The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf fringing the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, may start to melt rapidly in this century and no longer act as a barrier for  ice streams draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet. These predictions are made by climate researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in the coming issue of the British science magazine “Nature“. They refute the widespread assumption that ice shelves in the Weddell Sea would not be affected by the direct influences of global warming due to the peripheral location of the Sea.

2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, by Jorgen Randers, launched by the Club of Rome on May 7 in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), raises the possibility that humankind might not survive on the planet if it continues on its path of over-consumption and short-termism.

One of the most instantly recognizable features of glass is the way it reflects light. But a new way of creating surface textures on glass, developed by researchers at MIT, virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare — and whose surface causes water droplets to bounce right off, like tiny rubber balls.

Their very small displays sometimes make smartphones diffi cult to operate. In the future, a projector will help: if the cell phone is standing on a table, for instance, it can project a large-format display onto the table surface. The user will have the option of operating the smartphone via the projection function or from the display screen itself.

His personal turning point was the accident with the reactor in Chernobyl. Since then journalist and author Franz Alt has tirelessly campaigned for a radical rethink of our energy industry compassing the two big environmental issues: EnergyEfficiency and renewable energies. Franz Alt is a fervent advocate of a new ethical approach. A discussion.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize talking with Franz Alt. In the future, the Dalai Lama would love to “live as a simple monk in a monastery”. But the expectations and projections of millions of people in the whole world pinned on “His Holiness” are too high. Many regard him as a redeemer. This saddens him. A god cannot simply suspend himself. Even on this topic, which is a really serious one for Buddhists, he does what he loves most: laugh. Apparently, a divine virtue.