‘Stony’ coral species are now evolving in much the same way as they did just before final extinction in an event occurring 66 million years ago (EcoWatch). This story provides a good introduction to an important study just published that was based on analyzing the well-preserved fossil remains of corals that are found going back 250 million years. “The scientists looked at the traits of corals that survived the last major extinction event. They found that the colorful, wavy corals that attract scuba divers did not last. The ones that did survive are the ones that form small colonies and seek out deep water, which are the same ones showing signs of thriving today…..It was incredibly spooky to witness how corals are now exhibiting the same traits as they did at the last major extinction event.”
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–Here is the original press release of the story, issued by a division of City University of New York, with a noteworthy addition: “The authors note that while slow recovery time (2-10 million years) of coral reefs following a mass extinction is distressing, they also call attention that primates (the order that also includes humans) are also increasingly becoming threatened with extinction. There is something very powerful about this message coming from the corals…..Corals are such a sensitive group of marine creatures, they are essentially the canary in the coal mine.”
–Newsweek magazine is one of only a few publications that has covered the story. Their online version includes a 4-minute video about past mass extinctions that is worth watching.
–The full study has open access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60605-2
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When the water level rises in the San Francisco Bay, so does groundwater under coastal property surrounding the bay (circle of blue). “As sea levels rise, so do the waters in the bay, which connects to the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate. That relationship between rising ocean levels and rising bay levels is well known. What is less obvious is that groundwater levels are rising as well, adding another variable to the region’s equation of increasing flood risk.” Damage inland is already apparent, and sure to worsen. “An earlier assessment found that the price tag for defending Bay Area shorelines against more than 6 feet of sea-level rise and a flood with a one percent chance of occurring would approach $450 billion.” (Other cities around the world can have the same problem, dictated by soil construction.)
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GM has announced a major shift toward production of electric vehicles, to be powered by a proprietary new battery technology (Axios). “Importantly, GM says lower battery costs — below $100 per kWh — combined with lower engineering complexity means the first wave of EVs will be profitable from the start…..Battery options between 50 and 200 kWh could provide a driving range of 400 miles or more with 0 to 60 mph acceleration as little as three seconds…..most EVs will be charged overnight or at work, but the cars are designed to charge at public DC fast-chargers as well.”
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Japanese researchers claim to have solved the main issue holding back development of lithium-sulfur batteries (Toyohashi University of Technology). “In particular, all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries have attracted attention because of five times higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion secondary batteries.” New methods of manufacturing mean this potential can be realized at low cost, along with long life and other advantages that should make the batteries highly competitive for use in electric vehicles. (Things are heating up fast in the battery world.)
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From Bill McKibben, the second installment of his coverage of The Climate Crisis, published by The New Yorker. There is a lot of good reading material, like this: “Above all, I think, a physical shock like COVID-19 is a reminder that the world is a physical place. That’s easy to forget when we apprehend it mostly through screens, or through the cozy, contained environments that make up most of our lives. We seem to have a great deal of control, right until the moment that we don’t have any. Things can go very, very wrong, and very, very quickly. That’s precisely what scientists have been telling us for decades now about the climate crisis, and it’s what people have learned, from Australia to California, Puerto Rico, and everywhere that flood and fire has broken out. That planets get sick slightly slower than populations do—over a few decades, not a few weeks—doesn’t change the basic calculation. Biology doesn’t really care what we think of it, any more than physics or chemistry does. Reality is capable of biting, and biting hard.”
Carl