Washington, D.C. will feel like present-day Mississippi by 2080, researchers say

In one generation, the climate of many American cities will experience a noticeable shift.

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  • A recent study used climate data, both current and projected, to examine how the climates of North American cities might change over the course of the next generation.
  • In one scenario, the climates of many cities will resemble that of locations about 500 miles away, mostly to the south.
  • The study aims to present the long-term effects of climate change in a personal, tangible way.
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2018 was the fourth hottest year on record, say both NASA and NOAA

Experts say global warming is no longer some future worry. It's already here.

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  • President Trump and other politicians have routinely dismissed climate change as a hoax.
  • Data from NASA and NOAA show 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record.
  • Collectively, the last five years have represented the hottest in the 139-year record.
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High pollution is making the Chinese miserable, researchers say

Who would've thought that never seeing blue sky would bum you out?

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  • China's economy is growing at 8 percent per year, but its citizens aren't getting any happier.
  • New research from MIT analyzed 33 million posts from Sina Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) and compared their expressed happiness with local pollution levels.
  • The study shows that high-pollution days are making Chinese civilians significantly less happy.
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‘Polar vortex event’ brings subzero temps to U.S. — and it could become more common.

On Wednesday, Chicago was colder than parts of Antarctica by 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

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  • Cold Arctic air will bring temperatures near or below zero degrees Fahrenheit for more than 100 million Americans.
  • A disruption in the swirling mass of air above the Arctic Circle – a pattern known as the polar vortex – is causing this weather event.
  • Although counterintuitive, it's possible that global warming leads to these kinds of disruptions.
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At least 340,000 Americans died from radioactive fallout between 1951 and 1973

Domestic nuclear testing wreaked havoc on thousands of families.

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  • Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. But new research shows that domestic U.S. nuclear tests likely killed more.
  • The new research tracked an unlikely vector for radioactive transmission: dairy cows.
  • The study serves as a reminder of the insidious and deadly nature of nuclear weapons.
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