Methane emissions from oil and gas, agriculture and other sources are contributing to thousands more deaths per year from air pollution than previously thought, while simultaneously leading to a rapid increase in global average temperatures, according to a comprehensive new U.N. report.
Why it matters: The report, which is the most thorough study of methane's contribution to global warming, public health ailments, and solutions to date.
Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are pushing to launch their first paying customers to the edge of space.
Why it matters: If the two companies succeed, it will open up a new market in the space industry, one focused on consumer-driven demand for expensive trips to suborbital space.
India has seen demand for oxygen jump "seven-fold" as the country set a new world record for daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, per AP.
By the numbers: India's health ministry reported 412,262 new infections, taking the official tally past 21 million, and 3,980 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The official death toll now stands at 230,168. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher.
Argentina's government has this week launched a "Green Mondays" campaign that calls on citizens to replace meals containing meat with plant-based ones on Mondays in an effort to tackle climate change.
Why it matters: Cattle ranches contribute to 22% of all emissions in Argentina, making them the "biggest contributor" in the country, per Bloomberg. The campaign is part of a growing worldwide environmental movement away from meat.
Adolescents vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to remove face masks if they're outside at summer camps, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday.
Why it matters: Critics had called CDC guidance, issued last month, stating that everyone at summer camps should be masked unless eating, drinking or swimming "unfairly draconian."
The Pentagon said Wednesday it's tracking the uncontrolled descent of the Long March-5B Y2 rocket that carried a Chinese Space Station module to orbit last week.
Details: Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the rocket's debris was expected to return to Earth "somewhere around" May 8 and that the U.S. Space Command has said "almost the entire body of the rocket" remains intact. "It's too soon to know exactly where it's going to come down," he added.
Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is planning to launch people to the edge of space for the first time in July, and one seat will go to the highest bidder.
Why it matters: The flight would mark the start of Blue Origin making good on its promise to send paying customers to suborbital space, opening a new market for space tourism.
The world runs a growing risk of triggering accelerating and potentially unstoppable sea level rise from the Antarctic ice sheet if greenhouse gas emissions are not strictly curtailed. However, this fate can be avoided if the Paris Agreement's targets are met, according to two new studies published Wednesday.
Why it matters: At stake is the viability of coastal megacities like Shanghai, Manila and New York City, as well as entire nations like the low-lying Maldives. The severity of sea level rise depends largely on the pace and extent of ice melt from the world'stwo largest ice sheets: Antarctica and Greenland.
