A new study has found that ocean acidity may have prevented life on Earth from developing for the planet's first 500 million years.

On this episode of Climate Connections, its study lead, Dr Guo Meng from the Asian School of the Environment at NTU weighs in on how ocean pH has evolved from our early days and the research by her team of scientists, on developing the most comprehensive Earth system model to date that is shedding new light on the critical role of ocean pH levels in the emergence of early life.

Her efforts so far, have given scientists a new perspective on when Earth likely became a habitable place some 4 billion years ago.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar
Photo credits: University of Richmond; AP/Richard Drew
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the years, scientists have linked climate change to rising sea levels, extreme weather and melting polar ice caps.

But as the mercury rises, urban rat populations too are increasing.

In the first research of its kind, scientists found that 11 of 16 cities studied had significant increasing trends in rat numbers, including Washington DC, New York, and Amsterdam. While the new study sheds light on the forces that may influence urban rat populations, cities remain highly complex environments.

On this episode of Climate Connections, Dr Jonathan Richardson, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond, who led the research, shares his insights.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Audrey Siek
Photo credits: University of Richmond; AP/Richard Drew
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fungi represent an entire kingdom of life on Earth. In fact, millions of species of fungi share our space on this planet. And since soil contains more than three times as much carbon as the atmosphere, what fungi do in the soil could dramatically affect climate change.

One group of fungi in particular - the mycorrhizal fungi - are quietly, but surely, doing us a huge climate favour behind-the-scenes, or in their case, underground. These fungi help forests absorb CO2 pollution, which can in turn contribute to delaying the effects of climate change.

But, how has the effects of climate change impacted mycorrhizal fungi and can such fungi be restored in degraded parts of forests and cities?

On this episode of Climate Connections, Jennifer Bhatnagar, Associate Professor of Biology at Boston University, who has been studying fungi, shares her insights.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar
Photo credits: CID Bio-Science
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.