The 2008 crisis, with the collapse of Iceland’s banking system, spread primarily to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain in 2009. 10 years later, most of these countries have bounced back, but unemployment is still high in countries like Greece and Spain compared to levels before the crisis started.
The US Democratic primaries are around the corner, with the first state voting next Monday. I was curious how the Google search trends in the last 7 days reflect on each of the top-tier candidates. Bernie Sanders is clearly winning in that “interest” field. It will be interesting to see what happens in the actual Iowa caucuses.
The 2019-nCoV coronavirus has been in the news lately because of its human-to-human transmission and its rapid spread both in China and outside its borders. This virus apparently originated in animals, and it was first identified in seafood and animal markets in Wuhan, China.
As of yesterday, there are 9776 confirmed cases affecting 20 countries already, with the vast majority in China. Johns Hopkins University is maintaining this world cases dashboard, using the most recent data available.
A couple of days ago I stumbled upon the headline ‘Doomsday Clock is now 100 seconds from midnight’, published by space.com. I wasn’t aware of it, but this clock is a metaphor for how close the world is to a man-made global catastrophe. It was set up in 1947 by the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, when nuclear weapons were considered the main threat. Today, global warming is also factored into the calculation.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this time around in 2020, it’s the closest it has ever been to midnight. 2019 was the second hottest year in history, and the growing instability in the Middle East and even the possible use of AI in warfare don’t help to move the clock backwards. The picture is not a pretty one, but there is at least one more voice reminding world leaders what is at stake here.
Last summer felt really hot! There were quite a few days when most of the headlines in the news were about how the thermometer was about to break historic records in many cities. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Earth's temperature change measured by NASA during the months of June and July was the highest ever recorded.
The "record-breaking" headlines follow the same pattern year after year. I don't remember any time in my lifetime when global warming was such a clear and present danger!
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