To find alien life in our universe, scientists have considered searches for optical lasers or even giant energy-harvesting structures known as Dyson spheres. Now they’re suggesting a more mundane sort of search, a hunt for air pollution in exoplanet atmospheres. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/can-pollution-help-us-find-alien-life…
Tag: Air Pollution
We could find extraterrestrial civilizations by their air pollution
Upcoming telescopes will give us more power to search for biosignatures on all the exoplanets we’ve found. Much of the biosignature conversation is centered on biogenic chemistry, such as atmospheric gases produced by simple, single-celled creatures. But what if we want to search for technological civilizations that might be out there? Could we find them by searching for their air pollution?…
Fossil Fuels Caused 8.7 Million Deaths Globally in 2018, Research Finds
Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil was responsible for 8.7 million deaths globally in 2018, a staggering one in five of all people who died that year, new research has found. From a report: Countries with the most prodigious consumption of fossil fuels to power factories, homes and vehicles are suffering the highest…
Deaths from fossil fuel air pollution are double what we thought
There are 8.7 million premature deaths each year from fossil fuel-related air pollution according to the latest estimate – the previous estimate was 4.2 million Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267035-deaths-from-fossil-fuel-air-pollution-are-double-what-we-thought/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
2020 tied for warmest year on record
2020 was Earth’s hottest year in the 140-year record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record-holder. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/2020-tied-for-warmest-global-year-on-record…
Air pollution from chemical plants made Hurricane Harvey worse
Much of the devastating flooding caused by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas may have been triggered by aerosol pollution released from nearby petrochemical plants Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264015-air-pollution-from-chemical-plants-made-hurricane-harvey-worse/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Rosamund Kissi-Debrah: Clean air ‘Ella’s law’ would honour her memory
New Scientist spoke with Rosamund Kissi-Debrah to hear what she thought of the inquest that found air pollution had contributed to her daughter Ella’s death, and what should happen next Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2263428-rosamund-kissi-debrah-clean-air-ellas-law-would-honour-her-memory/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
The First Person In the UK To Have Air Pollution Listed As a Cause of Death
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack has become the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013. Southwark Coroner’s Court found that air pollution “made a…
Landmark ruling says air pollution contributed to death of 9-year-old
A court has ruled that dirty air contributed to the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, an asthmatic 9-year-old girl in south London, in a significant ruling marking the first time a person in the UK has had air pollution listed as a cause of death Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2263165-landmark-ruling-says-air-pollution-contributed-to-death-of-9-year-old/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Less air pollution during Covid-19 restrictions, says study
NASA researchers have found that since February, pandemic restrictions have reduced global nitrogen dioxide concentrations by nearly 20%. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/how-much-covid19-related-pollution-levels-deviated-from-norm-2020…