leicsmac

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg33r1xgymo From Somalia to mainland Europe, the past two years have seen some of the most ravaging droughts in recorded history, made worse by climate change, according to a UN-backed report. Describing drought as a "silent killer" which "creeps in, drains resources, and devastates lives in slow motion" the report said it had exacerbated issues like poverty and ecosystem collapse. The report highlighted impacts in Africa, the Mediterranean, Latin America and Southeast Asia, including an estimated 4.4 million people in Somalia facing crisis-level food insecurity at the beginning of this year. ....By January 2023, the worst drought in 70 years had hit the Horn of Africa, coming from years of failed rainy seasons in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. This followed the deaths of an estimated 43,000 people in Somalia in 2022 from drought-linked hunger. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd0v29vydx4t Much of Europe and parts of the UK have been in the grip of an intense heatwave over the last few days, with temperatures continuing to soar today. Pictures coming in from across the continent show people attempting to find some relief from the heat at public water fountains and water distribution points. Temperatures exceeded 40C in both Portugal and Spain, days after both countries experienced their hottest June days on record. France, the Netherlands, Greece, and Italy also experienced scorching temperatures which saw Paris under a red heatwave alert and two deaths recorded in the Italian cities of Bologna and Bardonecchia. Wildfires continued to rage on the western coast of Turkey as more than 50,000 people have been evacuated from impacted areas. England also had its warmest June on record, according to the Met Office, while the UK saw the second warmest June since records began in 1884. Temperatures are expected to fall significantly in the UK from Wednesday, but will remain high in parts of Europe. Good news first, the world's in great s- ...uhhh, never mind.

Yeah, it's a proper conundrum, hence the thinking carefully. A possible solution would be closer research ties with the above mentioned Commonwealth, European and Scandic nations - as a bloc that could bring enough power to mean something in terms of the world research field.

Certainly. A Commonwealth/Scandinavian/European alliance on scientific development would be quite something. But in all seriousness, the UK may at some have to make a choice between joining one group that don't share many cultural and linguistic values but are pushing science forward in a way that is necessary to not only make the world a better place but also guarantee its survival, and sticking with another that shares at least some UK historical and cultural values, but also seems bound and determined to stagnate scientifically in a way that benefits no one, except maybe themselves in the short term.

If the Chinese aren't already the world leaders in scientific research and development, they will be very shortly, and the UK might want to consider that very carefully when choosing who to partner with in the near future in terms of scientific projects.

Superb mockers mate.

India living a charmed life here, could well be three down.

Think these conditions are much better for fielding first tbh. Which England are doing.

It's so much easier (and cheaper, and nicer) to not address a small problem now and let it be someone else's problem when it becomes a big problem later. Short term thinking. But that's not a UK-specific issue, sadly.

Very straightforward first up for Jack the Ripper.

In order to guarantee the continued inhabitation of our planet, we can have have to do both. Or at least give the requisite amount of attention to both, anyway.

Actually yes, you're right. The speed of light is the same as the maximum speed of causality and perception gravitational waves have been detected moving at light speed. I was referring in part to quantum entanglement, but also to the idea that because every single object that has mass in the universe has a measurable gravitational effect on every single other object in the universe and because the universe is so big, that effect would appear to have travelled faster than light in some cases. However, I do realise that's a matter of perception itself and therefore fallacious, though.

And then you start to wonder how gravity can apparently violate relativistic laws by acting "immediately" over vast distances and it all gets rather runny.

That is an extreme probability. Hence the need for haste.

And not a day too soon, either. For a variety of reasons.

Clearly we need to get the fvck on with established colonies on the Moon with Mars to follow to solve this one.

And it serves as a dangerous distraction from other threats.

Is it really that surprising?

Speaking personally I think the answer to that is quite self-evident, but stating it plainly would likely cause smoke that is not needed, so I won't.

It's almost as if these events aren't "just weather" and are part of an overall trend that is more and more rapidly becoming normalised, isn't it? I'm glad at least 70% of pollsters here at least are on board with that and roughly another 20% are at least on board with the fact that there is a problem even if they're not necessarily cogent of the cause and solution.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k1103vljqo A second spell of temperatures well over 30C before we've even got to the end of June - how unusual is this and how much is climate change to blame? Temperatures of 34C are possible on Monday or Tuesday in south-east England. They've been triggered by an area of high pressure getting "stuck" over Europe, known as a heat dome. But climate scientists are clear that the heat will have inevitably been boosted by our warming climate. Some people might feel these temperatures are "just like summer" – and it's true they are a lot cooler than the record 40C and more the UK hit in July 2022. But it's important to be aware just how unusual mid-thirties temperatures are for the UK. In the second half of the 20th Century, one in ten years saw highs of 35C or more, BBC analysis of Met Office data shows. But this heat is becoming more common. Between 2015 and 2024, half of the years saw 35C or above. A good plain-language explanation of what's going on right now. I would hope that garden-variety ignorance is becoming less of an excuse on this matter, which leaves only the wilful and rather more damaging kind.

All the current (or former) England contingent scoring massive there.

Hopefully GB will have at least some representatives still in the second week.

18.3 degrees Celsius, apparently. Which, I should add, has been surpassed by three out of the last seven July's. Unfortunately, direct heat and cold are not the only factors that present a danger to life and society here. Added heat also brings additional direct stress through flooding when rain comes torrentially, and indirect when crop yields are much lower because of that same heat and flooding, to name but two other issues. NB. I would also posit that it's more difficult in general to defend against direct heat, rather than direct cold.

It is rather odd that quite a few talking heads (both media-prevalent and otherwise) appear to be more outraged about one than the other though. I mean, when was the last time 'almost 60000 people killed in ongoing war' made the same sensationalist headlines in certain media outlets as this rather unsavoury incident is doing today?

I think it's an accurate metaphor for the way the situation began, and the way it continues. The provenance in that way isn't relevant.