An Alaskan community contemplates moving in the face of rising sea levels. A look at what it's like to live through a 24 hour period of sunlight. And the truth about Louisiana's changing coastline. It's Earthy Thursday, our weekly segment on science and Earth-related news! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
We've been warned many times before and now it's finally happening: rising sea levels due to global warming are beginning to force people to consider relocating their communities. Grist takes a look at the tragic story of an Alaskan Native village which may be forced to leave their homes.
Besides affecting humans, climate change is also having an impact on ecology in the extreme northern and southern regions of the world. Arctic and antarctic animals face increasing pressure to adapt to their changing surroundings while wildlife from more temperate regions move into the newly warmed waters.
When we think of robots we typically think of large, clunky machines. But automatons needn't be particularly massive or hard-edged. Scientific American provides a glimpse at a new kind of robot that takes inspiration from something else entirely: octopi.
For most people, day and night reliably occur in sequence with one another, with the latter always following the former and vice versa. But that's not always the case. During the long summers of the Arctic or Antarctic, day can last for days, weeks, or even months at a time.
The state of Louisiana is recognizable to those who've studied U.S. geography for its particular "boot" shape. But the boot shape may in fact be quite outdated. In fact, due to rising sea levels and recent floods, Louisiana's outline almost looks unrecognizable.
Top image by Morio