Scientists have discovered that the highly intelligent and social chimpanzee continues learning and honing the use of tools well into adulthood. This ability could be vital for the evolution of complicated and varied tool use. In the study, the researchers said tool use is rare in animals, but they discovered that chimpanzees employed hand grips utilizing more than one finger as they got older. “Such hand grips emerged at the age of 2, became predominant and fully functional at the age of 6, and ubiquitous at the age of 15, enhancing task accuracy. Adults adjusted their hand grip based on the ..read more

Swiss company Climeworks has opened the biggest operational direct air capture (DAC) plant in the world to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Mammoth plant, located in Iceland, is nearly ten times bigger than Orca, its second-largest plant. “Starting operations of our Mammoth plant is another proof point in Climeworks’ scale-up journey to megaton capacity by 2030 and gigaton by 2050,” said Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO, in a press release from Climeworks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Climeworks (@climeworks) The DAC process sucks carbon from the ..read more

Vermont’s House of Representatives has passed S.259, a state bill aimed at collecting recovery costs for climate-related damages from the biggest emitters, such as fossil fuel companies. The bill, called the Climate Superfund Act, was introduced to create a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program, in which fossil fuel businesses would undergo an assessment to determine their share of costs for fossil fuel extraction or refinement actions that led to increased greenhouse gases and related costs in the state. As reported by NBC News, the agency would measure extreme weather linked to climate cha ..read more

The planet just had its hottest April ever recorded, extending a streak of 11 consecutive record-setting months, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). The monthly bulletin from C3S said the average global temperature was 1.61 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average — the highest for a 12-month period. It was also 0.73 degrees Celsius above the average from 1991 to 2020. “El Niño peaked at the beginning of the year and the sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific are now going back towards neutral conditions. However, whilst temperat ..read more

According to the new Global Electricity Review 2024 from thinktank Ember, renewable energy now exceeds more than 30 percent of the world’s electricity supply, following a fast rise in solar and wind power. According to Ember’s executive summary of the report, record solar and wind construction in 2023 means “a new era of falling fossil generation is imminent.” “The renewables future has arrived,” said Dave Jones, Ember’s global insights director. “Solar, in particular, is accelerating faster than anyone thought possible.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ember (@emberclimate) T ..read more

Scientists have reclassified what was the last remaining glacier in Venezuela to an ice field, following significant shrinkage. The reclassification means that Venezuela is believed to be the first Andean country, and the first country globally, to lose all of its glaciers. The Humboldt glacier, or La Corona, had been the only remaining glacier in Venezuela since 2011. By that year, five other glaciers in Venezuela had been lost, The Guardian reported. As of 1910, Venezuela was home to six glaciers, which spanned about 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles), IFL Science reported. But over ..read more

It’s no secret that humans produce and use far too much plastic. The more than 400 million tons generated each year is polluting our planet and choking our oceans. The plastic crisis is so great that 80 percent of marine debris — from microplastics to fishing gear — is made from plastics, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A new initiative, SailGP vs Plastic, aims to combat the climate crisis by raising awareness through a group of individuals who have a special relationship with the ocean — the sailing community. Launched by Parley for the Oceans and the A ..read more

Following days of heavy rains in Brazil, the country’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul is experiencing severe landslides and flooding. At least 85 people have been killed. Of the 497 cities in the area, more than two-thirds have been affected by the storms, which have destroyed roads and bridges, reported Reuters. On Monday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva requested that a state of public calamity be declared by Congress. The declaration would free up government funds free from a spending cap imposed by new rules last year. “We don’t have an estimate yet of what will be necessary ..read more

Researchers have found promising signs for a possible increase of Antarctic blue whales, based on surveys spanning from 2006 to 2021. A team of scientists analyzed data they collected from seven acoustic surveys conducted in the Antarctic region over the 15-year timespan. They used “sonobuoys” to detect marine sounds and ultimately gathered about 3,900 hours’ worth of sounds to review.  In the analysis, the researchers specifically sought out calls of Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia), which are the largest animals on the planet but are currently critically endanger ..read more

Long known to be the peaceful close relative of humans, scientists have discovered that the endangered bonobo is more complicated than previously believed. A new study has observed male bonobos acting aggressive more often than male chimpanzees within their own communities. The researchers also found that more aggressive males of both species had more mating opportunities. “Chimpanzees and bonobos use aggression in different ways for specific reasons,” said lead author of the study Maud Mouginot, a Boston University anthropologist, in a news release from Cell Press. “The idea is not to invalid ..read more