Soon Even the Walls of a Building Will Be Use to Used to Make Solar Power

Everybody knows that when you put solar panels on the roof of a house, you can make solar electric power.

But why settled for just a roof when you can have the walls do it, too?

Scientists at Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. reportedly have created a new kind of material that, when applied to the exterior walls of a building, transforms those walls into solar collectors that can generate electricity the way a rooftop solar panel does.

This new material reportedly is made from organic semiconductors rather than the silicon semiconductors most used today. They’re only about two thirds as effective at converting sunlight into electricity – for now, anyway.

Mitsubishi reportedly plans to start selling its wall-coating material next year.

To find out more, read The Daily Yomiuri article.

Climate Change Helping Birds Fly Faster (That’s a Good Thing)

Climate change over the last 30 years has resulted in increased wind speeds that are allowing certain bird species to fly faster than ever before.

That’s according to a new study published in the journal Science that examined a number of different bird species in the Southern Hemisphere, concluding that the heating up the atmosphere that caused

The study concluded that wind speeds had increase about 15% over the past few decades. This resulted in birds being able to fly faster, which is a good thing because they can reach their destinations faster and in better shape – all of which is pretty important when a bird is looking for food or a mate.

To find out more, check out this Discovery article.

Hotter Summers Causing Colder, Not Warmer, Winters

You would think that the hotter it is in the summer, the warmer it would be in the winter.

But scientists have just reported that the opposite appears to be true, at least in some parts of the world. They have concluded that the hotter things get in summertime, the colder they get in wintertime.

The scientists are quick to say that their findings are not an indication that global warming science is flawed. Rather, it’s an indication of how complex global weather patterns tend to be.

These scientists say that as the temperature has climbed in the Arctic, the atmosphere has been able to hold more moisture. This has led to increased snowfall in the higher elevations of eastern North America and northern Eurasia during the autumn that has resulted in cooler temperatures during the winter months.

To find out more, read this UPI story.

How Weird is This? – Climate Change Seems to Make Lizards Smarter

It’s not a question you’re likely to ask, but researchers in Australia did.

And because they did, we now know that climate change appears to make lizards smarter.

What good is it to know that? You decide. Personally, Earth Preservers thinks it’s cool knowing that lizards, if they are allowed to incubate in warmer surroundings, may be as smart as birds.

Not that it will do them much good in the long run. Scientists believe that climate change may wipe out one out of every five species of lizard in the world – some four or five in total.

To find out more, read this story from Mongabay.com.