Making the heat trend in Australia’s capital cities for 2018 and future projections

The Is it hot right now? website provides a daily view on daily average temperatures for Australian capital cities, comparing the average temperature to its history for that day, to see where it sits in the distribution of temperatures typical for the time of year. 

The site was developed by climate researchers Mathew Lipson, Steefan Contractor and James Goldie. The data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology's ACORN-SAT.

Mat Lipson provided the Yearly average temperature charts and the 2018 heat maps for each city. The trend in rising temperatures is clearly visible in each. I have added details for each city of future projections done by CSIRO in 2015.

Read the story from Climate Citizen - “Making the heat trend in Australia’s capital cities for 2018 and future projections.”

Climate Change Heightens Risk of Mosquito-Borne Disease Outbreaks

Rising global average temperatures due mainly to greenhouse gas emissions will contribute to increases in the distribution areas of four mosquito-borne viruses: Oropouche (OROV), Mayaro (MAYV), Rocio (ROCV), and St Louis encephalitis (SLEV).

Scientists use mathematical models to predict distribution
 areas by 2100 of four arboviruses: Oropouche, Mayaro, Rocio,
 and St Louis encephalitis. 

This finding is from a study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The research was conducted at Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil, during Camila Lorenz’s PhD with support from FAPESP and supervision by Lincoln Suesdek, a professor in the Parasitology Department at the University of São Paulo’s Biomedical Science Institute (ICB–USP). Flávia Virginio, Thiago Salomão, Breno Aguiar and Francisco Chiaravalloti-Neto, researchers in the same university’s Public Health Department (FSP-USP), also took part.

Read the Science and Technology Research News story - "Climate Change Heightens Risk of Mosquito-Borne Disease Outbreaks.”

In a world swamped by plastic waste there's a tonne for every single one of us

More than 9 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since 1950, and almost all of it is still around.

Bad diet: This seabird was a victim of plastic pollution. 

A new study that tracked the global manufacture and distribution of plastics since they became widespread after World War II found that only two billion tonnes of that plastic is still in use.

A small amount is eliminated in incinerators, leaving seven billion tonnes  stuck on Earth as garbage in landfills, recycled rubbish or pollution in the environment, including the deep oceans, where it's been discovered in the mouths of whales and the bellies of dead seabirds that mistook it for food.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age by Darryl Fears - “In a world swamped by plastic waste there's a tonne for every single one of us.”