Superhabitable planets and mega-tsunami

Researchers found 24 planets that are “superhabitable”, which means the conditions there are more life-friendly than the ones on Earth. They looked for planets that were i.e. around 10% larger than ours and with higher mass (as it means keeping heating longer), slightly warmer, with more water and revolving around stars with a longer lifespan than the Sun. None of the 4500 globes they looked through met all the criteria but 24 of them exceeded Earth’s hospitability for life and one fulfilled four of the characteristics assumed for the perfect match.

With almost three months to go, 2020 already tied the record for the year with the most natural disasters in the U.S that caused at least 1 billion USD damage each. The list consists of the wildfires in the west, the drought that hit 43% of the continental U.S., tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms. The other record years were 2017 and 2011 with the data being gathered since 2011. The data was presented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NASA published satellite images of a mountain slope on the south coast of Alaska that could collapse and cause a mega-tsunami. The slope became unstable due to the glacier retreating as a result of warming temperatures. According to the scientists, the potential tsunami will “likely” occur within the next 20 years. Once it happens, the wave reaching neighboring areas could be hundreds of feet high. In May 2020 fourteen scientists published an open letter to draw attention to the issue.