The world's first nation state in space

At a press conference in Paris this week, plans were announced for the creation of 'Asgardia' – the first nation state in outer space.

Named after the city of the skies in Norse mythology, Asgardia is a space-based nation proposed by Dr Igor Ashurbey

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Climate change has doubled western US forest fires

A study by the Earth Institute at Columbia University finds that wildfires in the western US have doubled in area over the last 30 years due to climate change.

More at

http://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/2016/10/12-2.htm#.WAWCZPkrKUk

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A tenth of the world's wilderness lost since the 1990s

A tenth of the world's wilderness is reported to have disappeared in the last 20 years – an area twice the size of Alaska – with the Amazon and Central Africa being the hardest hit regions. If trends continue, there will be few areas of wilderness le

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The next 5,000 years

In this guest piece, we talked to sci-fi author Drew Wagar about his predictions for the next five, 50, 500 and 5,000 years.

Being an SF writer means you have to imagine different futures, different worlds. It is generally easier to do that when you

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Back to basics: Temperature truisms

We’ve been going Beyond the Data for a year and a half now (time flies!). Sometimes, on a long journey, it’s good to revisit the basics. What got us here?

That’s the theme for this edition. We’re going old school, and just look at some good old clima

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The East Coast and Midwest prepare for record high October temperatures as 'Indian summer' hits

The calendar says October, but it feels like June.

Record high temperatures are being forecast for large swaths of the United States in what meteorologists are calling an ‘Indian summer.’

The warmer temperatures are due to an area of high pressure of

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Gulf Coast cities are being abandoned due to super hurricanes by 2045

The rapid growth of CO2 emissions has led to rising sea levels, a warming of coastal waters and a more volatile climate system. In the Gulf of Mexico, a new category of "super hurricane" has emerged. This is becoming a regular occurrence by now. Thes

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Over 80% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost by 2099

Due to the combined impacts of logging, drought, forest fires, desertification, agriculture and industrial expansion, less than one-fifth of the Amazon now remains.* In addition to mass extinctions of flora and fauna, many indigenous peoples' communi

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Sea levels are wreaking havoc around the world by 2099

Despite efforts to halt climate change, it came too late to save many lowland areas of the world. Sea levels rose nearly two metres by the end of the 21st century, displacing hundreds of millions of people.* The Maldives were especially hard hit, wit

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2065 Insurance Crisis

Damage wrought by accelerating climate change has led to most insurance firms filing for bankruptcy.* In the United States, widespread flooding has resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of damage. Coastal cities are particularly badly hi

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Glacier volume in the Everest region has declined by half by 2048-2058

At some point during this period (2048-2058), glacier volume in the Mount Everest region falls below 50% of its 2015 level.* The Earth had continued to warm in recent decades and High Mountain Asia – an area that included the Himalayas – was especial

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Much of Bangkok is being abandoned due to flooding by 2031

Bangkok, with a population of over 12 million, has been sinking underwater for decades. By the early 2030s, it is facing a disaster of epic scale, with much of the city being abandoned.*

More at

http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2031.htm#ban

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Chocolate has become a rare luxury by 2031

By now, chocolate has become as rare and expensive as caviar, with even a single bar costing $10-15.

More at

http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2031.htm#chocolate-rare-in-20-years

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West Antarctica is among the fastest growing areas in the world by 2092

The icy continent today would be unrecognisable to observers from the 20th century. Its northern peninsula is now home to a multitude of towns and conurbations, with a total population numbering in the millions.

Melting of surface ice has resulted in

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Polar bears face extinction by 2080

Between 2000 and 2050, polar bear numbers dropped by 70 percent, due to shrinking ice sheets caused by global warming. By 2080, they have disappeared from Greenland entirely – and from the northern Canadian coast – leaving only dwindling numbers in t

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Deadly heatwaves plague Europe; traditional agriculture is decimated by 2080

Heatwaves greater than that seen in 2003 have become annual occurrences by this time.*

In the peak of summer, temperatures in major cities such as London and Paris reach over 40°C. In some of the more southerly parts of the continent, temperatures of

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Flood barriers are erected in New York by 2060

Sea level rises and storm surges have begun to threaten even the business, financial and cultural heart of America. By 2060, what used to be a once-in-a-century type of flood is becoming a regular occurence.* This has led to the construction of sea w

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Tropical cyclones are wreaking havoc in the Mediterranean by 2060

Until now, the near-landlocked Mediterranean Sea was largely immune to the more violent forms of ocean weather. The worst storms that the sea experienced were the so-called "Medicanes" – comparatively tame versions of the much larger and more destruc

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Imagining life in 2036

This survey was inspired by a list of predictions made by Imperial College London's Tech Foresight research team, released as part of Technology Week in London. SMG Insight/YouGov interviewed 2,088 American adults to find their views on technology in

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Glacier National Park and other regions are becoming ice-free 2020

By 2020, the Glacier National Park in Montana has become completely ice-free, the park's namesakes having disappeared as a result of global warming. An earlier model (shown below) had forecast this event for 2030, based on a study by the US Geologica

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