1 . In Japan, the new year began with disaster as a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula (能登半岛) on the country’s western edge on Monday. More than 2,000 active fault lines (断层线) lie beneath Japan, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Many scientists have long considered earthquake forecasting to be impossible. But given recent improvements in artificial intelligence, some researchers have been studying whether that could change.

Last fall, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin increased such hopes for earthquake prediction with a seven-month trial in China. In all, the algorithm (演算法) successfully forecast 14 earthquakes, each within about 200 miles of its actual epicenter (震中). Meanwhile, it missed one quake and predicted eight that never happened. The trial was part of an international A.I.-design competition, one of a few such events held in recent years to advance earthquake prediction technologies.

Sergey Fomel, a geoscientist at UT Austin and a member of the research team, says in a statement. “We’re not yet close to making predictions for anywhere in the world, but what we achieved tells us that what we thought was an impossible problem is solvable in principle.”

Additionally, machine learning could help detect hidden patterns in data or collect more data to better inform earthquake forecasting, Hutchison writes for MIT Technology Review. For example, some researchers are showing how A. I. might use recordings from a specific seismic site to anticipate an earthquake’s magnitude. One team has built and trained neural networks to predict where aftershocks may occur after an initial strike. And others are using machine learning to identify and extract seismic waves—the vibrations that spread through the earth during tectonic activity (构造活动)—from other noises in the ground.

2 . In 2007, when Felix Finkbeiner was nine, he had to give a report on climate change as a fourth grade school assignment. To his nine-year-old worldview, that meant danger for his favorite animal, the polar bear. As he researched his report, Felix learned about Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman who started the United Nations tree-planting program, the Billion Tree Campaign, and whose heroic campaign to recover barren land with trees resulted in the planting of 30 million trees.

“I realized it’s not really about the polar bear, it’s about saving humans.” Felix was inspired. He told his classmates, “Let’s plant a million trees in every country of the world!”. His tree-planting project, “Plant-for-the-Planet”, began.

Sharing the idea is almost as important as planting the trees. Felix went to other schools and encouraged them to plant trees. Plant-for-the-Planet also offers training for students. The group hopes the students will not just plant trees, but will also talk to adults in government and businesses to try and get even more trees planted.

Word of Felix’s project spread rapidly. He spoke to the European Parliament and attended UN conferences. By the time he delivered his speech at the UN in New York in 2011, at the age of 13, Germany had planted its millionth tree. At this time, Plant-for-the-Planet was officially launched. The project had a website and more people were willing to join it to be full time employees. By 2014, the environmental cause had expanded into a global network of children activists working to slow the Earth’s warming by reforesting the planet.

In 2015, Plant-for-the-Planet bought 52 square miles (135 square kilometers) of land in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Most of the trees there had been cut down. The group planted millions of new trees on the land.

Plant-for-the-Planet’s slogan has been, “Stop Talking. Start Planting.” They want to plant 1,000 billion trees, which could absorb an additional 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.

3 . Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. In a recent study, researchers looked at 28 urban community gardens across California over five years and quantified biodiversity in plant and animal life, as well as ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration (碳封存), food production, pest control and human well-being.

“We wanted to determine if there were any biodiversity and impacts on ecosystem function in those unban gardens,” says Shalene Jha, the lead author of the study in Ecology Letters. “What we found is that these gardens, which are providing tremendous nutritional resources and increasing well-being for gardeners, are also supporting incredibly high levels of plant and animal biodiversity. It’s a win-win.”

Previous assumptions by scientists about the negative effect of food production on bio diversity have been almost entirely based on intensive rural agriculture enterprises that tend to grow on one or two types of crops, often at a massive scale. Urban community gardens, private gardens, and urban farms and orchards tend to grow more types of plants in smaller areas. The new study is the first to explore the effects of urban gardens across a wide range of biodiversity measures and ecological services.

“It’s estimated that by 2030, about 60% of the world’s population will live in cities,” Jha says. “And urban farms and gardens currently provide about 15%-20% of our food supply, so they are essential in addressing food inequality challenges. What we’re seeing is that urban gardens present a critical opportunity to support both biodiversity and local food production.”

The study also found that the choices that gardeners make can have a large impact on their local ecosystem. For instance, planting trees outside crop beds could increase carbon sequestration without decreasing food production from too much shade. And covering only within crop beds could help improve soil carbon services, while avoiding negative effects on pest control.

5 . Construction of Project Nexus is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. The 5-megawatt project will consist of three sites along canals in central California with widths ranging from 20 feet to 100 feet.

If the pilot project proves solar canopies(檐篷) are a cost-effective way to produce clean energy and save water, scores of similar installations could be built atop California’s canal network-one of the world’s largest water distribution systems.

“This is a really exciting project,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said last month. “It connects our efforts in California to improve water conservation and build drought resilience(抗旱能力) with the clean energy transition we're driving across California.”

Project Nexus was inspired by a 2021 study by University of California researchers that was published in the journal Nature Sustainability. Typically, 1%to 2% of the water that circulates through California's canals evaporates(蒸发), a number that is expected to increase due to the climate crisis.

Using data from satellites, climate models, and automated weather stations, the peer-reviewed study estimated that covering all of the approximately 4, 000 miles of California’s canals could extremely reduce evaporation, saving 63 billion gallons of water annually —comparable to the amount of water required to irrigate 50, 000 acres of farmland or meet the water needs of more than 2 million people.

Governor Gavin Newson has allocated additional funds to help local communities cope with water scarcity and encourage Californians to use less water. “Research and common sense tell us that in an age of intensifying drought, it's time to put a lid on evaporation,” said Jordan Harris, CEO of Solar AquaGrid, the company that is building the solar canopies.

The study found solar canals would be able to generate 13 gigawatts of clean power, equal to approximately one-sixth of the state's current installed solar capacity. This additional generation could help California achieve its goal of supplying at least 60% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2045.

6 . Around the world, rivers seem to be either flooding or shrinking (缩小). While Pakistan’s rivers have left one-third of that country flooded and millions of people without homes, a drought unseen for 500 years has left Europe’s major waterways almost dry. In the United States, the Kentucky River suffered deadly flooding this summer, while the Colorado River dropped sharply, which brought about water distribution cuts across several states.

There is little disagreement about what’s going on. Scientists have warned for years that our changing climate will cause the frequency of both rainfall and droughts to increase, making the wet wetter and the dry drier, with more extreme impacts on rivers. The question now may be how to manage those waterways affected by climate change and, specifically, what role dams (大坝) should or should not play in relieving the disasters we’ve been seeing lately and will see more of.

Advocates say water storage dams will become more significant which can stop water during flooding and allow it out in times of droughts. Dams, they say, can help relieve climate change by producing clean hydropower (水电). “Dams and hydropower are fundamental to climate relief and adaptation,” says Richard Taylor, a leading hydropower expert.

Not so. People holding opposite opinions claim that dams do more harm than good. Their arguments have long centered on the negative impact most dams have on biodiversity and river ecosystems, and increasing data show that dams actually worsen both floods and droughts. They also point out studies have shown that lakes created by dams often produce far more harmful greenhouse gases than people previously understood.

“Dams are thought to be a climate solution,” says Isabella Winkler, who co-leads International Rivers, a U.S.-based advocacy group. “They have been praised as a source of green energy but they are actually not.” Besides, scientists warn that many existing dams use operating rules based on old climate assumptions. New dams, experts agree, must be built for the worst cases.

7 . Seagrass meadows(海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. They feed and shelter sea life and are masterful at storing carbon. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks, a huge seagrass meadow in the Bahamas Banks was recently discovered, offering the world a tool to fight climate change.

Seagrass has usually been detected by Earth-orbiting satellites that identify darker patches in the blue water. In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their highly consistent associations with seagrass ecosystems. They spend 70% of their time in seagrass meadows. The team equipped eight tiger sharks with satellite tags (电子跟踪器), seven sharks with camera tags, and used a 360-degree camera on a shark for the first time ever.

The data researchers collected was astonishing. The world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers, has been discovered. This reflects a 41% increase from previous estimates of global seagrass. Seagrass can capture (捕获) huge quantities of carbon by photosynthesis (光合作用) and stores it on the seafloor. In terms of climate change, this is excellent news; seagrass is 35 times faster a removing carbon than tropical rainforests. When referred to global seagrass carbon stock estimates, the study indicates that seagrass in the Bahamas may contain 19.2% to 26.3% of all the carbon stored in seagrass meadows on Earth.

Yet seagrass meadows are rapidly disappearing, with over 92% of meadows in the UK gone, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Scientists are collecting seeds and trying to grow new seagrass meadows through restoration projects. This new discovery offers optimism and proves the importance of the ocean for healing.

The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas, which we now know is likely the most significant blue carbon sink(蓝色碳汇) on the planet. What this discovery shows us is that ocean exploration and research are essential for a healthy future. The untapped potential of the ocean is limitless. These meadows can be protected and can be replicated (复制,仿制), offering hope for climate change around the globe.

8 . The goats raised by a farmer in eastern China are being hailed by local media as a “rival (对手)” to an invasive plant species which Chinese authorities have been calling on the public to help remove for years.

Xiang Jizhong from Zhejiang said this year he has fed his herd of thousands of goats with Solidago canadensis L.,a plant informally known as Canadian Yellow Flower in China. His goats consume as much as seven tonnes of the invasive plant every day, the Zhejiang Daily reported.

The plant species is native to North America and often forms colonies of upright plants, with many small yellow flowers. It is an invasive plant in other parts of the continent and several areas worldwide, including Europe and Asia.

Xiang said he noticed the authorities’ alert about the Canadian Yellow Flower years ago, but last year contacted the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences to ask about feeding his goats the plant. “We discovered that although it is dangerous to other plants, it is a super food for animals in terms of nutrition. The content of crude protein in it is nearly equal to that of bean plants,” he said.

“Feeding goats with this plant is like people eating hong shao rou (a famous Chinese meat dish ‘braised pork’),” said Xiang.

The other advantage of using Canadian Yellow Flower to feed goats is that it reduced Xiang’s farm’s costs by 40-50 percent. He said he bought around 5 tonnes of this plant every day at one yuan per kg. Villagers earn a daily income of more than 100 yuan per person from harvesting the Canadian Yellow Flower for the farm.

Experts said there was no need to worry that the goat’s waste would spread the plant’s seeds, as they were broken down in the animal’s digestive system.

10 . I first came to Berwickshire for a job-to be the Ranger for the Berwickshire Marine Reserve.I was then Senior Ranger for St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve and I set up my own business, In Our Nature, offering wildlife journeys,walks,talks and courses in 2020. There’s so much I love about Berwickshire.Its stunning scenery. Its variety of landscapes and habitats and range of amazing wildlife, both above and below the water. Its friendly people. In places you can feel like you are a million miles from anywhere, when in reality you’re just an hour’s drive from Edinburgh.

The thing that supports everything on the Berwickshire Coast is its varied and fascinating geology(地质).The jewel in the crown is Siccar Point. With its world-famous non-conformity(均变)，it’s considered the birthplace of modern geology. The geology not only shapes the landscape, but it also impacts on the wildlife, forming varied habitats from steep sheltered valleys and towering cliffs to sheltered sandy bays.

There’s nothing I like more than being out in nature and sharing my passion with others, so starting up In Our Nature was a no brainer. In the warmer months I offer tours on land and sea to help folk enjoy the amazing wildlife and scenery of the Berwickshire Coast. In the darker months my online courses help people learn about wildlife in the hope that it will increase their enjoyment of the marine and coastal environments they spend time in.

My favourite spot on the Berwickshire Coast has got to be a place called Petticowick. The views up the coast and inland to the Mire Loch are second to none. It’s a place where you can marvel at geology which covers unimaginable periods of time. You can listen to and watch thousands of seabirds that return to the cliffs to breed each spring. Or witness all the amazing activity of the breeding seal colony on the beach below during the early winter.