour ago (793+ words) A warmer world will likely make bigger and more damaging hail, a new study said. Hail generally doesn't kill people, but it is expensive. It already costs the U. S. about $10 billion a year and around $80 billion globally, said study co-author John…...
Even moderately hot days raise risk of koala deaths: study
3+ day, 13+ hour ago (493+ words) Koalas can endure tough conditions in the Australian bush but prolonged exposure to even moderately hot weather can increase their risk of heat-related death, researchers say. The findings, based on more than 20 years of data of koala rescues, underscore the…...
Some brands say their jeans are eco-friendly. Here's how to find a pair that's actually sustainable
5+ day, 12+ hour ago (977+ words) Your favorite pair of jeans may have traveled around the world through cotton farms, dye houses, wash facilities and factories before ending up in your closet. The denim may have never been worn but it is stonewashed, sanded, chemically faded…...
Climate change threatens global plant species as habitats shrink
5+ day, 13+ hour ago (644+ words) Some of the plants that make familiar landscapes recognizable may not survive by century's end as climate change becomes an increasingly important driver of species loss, according to scientists, reshaping and often shrinking suitable habitats that "the plants need to…...
Rice feeds billions of people " but its role in fueling climate change is growing
6+ day, 12+ hour ago (870+ words) Rice feeds more than half the world. From terraced paddies in Southeast Asia to irrigated fields in China and India, it underpins daily meals for billions of people. But the same flooded soils that help rice thrive also create ideal…...
Global temperatures to reach near-record highs in next five years, report finds
1+ week, 5+ hour ago (806+ words) Average global temperatures are forecast to reach near-record levels in the next five years, with Arctic'temperatures expected to "warm faster than other regions, a report by the U. N. weather agency and the UK's Met Office said on Thursday. The annual report…...
Why is Europe the world's fastest warming continent?
1+ week, 12+ hour ago (687+ words) Europe, which is in the throes of a record-smashing heatwave this week, is the world's fastest-warming continent and stretches into an even more rapidly heating Arctic. After record high temperatures for May were broken in Britain, Ireland and France on…...
Exceptionally early heat wave shatters records and brings deaths in Europe
1+ week, 1+ day ago (572+ words) The United Kingdom smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heat wave continued to scorch parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in…...