Scientists suggest that a day on Earth might extend to 25 hours in the future due to the Moon’s gradual drift away from our planet.

Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison indicates that the Moon is receding from Earth at a rate of approximately 3.8 centimeters per year. This phenomenon could result in Earth days lasting 25 hours in 200 million years. Historically, a day on Earth lasted just over 18 hours around 1.4 billion years ago.

Stephen Meyers, a professor in the geoscience department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, points to the gravitational interactions between Earth and the Moon as a primary cause. “As the Moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out,” explained Meyers.

Meyers and his team are using ‘astrochronology’ to study ancient geological processes. “We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in a way that is comparable to how we study modern geologic processes,” he said.

The concept of the Moon’s recession is not new, but the Wisconsin research delves deeper into its historical and geological context. By examining ancient geological formations and sediment layers, researchers have tracked the Earth-Moon system over billions of years. They found that while the Moon’s current recession rate is relatively stable, it has fluctuated due to various factors such as Earth’s rotational speed and continental drift.

Warnings are being issued for the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) due to a new study emphasizing the rising hazards and risks from climate change.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) have created a new climate risk index, revealing that all states within the IHR, including the eight northeastern states, are exposed to varying degrees of climate change danger.

The report, titled “Climate-change-induced risk mapping of the Indian Himalayan districts using the latest IPCC framework,” was shared with The Diplomat. It highlights that Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand are particularly vulnerable. The research was led by Assistant Professor Krishna Malakar and research scholar Aayush Shah from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT-M.

The study indicates that, while districts in the Western Indian Himalayan Region (WIHR) are generally more at risk, the three most risk-prone districts are in the Eastern Indian Himalayan Region (EIHR). WIHR faces more hazards and higher exposure, though EIHR exhibits greater vulnerability.

Spanning 12 states and approximately 1,550 miles from west to east, the IHR covers 16.2 percent of India’s land area and is home to about 47 million people, or 3.88 percent of the country’s population. The region is crucial for environmental stability, offering dense forests, biodiversity conservation, vital water sources, and sustainable tourism.

This IIT-M report follows several studies in recent years on the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas. A study by the Forest Research Institute, conducted with other institutes four years ago, found the eastern region more risk-prone than the west. IIT-M’s findings suggest that both regions are vulnerable, with the western area more susceptible to climate change risks.

Based on the IPCC framework, the IIT-M report combines physical and socio-economic indicators to assess hazards in the Himalayan region, aiming to create a climate change risk index for IHR districts. It utilized data from India’s 2011 census and other government sources to develop a comprehensive and replicable index.

To calculate risk, the study considered hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. Eleven physical indicators, such as earthquakes, cold wave days, floods, snowfall, and hailstorms, represented hazards. Vulnerability included susceptibility to harm and adaptation capacity, while exposure measured significant climate fluctuations’ impact on a region.

Shimla in Himachal Pradesh was identified as the most hazard-prone district, followed by East Sikkim in the Northeast. The high-hazard category included 32 districts—23 in the west and nine in the east. Medium-hazard districts were evenly divided between the two zones with 22 districts, while the low-hazard category comprised 17 districts—15 in the east and two in the west. The lowest hazard category included 25 eastern zone districts.

The west is more hazard-prone, with 34 out of 47 districts in the highest and high-hazard categories, and only two in the low-hazard category. Conversely, the east had 25 districts in the lowest hazard category out of 62, with 51 districts in the lowest, low, and medium hazard categories.

The study found that 64 out of 109 IHR districts are highly vulnerable, with the highest vulnerability districts spread across nine states. The eastern zone is more vulnerable, with 43 out of 62 districts classified as highest and high-vulnerability, while the western zone is more risk-prone due to higher hazards and greater exposure.

Climate change’s adverse impacts are evident across the IHR, with erratic rainfall causing floods and droughts, particularly in the northeastern region. For example, Assam has recently faced severe floods, resulting in 109 deaths.

To combat climate change, the Indian government implemented the National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2010, including a focus on the IHR. However, this plan has not sufficiently mitigated climate change’s adverse effects in the region.

The IIT-M study underscores the need for effective communication with remote Himalayan areas to mitigate climate change impacts. This strategy would enable residents to plan and respond swiftly to minimize losses, particularly those in poorly constructed structures during disasters like the Kedarnath floods in Uttarakhand.

The report also calls for better integration of Himalayan communities into the mainstream, noting that many residents belong to rural tribal communities. Suggestions include increasing employment opportunities, improving infrastructure, healthcare, access to cleaner fuels, education, and diversifying income sources beyond agriculture.

Google is expanding its data centers to bolster its AI capabilities, with a new project in Finland exemplifying the company’s efforts to manage the environmental impacts of this growth.

Google has announced a €1 billion (approximately $1.1 billion) investment to enhance its data center in Finland, aimed at “unlocking the potential of AI.” A key component of this expansion is a plan to recycle heat generated by the data center to warm local homes, schools, and public buildings.

The energy demands of data centers, particularly those used for AI, are significant and growing. To mitigate the environmental impact, Google is implementing heat reuse strategies to reduce the strain on power grids and align with the company’s climate objectives. This is crucial as Google’s push to integrate AI into its Search and other products could otherwise jeopardize its sustainability goals and stress local energy systems.

This announcement follows Google’s recent I/O event, where the company introduced a new AI-powered version of its search engine and an upgraded Gemini model. AI was a central theme, mentioned over 120 times, and featured in various applications from vacation planning to scam detection and virtual assistants.

Running AI models necessitates more robust data centers, which can exacerbate electricity demands and pressure power grids. This is a concern, especially as there is a need to replace fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy sources to combat climate change.

To mitigate these effects, Google has partnered with the municipality of Hamina and the local energy provider Haminan Energia. By 2025, they plan to capture heat from the data center’s servers and redistribute it to the community, providing heat to homes and public buildings. This project is a first for Google, although it has been using server heat for its own offices for nearly ten years. The expanded data center aims to meet 80 percent of the local district’s annual heating needs, with Google sourcing carbon-free energy for 97 percent of the data center’s consumption, making the heat supplied to Haminan Energia mostly clean.

While this is a significant local initiative, it addresses a broader global challenge. Google has not updated its sustainability report since July 2023, prior to its intensive AI developments. Meanwhile, competitors like Microsoft have seen their greenhouse gas emissions rise by 30 percent since making major climate commitments in 2020.

Google has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, which involves balancing emitted carbon dioxide with equivalent carbon capture or offsets. Achieving this goal becomes more challenging if AI-driven energy consumption continues to escalate.