UK carbon emissions at lowest level since 1890

Fresh analysis has highlighted the dramatic fall in carbon emissions within the UK, reaching a new low unseen in normal times for 128 years.

The UK’s carbon emissions are now the same as
when Vincent Van Gogh died, or Oscar Wilde’s The
Picture of Dorian Gray was first published.

The findings are based on figures from the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and analysed by the Carbon Brief website.

The data shows that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels declined by 2.6 percent in 2017, following a 5.8 percent drop in the previous year.

Read the ClimateAction story - “UK carbon emissions at lowest level since 1890.”

In terrible times, there’s an advantage to being female

Women outlive men in normal times, as well as during the worst of circumstances, three centuries of historical records show.

There is an advantage
 in being female.

Most of the life expectancy gap was due to a female survival advantage in infancy rather than adulthood, the researchers found. In times of adversity, such as famines and epidemics, newborn girls are more likely to survive.

The fact that women have an edge in infancy when behavioural differences between the sexes are minimal, supports the idea that the explanation is at least partly biological, the researchers say.

Read the Futurity story by Robin Smith-Duke - “In terrible times, there’s an advantage to being female.”