Aisling Irwin

How flood protection can paradoxically put people at risk

by

Governments who build defences against rising seas can actually increase their citizens’ risk of being flooded – if they fail to take account of the ‘safe development paradox’, according to a flood defence expert. Professor Jeroen Aerts, a hydrologist at the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije University in The Netherlands, says that when a … Read more

Why climate change could make Mediterranean atmospheric ‘meteotsunamis’ more common

by

Rogue waves that strike without warning across the Mediterranean and elsewhere may become more frequent as the climate changes, early-stage research suggests. A meteotsunami is a form of tsunami generated by atmospheric conditions, and it can strike any coastline adjacent to a sea floor with a long, shallow shelf. They are not as massive, nor … Read more

‘Impossible to adapt’: Surprisingly fast ice-melts in past raise fears about sea level rise

by

Studies of ancient beaches and fossilised coral reefs suggest sea levels have the potential to rise far more quickly than models currently predict, according to geologists who have been studying past periods of warming. At one point in a comparable period they were rising at three metres per century, or 30mm a year, according to … Read more

Building from old buildings: demolition waste is being turned into new concrete

by

Concrete can perform just as well if three-quarters of its content has been recycled, a team has found. Concrete is made from granular materials such as sand and crushed stone – known as aggregates – bound together by a cement paste. Cement has a high carbon footprint due to the chemistry of its production and … Read more

In the Antarctic, a scientist recruits albatrosses to pinpoint illegal fishing boats

by

Albatross expert Dr Henri Weimerskirch, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), turned his favourite seabirds into spies two years ago by fixing them up with loggers that could detect the radar of illegal fishing vessels. The information from this project, known as OCEAN SENTINEL, has helped governments select which parts of the ocean … Read more

They can capture more carbon than they emit. So why aren’t wooden buildings mainstream?

by

Four storeys high and made almost entirely of wood, the ZEB Lab building in Trondheim, Norway, had, even before it existed, sucked as much carbon from the atmosphere as it would probably produce in construction. Now, thanks to its arboreal origins, as well as to the sleek expanse of solar panels on its roof and … Read more