by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Environment
Declining pollinator populations could threaten global food production, especially if current crop yields are limited by insufficient pollinator visitation to flowers, in a phenomenon referred to as ‘pollinator limitation’. Here, we assess the global prevalence of...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Economy
In 2023, the U.S. set an annual oil (crude oil + condensate) production rate record of 12.927 million barrels/day (mb/d) according to the U.S. Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration (U.S. DOE/EIA or EIA). I’ve heard numerous media commentators...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Worldviews
Now that Mr. Kurzweil is 76 years old and is moving a lot slower than he used to, his predictions carry an added edge. He has long said he plans to experience the Singularity, merge with A.I. and, in this way, live indefinitely. But if the Singularity arrives in 2045,...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Polycrisis
On June 25, crowning a dramatic, nationwide tax revolt, demonstrators in Nairobi stormed Kenya’s parliament buildings. President William Ruto’s new finance bill, introduced in Parliament in May, sought to increase levies on everything from bread and money transfers to...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Environment
On a June day in 2023, New Yorkers woke up to an eerie scene: the sky had turned a murky orange, the sun a dim red orb in the haze. The culprit? Smoke from wildfires hundreds of miles away, in Canada. This surreal tableau, once a rarity, has become increasingly common...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Environment
From 2022, Jon Wertheim’s report on “preppers” who are gearing up for extreme catastrophes. From 2008, Scott Pelley’s visit to the “doomsday vault” inside a mountain near the North Pole, built to warehouse backup copies of all the...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Environment
For 15 years, spiritual Mapuche leader Millaray Huichalaf, representing more than 150 Indigenous communities, has defended their sacred Pilmaiken River against Norwegian state-owned company Statkfraft’s hydroelectric ambitions. Huichalaf finally succeeded in halting...
by Omega | Jul 8, 2024 | Resilience
The decisions we make now will impact the future, and that future will hold new challenges and unexpected opportunities. Strategic foresight allows us to engage with uncertainty, explore possibilities, and turn our insights into action today. Ben Holt, Global Lead for...
by Omega | Jul 6, 2024 | Environment
The new study looked at the total power emitted by clusters of fire events, defined as fires burning at the same time in proximity, or in the same spot, at multiple times in a single day. The researchers analyzed 21 years of data collected by two NASA satellites...
by Omega | Jul 6, 2024 | Environment
Scientists like me use a “wet bulb thermometer” to get a better sense of this risk. A wet bulb thermometer allows water to evaporate by blowing ambient air over a damp cloth. If the wet bulb temperature is over 95 F (35 C), and even at lower levels, the human body...
