"Rising water temperatures, sea levels and acidity are threatening to destroy the vast region of Southeast Asia known as the Coral Triangle, labelled the ocean's answer to the Amazon rainforest, the World Wildlife Fund said in a new report. Collapse of the reefs would send food production in the region plummeting by 80 percent and imperil the livelihoods of over 100 million people.Climate change could wipe out the world's richest ocean wilderness by the end of the century without drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, environmental group WWF said Wednesday."
I can't spin that in any way other than it sounds bad.
2. The Herschel and Planck telescopes to take a look deep into the past of the Universe will launch tomorrow (hopefully) on an Ariane 5. Herschel is the most powerful IR telescope ever put into space, while Planck is a step forward from COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) and WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) to look at the Cosmic Microwave Background. Putting two $expensive$ eggs into one launch basket always strikes me as a bit risky; remember when the confident Europeans put five Clusters on the first Ariane 5?
I certainly hope Herschel and Planck get a better ride than that. Ariane 5 has been reliable since the overconfident Cluster launch. New European Telescopes to Peer into Obscure Cosmic Corners
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