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Knowledge Base highlights and editors' picks

Top stories and editors' picks from the most recent additions. Explore the whole Knowledge Base.

Every week the PreventionWeb team of editors selects the latest news and research, reports and publications on disaster risk reduction – here is their selection of the latest must-read content.

Digital thermometer showing a high temperature in a town
Research briefs

New fabric makes urban heat islands more bearable

With applications in clothing, construction and food storage, the new textile reduces heat from both the sun and thermal radiation from nearby buildings.
University of Chicago
Pandemic Preparedness
Update

Despite improved WHO regulations, the world remains ill-prepared for the next pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) took an important step by adopting useful revisions to the existing legally-binding International Health Regulations.
Conversation Media Group, the
A firefighter surveys wildfire damage in Queensland, Australia
Update

Of ice and fire: what sea salt in Antarctic snowfall reveals about bushfires worse than the Black Summer

At least seven times over the last two millennia, our new research shows bushfire-prone southeast Australia has endured bushfire weather as bad or worse than what was experienced during the devastating Black Summer bushfires.
Conversation Media Group, the
Eruption at Eyjafjallajökull volcano on April 17, 2010
Research briefs

Video analysis of Iceland 2010 eruption could improve volcanic ash forecasts for aviation safety

Video footage of a eruption is providing researchers from the University of Cambridge with rare, up-close observations of volcanic ash clouds — information that could help better forecast how far explosive eruptions disperse their hazardous ash particles.
University of Cambridge
Flooding in Pakistan
Research briefs

Increasing April-May rainfall, El Niño and high vulnerability behind deadly flooding in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

This April and May, large regions of central Asia were hit by a series of storms resulting in heavy downpours and flash flooding. The unusually high rains and subsequent floods in April and May followed a three-month dry period from December to March.
World Weather Attribution
Dhaka
Update

‘We need to make old buildings cooler’, says Bangladesh’s chief heat officer

Raising awareness is vital for restoring green spaces and preserving water bodies, says Bushra Afreen.
Dialogue Earth
Fetus
Research briefs

Exposure to heat and cold in early life may affect development of white matter in the brain

New study underscores the vulnerability of foetuses and children to cold and heat, and the need to protect the most vulnerable communities from the effects of climate change
ISGlobal
Repairs to an active landslide on U.S. Route 101 in 2021
Research briefs

Expecting the unexpected could help us prepare for climate extremes

The authors of a recenty study contend that a reliance on models that don't account for enough relevant factors and a tendency toward linear thinking have narrowed perceptions of climate change risks.
Eos - AGU
Stop disasters game
Research briefs

Geeks versus climate change: Understanding video game players’ engagement with global warming

Nearly 2/3 of Americans play video games and video game developers are working on ways to incorporate climate content into games. However, little research has examined whether video game players have unique value as an audience for climate communication.
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
compilation of images of different types of weather like sun and rain separated by diagonal lines
Research briefs

Making climate models relevant for local decision-makers

A new downscaling method leverages machine learning to speed up climate model simulations at finer resolutions, making them usable on local levels.
Massachussets Institute of Technology
illustration
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