Category: Feature Stories

Will it be in Tokyo, Delhi, or Cairo? Will it be somewhere among the evergreen forests of Central Africa, or will it be in a U.S. state in the Midwest? Or even in Austria? Today, in any case, the birth of the eighth billionth earth citizen is expected: 8,000,000,000 people – thousand times as many as in Austria, will thus live on our fragile globe, according to the calculations of the United Nations. Fear of overpopulationIt is an unbelievable population development that has taken place in the last 200 years:…

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According to a recent study, the Arctic is now similarly littered with plastic as densely populated regions. High concentrations of microplastics are found in the water, in rivers, on the seafloor, on uninhabited beaches, and even in ice and snow, report researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven. This has consequences for the living creatures there, but possibly also for the climate. The Arctic is perceived as a largely untouched wilderness – but that no longer corresponds to reality, says AWI biologist Melanie Bergmann, co-author of the analysis…

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For the first time in three years, the Netherlands has celebrated the traditional arrival of St. Nicholas, which was previously canceled due to the Corona epidemic. According to broadcaster NOS, thousands of people turned out Saturday in Hellevoetsluis, near Rotterdam, for the welcoming ceremony for Sinterklaas, as the saint with the rakish white beard and red bishop’s coat is known in the Netherlands.From there, the arrival of St. Nicholas was televised this year and staged in numerous other cities. According to legend, Sinterklaas travels by steamship every November from Spain…

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It is true that mosquitoes like certain people better than others. Researchers have repeatedly proven this in controlled experiments, says Swedish mosquito researcher Marcus Stensmyr from Lund University in an interview with #Faktenfuchs. But which people does it hit particularly often? Not all mosquitoes bite peopleFirst of all, it’s essential to know that only a handful of mosquito species bite humans. And even among the human-biting varieties, only the females bite. This is because they need human blood – or, more precisely, specific proteins in it – to produce eggs.…

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Global warming is causing weather extremes to become more frequent. Moreover, the 1.5-degree target needed to avoid reaching dangerous tipping points is barely within reach. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has given a preliminary overview of the state of the global climate in a report at the start of the UN World Climate Conference COP27 in Egypt. Global warming causes temperatures to rise to record levels.According to the assessment, the past eight years are shaping up to be the warmest on record. The global average temperature was recently estimated to…

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Have you ever been able to observe the following phenomenon? The alarm clock is set in the morning – after all, you can’t miss the plane or the important meeting the next day under any circumstances. But even before the alarm sounds, your eyes are open. How can this be? There is a scientific reason for this phenomenon. It has something to do with our sleep-wake rhythm. Since the beginning of time, this has helped humans to survive. During darkness, when our eyesight diminishes, and the environment becomes more dangerous,…

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In the fight against growing hunger in the world, development organizations have immediately called for more significant financial pledges from the group of leading economic powers (G20). “We urgently need more emergency aid to curb the worst effects of hunger and malnutrition,” said Fiona Uellendahl, an expert with the children’s charity World Vision, ahead of the G20 summit early next week in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian island of Bali. More than 800 million people already have problems getting enough to eat. Almost 26 million children under the age of…

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According to the latest weather forecasts, December is expected to be unusually cold this year. While energy costs continue to rise and many are already wondering how best to survive the winter months, the latest forecasts are causing further concern among the public. Although the winter weather forecast is still uncertain, most weather experts agree that the likelihood of an extreme cold snap next December is very high. It could get nastyAlthough the autumn months are above average this year and more reminiscent of late summer, this could end as…

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The climate crisis poses increasing health risks for people in Europe and already hard-hit other regions of the world. Without further action on climate change, more Europeans are expected to fall ill or die due to heatwaves or infectious diseases, for example, the EU’s Environment Agency (EEA) warned in a new report on Wednesday. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders called for climate change to also be perceived as a “real health crisis.” For its report, the Copenhagen-based EEA examined the extent to which climate change threatens European health and…

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