#nature

Why is it warmer in a large town or city than in a village located only a few miles outside it? The answer lies in what are known as heat islands. This thermal phenomenon, which raises the temperature in urban areas —especially at night—, can be attributed to several factors: elements that give off heat, such as HVAC systems, or the construction materials used, including asphalt. In addition, they exacerbate climate change and negatively affect health.

The company which has won the Iberdrola birdlife protection Challenge, Energiot, uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor public service networks so they do not need to be maintained. Their solution to the problem was to create an autonomous predator simulator that would scare the birds away, allowing them to avoid collisions. Find out more about them.

Groundwater is the natural water stored beneath the Earth's surface and it is essential because it supplies a third of the world's population. As with other of our planet's elements, it also finds itself under threat from contamination. In fact, a recent study undertaken at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg (Germany) warns this threat could be greater than at first thought.

According to the United Nations, there will be 9.7 billion people on Earth by 2050. It is estimated that food production will have to increase by 70 % to be able to feed everyone. The food industry is already finding ways to address the challenge and new foods, which can be anything from insects - backed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - to microalgae and even artificial meat, will gradually find their way onto our supermarket shelves.

You may not know what permafrost is, but its melting, which is advancing due to climate change and has reached a critical point, could have serious consequences for your future. This permanently frozen ground, located in circumpolar areas in Canada, Alaska, Siberia and elsewhere, has acted as a carbon sink for thousands of years and if it thaws it could release large amounts of this gas, amplifying the problem of global warming.

The planet's biodiversity is under threat and the main culprit is the one who, paradoxically, depend on it most: human being. Slowing down biodiversity loss, understood as the reduction or disappearance of the variety of living beings that inhabit the planet, is one of humanity's great challenges. Below, we review the causes, consequences and possible solutions.