Giant Redfin: Conserving South Africa’s Native Fish

Giant Redfin: Conserving South Africa’s Native Fish

Giant Redfin: Conserving South Africa’s Native Fish.Giant redfin and other freshwater species in the Cape Region face significant challenges.And the litany of challenges they face will be familiar to freshwater conservationists everywhere: invasive species, pollution, water quantity and habitat degradation.

Ukraine Is in an Environmental Crisis Too

Ukraine Is in an Environmental Crisis Too

The health effects of these kinds of wartime incidents are likely to be felt long after the physical conflict subsides, says Doug Weir, director of research and policy at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory.

Global Ship Traffic Could Imperil the Antarctic’s Biosecurity

Global Ship Traffic Could Imperil the Antarctic’s Biosecurity

“We know from other cold areas in the world, including the Arctic, that things growing on the hulls of ships absolutely do get transported from place to place, and it is one of the major sources of marine introductions around the world,” McCarthy told Ars.

Wildfires Are Digging Carbon-Spewing Holes in the Arctic

Wildfires Are Digging Carbon-Spewing Holes in the Arctic

In the past 70 years, wildfires have burned 3 percent of the landscape but are responsible for 10 percent of thermokarst formation.

Tree Rings Show Modern Cyclones Are the Rainiest in Centuries

Tree Rings Show Modern Cyclones Are the Rainiest in Centuries

A recent study addresses this question by using tree rings to reconstruct hundreds of years of seasonal cyclone precipitation levels.“Often, tree-ring reconstructions show us that the extreme climate we have recorded with instruments (weather stations) over the last 120 years was surpassed back in time,” Maxwell told Ars Technica.

In New Zealand, People (and Moths) Rediscover Dark Skies

In New Zealand, People (and Moths) Rediscover Dark Skies

The man had made his way from Texas to the Mackenzie region of New Zealand’s South Island for the landscapes, to see vivid swathes of violet lupins set against blue glacial lakes and snowy peaks rising beyond golden tussocked hills.

New biodiversity memoir on the primnoid corals of New Zealand

New biodiversity memoir on the primnoid corals of New Zealand

A group of gorgonian octocorals that provide shelter for fish and invertebrates in the deep sea is the subject of NIWA’s latest Biodiversity Memoir.The NIWA Biodiversity Memoir series describe the taxonomy of New Zealand marine life, mostly for invertebrates such as sponges, corals, marine worms, molluscs, crustaceans and sea stars.

More Lightning in the Arctic Is Bad News for the Planet

More Lightning in the Arctic Is Bad News for the Planet

“The 2020 heat wave in the Russian Arctic shows how—even at high latitudes—really warm weather conditions can develop that can lead to fires that burn intensely and can grow to be very large,” says Isla Myers-Smith, an ecologist at the University of Edinburgh who studies the region but wasn’t involved in this new work.

A New Snapshot of a Black Hole Reveals Its Mysterious Physics

A New Snapshot of a Black Hole Reveals Its Mysterious Physics

Two years ago, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) made headlines with its announcement of the first direct image of a black hole.Now the EHT collaboration is back with another groundbreaking result: a new image of the same black hole, this time showing how it looks in polarized light.

Border Disputes Threaten Climate Science in the Himalayas

Border Disputes Threaten Climate Science in the Himalayas

“Sometimes conflicts like that just make it harder for us to go and work,” says David Molden, former director general of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental institution based in Nepal that works with the eight countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region to protect its fragile ecosystem and tackle climate change.

What’s Causing the Mass Bird Die-Off in the Southwest?

What’s Causing the Mass Bird Die-Off in the Southwest?

Thousands of migrating birds have inexplicably died in the southwestern US, in what ornithologists have described as a national tragedy that is likely related to the climate crisis.

Squat lobster memoir hot off the press

Squat lobster memoir hot off the press

Written by marine biologist Kareen Schnabel, the 350-page treatise presents everything we currently know about the different kinds of squat lobster living in New Zealand’s waters.Kareen’s memoir gives detailed information about 87 species of squat lobster in the New Zealand region.

An Ohio City's Campaign Got More People to Buy Electric Cars

An Ohio City's Campaign Got More People to Buy Electric Cars

The electrification program, which Ars wrote about last year, involved several different approaches to getting more local residents to switch to BEVs. The city assembled a fleet of 12 BEVs and PHEVs for a "ride and drive" roadshow, visiting communities and places of work to give people an opportunity to try out an EV—something that just under 12,000 people did over the course of two years.

FAO - News Article: “COVID-19 could not have come at a worse time for vulnerable communities across West Africa”

FAO - News Article: “COVID-19 could not have come at a worse time for vulnerable communities across West Africa”

In response to COVID-19, FAO has been collecting information and carrying out analysis, at regional and country level, on the pandemic's likely consequences on agriculture and food security, which will feed into a global data facility.

Drought hits hard, far and wide

Drought hits hard, far and wide

And while conditions have improved in most regions, NIWA meteorologist Ben Noll says river flows and soil moisture levels remain below normal for large parts of the North Island and upper South Island while before last weekend drought still persisted in the Coromandel Peninsula.

NASA Wants to Photograph the Surface of an Exoplanet

NASA Wants to Photograph the Surface of an Exoplanet

Turyshev’s plan would take advantage of this effect by sending a telescope on a 60 billion-mile journey to the sun’s focal region to photograph a habitable, Earth-like exoplanet that is up to 100 light years away.

In Xinjiang, Tourism Erodes the Last Traces of Uyghur Culture

In Xinjiang, Tourism Erodes the Last Traces of Uyghur Culture

“I talk to some of my Chinese friends, and they’re like, ‘Oh, my parents went to Xinjiang for the first time last year,’” Wack says.

Space Photos of the Week: Perfectly Safe Celestial Coronas

Space Photos of the Week: Perfectly Safe Celestial Coronas

The word “corona” has Latin roots, meaning essentially “crown.” The solar corona is the outermost region of the Sun’s atmosphere, a hazy aura made of colder plasma that is released from the surface of the star.

Scientists Chase Snowflakes During the Warmest Winter Ever

Scientists Chase Snowflakes During the Warmest Winter Ever

“One of the main things we are investigating is why some winter storms are very snowy and some are not,” she says.“You can tell by the shape of the snowflake at which temperature and how high in the atmosphere the snow is developing,” says Sova.

Coronavirus Has a Name: The Deadly Disease Is Covid-19

Coronavirus Has a Name: The Deadly Disease Is Covid-19

Because Carson’s company is called Covid, and as of Tuesday, so is the disease caused by that new coronavirus.And per the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (in a preprint, so not peer reviewed, but likely to be cleared), the microbe itself is now called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.Not much better?

Forecast shows Auckland region to stay dry

Forecast shows Auckland region to stay dry

In Auckland city, just 5mm of rain was recorded at the Motat weather station—the lowest since 1948 and just 7% of normal.The extremely dry conditions have prompted NIWA and Fire Emergency New Zealand to issue a video today highlighting the areas at greatest risk and alerting people to the fire danger.

Cut Undersea Cable Plunges Yemen Into Days-Long Internet Outage

Cut Undersea Cable Plunges Yemen Into Days-Long Internet Outage

In fact, the entire Red Sea region has dealt with slow to nonexistent connectivity since the severing of a single submarine cable on Thursday.The Falcon cable has not yet been fixed, though, and countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, along with Yemen, are still dealing with lingering impacts of the cut.

Space Photos of the Week: Swooning for the Swan Nebula

Space Photos of the Week: Swooning for the Swan Nebula

Photograph: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Penn State/DSSThis infrared view from NASA’s Spitzer telescope reveals even more texture and activity in this busy region.Photograph: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of WisconsinIn this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, the center of the Swan Nebula appears shrouded in a cloud of hydrogen gas.

11 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your New Switch Lite

11 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your New Switch Lite

It can't be docked for playing on a TV, and it has a smaller battery than the full-size Switch (about six hours of gameplay depending on the game).

‘Tis the season for a Christmas weather forecast…

‘Tis the season for a Christmas weather forecast…

It was a different much more pleasant occasion in the South Island where Cromwell hit 32.8°C on Christmas Day, the warmest temperature recorded across all of New Zealand in December 2018.Daytime temperatures near average (generally in the upper teens.)

Space Photos of the Week: The Jupiter Chronicles

Space Photos of the Week: The Jupiter Chronicles

The powerful Hubble Space Telescope in orbit around Earth takes an astoundingly detailed look at the same planet: You can see its telltale bands, the iconic Great Red Spot, and smaller individual storms.

Students seek scientific solutions

Students seek scientific solutions

Everything from traffic safety to chickens and ballet shoes has had a scientific eye cast over it ahead of this year’s NIWA Wellington Science and Technology Fair.

Humans, More Than Drought, Are Fueling the Amazon's Flames

Humans, More Than Drought, Are Fueling the Amazon's Flames

The fiery, anti-environment populist has encouraged settlements in the Amazon region, sacked the head of the government agency that monitors deforestation from space, and just this week blamed NGOs for setting the fires to make him look bad.On Tuesday, a satellite took this image of forest fires burning across three Brazilian states.

Eyeless worm a window into our diverse ocean

Eyeless worm a window into our diverse ocean

NIC manager Sadie Mills says staff on research vessels and fisheries observers use identification guides to help them to identify common species and over the past few years have become much more proficient at what they do.

Get to Know Maxwell's Equations—You're Using Them Right Now

Get to Know Maxwell's Equations—You're Using Them Right Now

Get to Know Maxwell's Equations—You're Using Them Right Now. The behavior of magnets can be explained with Maxwell's equations, which also describe the behavior of light and everyday objects like electric motors.