climate science – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-pinpoint-the-quantum-origin-of-the-greenhouse-effect-20240807/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-pinpoint-the-quantum-origin-of-the-greenhouse-effect-20240807/#respond Wed, 07 Aug 2024 14:25:32 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139592 The post Physicists Pinpoint the Quantum Origin of the Greenhouse Effect first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In 1896, the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius realized that carbon dioxide (CO2) traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere — the phenomenon now called the greenhouse effect. Since then, increasingly sophisticated modern climate models have verified Arrhenius’ central conclusion: that every time the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere doubles, Earth’s temperature will rise between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-pinpoint-the-quantum-origin-of-the-greenhouse-effect-20240807/feed/ 0 Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/#respond Tue, 28 May 2024 14:09:01 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138158 The post Simple Equation Predicts the Shapes of Carbon-Capturing Wetlands first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> A visit to a peat bog will make you rethink everything you know about the surface of our planet. A bog is land, sort of, but not in the solid-ground sense you’re used to. If you try walking across one’s surface, you may feel the soft organic muck known as peat undulate beneath you — or you may sink into it yourself. From the surface, it’s hard to know whether the waterlogged peat extends 3 feet...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/simple-equation-predicts-the-shapes-of-carbon-capturing-wetlands-20240528/feed/ 0 A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for Life https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-sun-was-dimmer-when-earth-formed-how-did-life-emerge-20220127/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-sun-was-dimmer-when-earth-formed-how-did-life-emerge-20220127/#respond Thu, 27 Jan 2022 16:16:19 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=112044 The post A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Our sun is getting brighter. If you could travel back in time to the dawn of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, you’d find a star that was about 30% dimmer than it is now. Over the subsequent eons, it has shone more and more brilliantly — a function of the nuclear fusion process that takes place in the cores of stars like our own — and it will continue to do so until the end of its life...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-sun-was-dimmer-when-earth-formed-how-did-life-emerge-20220127/feed/ 0 The Year in Biology https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-biology-20211221/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-biology-20211221/#respond Tue, 21 Dec 2021 15:56:21 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=111251 The post The Year in Biology first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Three and a half billion years of evolution have given life on Earth plenty of time to explore the margins of what’s possible, so biological science has a lot of catching up to do. Biologists have identified some fundamental principles and mechanisms that govern their field, like natural selection, the cellular nature of organisms and the central dogma of molecular biology. They have toiled to...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-biology-20211221/feed/ 0 Work on Earth’s Climate and Other Complex Systems Earns Nobel Prize in Physics https://www.quantamagazine.org/pioneering-climate-modelers-earn-nobel-prize-in-physics-20211005/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/pioneering-climate-modelers-earn-nobel-prize-in-physics-20211005/#respond Tue, 05 Oct 2021 09:52:38 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=109120 The post Work on Earth’s Climate and Other Complex Systems Earns Nobel Prize in Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Physicists have traditionally dealt with simple systems — a single atom, a gas in a box — for which the governing laws are clear and exact answers can be calculated. To describe bigger, slightly more complicated systems, they know how to simplify, stripping things down to their essence and ignoring details that don’t matter. A ball rolls the same way down a ramp whether it’s red or blue.

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