2 . The climate crisis may lead the human race to shrink in size, as mammals with smaller frames appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert has said.

Professor Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future. He compared the potential problem of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55 million years ago.

Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as Bergmann’s rule. “The reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area relative to their volume than bigger animals and can thus improve the dissipation of the extra heat,” he writes.

Brusatte said that becoming smaller was “a common way that mammals deal with climate change”. He added, “That’s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures rise pretty quickly. That does raise the question: If temperatures do rise really quickly, might humans get smaller? And I think that’s certainly reasonable.”

However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to shrink. Professor Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak. “We are not really controlled by natural selection,” he said. “If that was going to happen, you’d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. That is not happening in today’s world. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.”

4 . A new study shows that rising levels of planet-warming gasses may reduce important nutrients in food crops.

Other studies have shown that higher temperatures from climate change and weather extremes will reduce food production. But scientists are finding that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gasses threaten food quality.

Researchers studied the effects of one such gas—carbon dioxide—on rice. They grew 18 kinds of rice in fields in China and Japan in a controlled environment. They set carbon dioxide levels to what scientists are predicting for our planet by the end of the century. They found that the resulting rice crops had lower than normal levels of vitamins, minerals and protein.

Rice grown under high carbon dioxide conditions had, on average, 13 to 30 percent lower levels of four B vitamins and 10 percent less protein. The crops also had 8 percent less iron and 5 percent less zinc (锌) than rice grown under normal conditions.

The researchers said the effects of planet-warming gasses would be most severe for the poorest citizens in some of the least developed countries. These people generally eat the most rice and have the least complex diets, they noted. Scientists estimated that almost 150 million people might be at risk of having too little protein or zinc in their diet by 2050.

One scientist, Sam Myers of Harvard University of Massachusetts, US, said that findings like this are an example of the surprises climate change creates. “My concern is, there are many more surprises to come,” he said.

Myers noted that pollution, loss of some species, destruction of forests, and other human activities are likely to produce unexpected problems. He said that you cannot completely change all the natural systems that living organisms have grown to depend on over millions of years without having effects come back to affect our own health.

The new study suggests a way to lower the nutritional harm of climate change—to grow different forms of rice that have shown to be more resistant to higher carbon dioxide levels.

5 . Ice-coated vines (葡萄藤) stretched across hillsides around Chablis, France, as the region had a temperature of -5°C on Monday. Fruit growers are worried that the frost will kill off large numbers of early buds (花蕾) and disturb the whole growing season.

The frost is particularly disturbing after a similar phenomenon hit French vineyards last year, leading to some 2 billion euros in losses. Scientists later found that the damaging 2021 frost was more likely made by climate change.

Some growers tried to warm the vines with electrical lines, or set up special watering systems, or spray (喷洒) the buds with water to protect them from frost. The water creates a thin layer of ice that ensures the buds’ temperature remains around freezing point but does not drop much lower.

Daniel-Etienne Defaix, whose vineyard has been producing wine for 400 years and lived through many climate disasters, calls what’s happening now “a very, very serious frost”. He placed candles on the soil to protect about five hectares (亩) of his most valuable grapes, but had to leave the remaining 25 hectares to face the force of nature. At a cost of 10 euros per candle, and 600 candles per hectare, it was too costly to save the rest of the grapes.

The 2021 April frost led to what French government officials described as “probably the greatest agricultural disaster of the beginning of the 21st century”. The pattern was similar: an intense April 6-8 frost after a lengthy warm period in March.

The researchers concluded that the warming caused by humans had coaxed the plants so that they exposed their young leaves earlier than usual, before a burst of Arctic cold reached Europe in April.

8 . The latest data form Nature’s Calendar shows that the butterflies, newts and neat-building blackbirds have been spotted months before they would normally appear. An analysis of the conditions in 2019 found that all but one of the 50 spring events the scheme（计划）tracks were early last year, as a result of warmer winter temperatures. The Woodland Trust, which runs the Nature’s Calendar scheme, warns that many species are losing their seasonal cues（提示）as winters warm and seasons shift.

Increasingly unstable weather could tempt some animals out of hibernation（冬眠）too soon, only to be hit by sharply dropping temperatures. And some birds appeared to be breeding too late as they make the most of vital food sources that appear earlier than normal, the Trust said.

Lorienne Whittle, at the Woodland Trust, said, “ It seems that last year we almost lost winter as a season--it was much milder and our data shows wildlife is responding, potentially putting many at risk.”

And she said, “It appears that some species are able to adapt to the advancing spring better than others. Oak trees respond by producing their first leaves earlier and caterpillars seem to be keeping pace. But blue tits, great tits and pied flycatchers are struggling to react in time for their chicks to take advantage of the peak amount of caterpillars--the food source on which they depend.”

Active newts were recorded in late December in Cheshire and a blackbird was spotted building a nest at the beginning of January. Accordingly, a report for The Wildlife Trusts suggested that hedgerows（树篱）be protected from being cut during the nesting season.

9 . When I first catch sight of Greta Thunberg, it is eight in the morning, and a small crowd has already gathered. It is a Friday, her day of protest, and the 16-year-old is standing outside the parliament(议会) building, next to a sign saying “School strike for climate” in Swedish.

This is the 26th week of her protest, which has taken place every Friday since school started last August. Her goal is to bring Sweden in line with the 2016 Paris Agreement, which promises to limit global warming to below 2℃, compared with pre-industrial levels.

Over the past six months, Greta has rocketed to a level of fame and influence that pretty much nobody, including herself, expected. Her protest was quickly highlighted by the media. Then came a TED talk and an invitation to address last December’s U.N. climate talks in Poland.

While Greta may seem an unlikely climate activist, it was not entirely accidental that she became one. Like many children, Greta watched educational films about the melting Arctic and the fate of the polar bears and the marine mammals bloated (肿胀) with plastic. But unlike other children, she couldn’t let them go. “I became very affected. I began thinking about it all the time.” said Greta.

Greta began researching climate change and has been staying on the topic for six years. She has stopped eating meat and buying anything that isn’t necessary. In 2015, Greta stopped flying on airplanes, and a year later, her mother followed her example, giving up an international performing career. The family has started growing their own vegetables on his own garden outside the city. To meet me in central Stockholm, Greta and her father rode their bikes for about half an hour, although the family has an electric car that they use only when necessary.

10 . Connie Monroe clicks a button, flicks her wrist and watches as her neighborhood floods. The shorelines are first to go. Then, the baseball fields at Fleming Park. By the time seawater reaches the senior center, it has flooded streets and over a dozen brick homes. Monroe moves her head up and down, side to side, taking in the simulated (仿真的) view. This is what could happen to Turner Station, a historic African American community southeast of Baltimore, as sea levels rise.

Climate change presents many challenges to coastal communities and to those trying to prepare for its impacts, but one of the most basic is also one of the most vexing: How do you show people and convince them of a possible future?

Communicating the realness and immediacy of the climate threat is hugely important to climate researchers and those aiming to lessen its causes. But it's also the most important to communities faced with coming changes that are already unavoidable. These projects need public support and input. That's why Monroe and other residents (居民) are being directed to sit in metal chairs, put on virtual reality headsets and watch their homes flood.

Turner Station, a community which gets flooded easily, is trying to prepare. It has partnered with the Port of Baltimore, a few nonprofits and a local landscape architecture firm to adopt a range of tools and ways to communicate climate change to the public, because every person is different and every place is different.

The virtual reality program is only the most recent, and perhaps the most effective step. Virtual reality is an immersive experience that can trick the human brain into thinking it's real. But tricking people is not the goal of the sea level rise simulation being used at Turner Station, says Juiano Calil, one of the program's developers. ''The goal, '' he says, ''is to start a conversation and help folks visualize the impacts of climate change and the solutions, and also discuss the trade-offs between them. ''