Author: Seth Borenstein
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Earth breaks September heat record, may reach warmest year
WASHINGTON • Earth sweltered to a record hot September last month, with U.S. climate officials saying there’s nearly a two-to-one chance that 2020 will end up as the globe’s hottest year on record. Boosted by human-caused climate change, global temperatures averaged 60.75 degrees last month, edging out 2015 and 2016 for the hottest September in…
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3 scientists win Nobel physics prize for black hole research
STOCKHOLM • Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for establishing the all-too-weird reality of black holes — the straight-out-of-science-fiction cosmic monsters that suck up light and time and will eventually swallow us, too. Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the United States explained to the world…
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Trump administration eases showerhead rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump Administration wants to change the definition of a showerhead to let more water flow, addressing a pet peeve of the president who complains he isn’t getting wet enough. Publicly talking about the need to keep his hair “perfect,” President Donald Trump has made increasing water flow and dialing back long…
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Hurricane Alpha? Amped up season forecast, names may run out
MIAMI • Already smashing records, this year’s hyperactive Atlantic hurricane season is about to get even nastier, forecasters predict. In the coming months, they expect to run out of traditional hurricane names and see about twice as much storm activity as a normal year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday upped its seasonal…
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Climate change grabs globe’s focus with summit, strikes
WASHINGTON — Get ready to hear about global warming — or the “climate emergency ” as the United Nations is calling it. In the next week, there will be climate strikes, climate summits, climate debates, a dire climate science report, climate pledges by countries and businesses, promises of climate financial help and more between now…
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Poll: 64% disapprove of Trump’s climate change views
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump gets some of his worst marks from the American people when it comes to his handling of climate change, and majorities believe the planet is warming and support government actions that he has sometimes scoffed at. While the administration has rolled back regulations to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from power…
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U.S. heat wave just warming up for long and scorching weekend
DETROIT • The heat wave that has been roasting much of the U.S. in recent days is just getting warmed up, with temperatures expected to soar to dangerous levels through the weekend. Communities are preparing by offering buildings as cooling centers and asking residents to check in on relatives and neighbors. Officials also are concerned…
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New study says universe expanding faster and is younger
WASHINGTON • The universe is expanding faster than it used to, meaning it’s about a billion years younger than we thought, a study by a Nobel Prize winner says. And that’s sending a shudder through the world of physics, making astronomers rethink some of its most basic concepts. At issue is a number called the…
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UN report on global warming carries life-or-death warning
WASHINGTON — Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge. The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate…
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Science says: Hotter weather turbocharges U.S. West wildfires
WASHINGTON • As temperatures rise in the U.S. West, so do the flames. The years with the most acres burned by wildfires have some of the hottest temperatures, an Associated Press analysis of fire and weather data found. As human-caused climate change has warmed the world over the past 35 years, the land consumed by…