Climate & Earth

NASA’s astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday. But National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)‘s oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a…

For nearly 90% of Earth’s history, our planet’s atmosphere contained almost no oxygen, making it completely uninhabitable for humans and most modern life forms. Then, around 2.5 billion years ago, something remarkable happened: Earth’s atmosphere began to fill with oxygen in what scientists call the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). This atmospheric revolution changed our planet’s chemistry and…

In December 2024, astronomers in Chile spotted a new asteroid streaking through the sky, which they named 2024 YR4. What’s significant about this 100-meter-wide space rock is that it has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Since its discovery, the asteroid’s probability of an impact with our planet has gone all over the place. At…

CHILLING new telescope photos of the “city killer” asteroid hurtling towards earth at 30,000mph have been released. The chance of the space rock smashing into Earth when it loops around in 7 years’ time is estimated at a 1-in-48 chance – or just over two per cent. The striking new images of asteroid YR4 2024 were captured…

Holding long-term global warming to two degrees Celsius — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a stark new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal “Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development” and concludes that Earth’s climate is more…

President Donald Trump once again withdrew the United States from the Paris climate deal on Monday, removing the world’s biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade. The move places the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the 2015…

Climate change didn’t start the wildfires that are ravaging Los Angeles County this week. But the big swings in weather patterns that have accelerated over the past two decades serve as rocket fuel that intensifies the flames and spreads the devastation. Environmental experts and scientists warn that Southern Californians will have to come to grips with hard…

Expert panel formed by state govt has warned that several pockets of the town are sinking due to man-made and natural causes. Locals say report did not factor in Tapovan tunnel. Dehradun: An expert panel set up by the Uttarakhand government has found that several pockets of Chamoli district’s Joshimath town — a gateway to the Badrinath…