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We’ve all grown up on Earth, but how much do we know about our home planet? Here are 10 awesome facts about the third rock from the sun.
Via Business Insider
The amount of people in the whole world is pretty wildly unfathomable. For that matter, even a subset like just the 300,000,000 or so that live in the United States can be hard to wrap your head around. This interactive map by Brandon M-Anderson helps by showing one dot for each of them. It’s pretty wild.
Via Gizmodo
From deadly floods to failed crops and water shortages, developing countries are already feeling the harrowing effects of a warming climate. And with another report out this week confirming climate change remains the biggest threat to food security, it is only a matter of time before western consumers face consequences.
Full story at The Huffington Post
Since the 1970s, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an area of the ocean clotted with plastic microparticles — has grown 100-fold. And this is very bad news, not only because of the creatures it harms but because of the ones it helps.
Full story at Grist
The only royal palace used by a monarch in the U.S. is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. And more…
Over the last 100 years, global temperatures have warmed by about 1.33 degrees Fahrenheit (0.74 degrees Celsius) on average. The change may seem minor, but it’s happening very quickly — more than half of it since 1979, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Via Live Science
Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater. The team have produced the most detailed map yet of the scale and potential of this hidden resource.
Via BBC
The moon may be 1.3 light-seconds away, but why on earth do we measure distances using time? Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics — all in a minute!
Via You Tube
Want an up close view of the Eiffel Tower but can’t make it to Paris anytime soon? Google Maps is optimal for virtual sightseeing. But not every landmark is visible on the site — some images are blurred and distorted by countries for security reasons.
Respiratory health experts say global climate change will result in more asthma, allergies, and infectious and cardiovascular diseases. The researchers site direct effects of climate change on respiratory health, such as increases in pollen, but also indirect effects, like infectious diseases carried by displaced populations after extreme weather events like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Japan.
Full story at Futurity
