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Climate protesters shut down Frankfurt Airport, disrupt EU travel

Jul 25, 2024 |

Climate protesters disrupted flights all across Europe on Thursday after they breached security fences at Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest hub for international travel. Airport security joined police and firefighters in removing the protesters, but not before at least 140 flights were canceled, with more cancellations expected to follow.

“We sharply condemn these unauthorized demonstrations, and we reserve the right to take legal action against the participants,” Frankfurt Airport said in a statement....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Humanity will “scorch and fry”: The hottest day in human history just happened twice in a row

Jul 24, 2024 |

On Sunday, Earth experienced its hottest day ever recorded in human history, according to the European climate service Copernicus. That record was then broken the very next day, underlining the troubling trajectory global temperatures have taken in the last several years.

The European Union’s Copernicus satellite produced preliminary data showing the global average temperature was 17.15º Celsius (62.87º Fahrenheit) on Monday; it had been a mere 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.1 degree Fahrenheit) cooler on Sunday, which still broke the previous record set last year....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Scientists beg Etsy sellers to stop selling dead bats as ornaments

Jul 23, 2024 |

In the first comprehensive study ever put together on the illegal dead bat ornament trade, researchers publishing in the European Journal of Wildlife Research learned that one species in particular — the painted woolly bat (Kerivoula picta) — is disproportionately targeted.

A bright orange and fuzzy bat with a wingspan of 18-30 cm (around 7 to 12 inches) and a body length of 3-5.5 cm (1.2-2.2 in), the painted woolly bat is widely sold as jewelry, jarred curios and Halloween decorations by online retailers like Etsy, eBay and Amazon, according to the researchers from the University of California, Davis, City University of New York-Queens College and the International Union of the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Bat Trade Working Group....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Experts slam “lost opportunity” as disaster film “Twisters” fails to acknowledge climate change

Jul 22, 2024 |

Hollywood’s latest weather disaster blockbuster, “Twisters” (a standalone sequel to the 1996 film “Twister”), features plenty of extreme weather — yet it has a somewhat incongruous scorn for scientists who study the weather.

The discordant note is subtle, but at the same time hard to entirely miss. Without spoiling too much of the plot, “Twisters” depicts most of its PhDs and other professional scientists as cynical, selfish, cold and intellectually narrow....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Poliovirus detected in Gaza wastewater, posing “ticking time bomb” for public health

Jul 22, 2024 |

Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced on Friday that a deadly virus, component poliovirus type 2, was discovered by local scientists in Deir al-Balah’s wastewater. Deir al-Balah is one of the largest cities in Gaza. In the aftermath of Israel’s war against Gaza, more than 700,000 Palestinians are seeking shelter in the beleaguered region....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Are climate change deaths increasing? Here’s why experts expect humans to adapt to our heating world

Jul 22, 2024 |

Climate change poses a major existential threat to humanity, meaning billions of people could die as the planet becomes too hot and unstable to live. Case in point, the rash of record-breaking heat waves that have dominated this summer thanks to unprecedented temperatures have caused mass casualty events. This includes more than 100 people in India dying of extreme heat in the last three-and-a-half months, to more than 60 people who died in a Mexican heat dome, to nine confirmed deaths in Las Vegas during its recent heat wave, to more than 550 people who died in Saudi Arabia while performing an important Islamic religious journey known as Hajj....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Is the backlash against Biden ableist? Experts weigh in

Jul 19, 2024 |

President Joe Biden was widely criticized for a lackluster debate performance in his first face-off with former President Donald Trump last month — he flubbed his words, trailed off mid-sentence and appeared to stare off into space. In response, The Economist argued that the president should withdraw from the electoral race with a story that used an image of the presidential seal attached to a walker....

Originally posted on salon.com

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