Beginning in northwestern Kenya with the story of Eregae and Aita Nakali, this chapter introduces the new science of climate extremes and extreme event attribution. Between 2015 and 2019, the “fingerprints” of climate change slapped hundreds of millions of people. Extreme heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires exacted a terrible toll on developed and developing nations alike. These catastrophes affected hundreds of millions of people and resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in losses. Fire-afflicted movie stars in California and ranchers in Australia; drought-stricken South Africans; poor flooded fisher-folk in Bangladesh; Houston's middle-class families riven by flood: these are just some of the people who felt the crushing blow of more extreme climate. While humans have always faced the perils of natural disasters, the data suggest that the human and economic cost of climate and weather extremes is increasing rapidly as our population and economies expand and our planet warms rapidly. Since the early 1980s, the number of large catastrophes has quadrupled, inflicting billions of dollars in losses and impacting vulnerable populations on every continent. Understanding the link between extremes and warming is both a moral and an existential imperative.

The management and conservation of the world’s oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.

The way scientists work is not linear. A scientist does not think quietly to herself “I am following the scientific method” as she observes, hypothesizes, tests, and concludes. In fact, the process of science is much more iterative, circular, and creative than is implied by a linear model of the scientific method.

The central thrust of this book is that geochemical data can be used to identify and interpret geological processes in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. This chapter categorises geochemical data into major element oxides, trace elements, radiogenic isotopes and stable isotopes. The text discusses the main processes which control the chemical composition of planetary bodies, which operate in igneous and metamorphic rocks and at the Earth’s surface and describes the main analytical methods currently in use. These include the methods of X-ray fluorescence, mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for both whole-rock analysis and in situ micro-analysis. Sampling protocols are briefly described and the choice of a suitable analytical method is discussed. Potential sources of error in geochemical analysis are identified and discussed.

How humanity is fed now and how we can do this better in the future. What can be done and what can everyone do?

Many people around the globe rely on the low-cost transport of goods and commodities that commercial shipping provides. Indeed, about 90 per cent of the world’s traded goods are transported by sea, with more than 70 per cent of this being containerized cargo (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2017). Shipping densities are illustrated in Figure 1.1, demonstrating the great concentration of traffic along key routes.

Volcanoes are of many types and behave in different ways. Different behaviour is partly because volcanoes are located in different tectonic environments. Many are associated with divergent plate boundaries, others with convergent plate boundaries, and some with transform-fault plate boundaries. In addition, there are volcanoes located within plate interiors, far from plate boundaries. To understand volcano behaviour with a view to being able to forecast volcanic eruptions we must use a variety of scientific techniques and approaches, primarily those of volcanotectonics. The main techniques and approaches for data collection, analysis, and interpretation are discussed in detail in later chapters, but they are briefly summarised here.

A variety of features in the visible and near-infrared regions that are observed in remote sensing applications are the result of electronic transitions, typically involving cations of transition metals, most commonly Fe and Ti, or the molecular species S. The position and intensity of these features are sensitive not only to the particular cation, but also to its oxidation state, the particular phase in which it occurs, the geometric structure of the site that it occupies, and interactions between and among neighboring cations. Often these features are diagnostic for the host mineral.

Prehistoric origins of food conflict. Role of food in the growth and collapse of empires. Food wars in recent centuries.

This chapter provides an overview of why science, and in a broader context STEM, are of fundamental importance to the progress of nations and their citizens in the twenty-first century. We will return to some of the topics in subsequent chapters, but here they provide the foundation and rationale for the fundamental importance of science and STEM in society. The focus of this chapter is the context of science and STEM in the United States, primarily during the second half of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, in a globally connected world, much of what is described here also pertains to other STEM-enabled countries as well.

This chapter is an overview of experimentation and explains why experiments are important. The role of the laboratory notebook for keeping a faithful record of work is emphasised. Guidelines are given for keeping a laboratory notebook. Examples pages from the author's own notebook are included.

The accident of the Fukushima Daiichi (First) Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (hereafter, Fukushima accident) transpired after the Tohoku Region Pacific Coast Earthquake occurred in March 2011. Table 1.1 summarises the main events of the accident. After the earthquake occurred at 14:46 on 11 March 2011, tsunami waves of 13 m in height arrived at the FDNPS (TEPCO, 2011); the diesel power engine stopped at 15:41. Due to this electricity loss, the nuclear reaction became uncontrollable. The Fukushima Daini (Second) Power Station was able to make a controlled stop for cooling even after the intrusion of seawater from a tsunami wave with a height of 9 m. The estimated maximum height in the design of the Daiichi and Daini Power Stations was 5.1 m. In contrast, the estimated maximum tsunami height in the design of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station of the Tohoku Electric Power Company, which avoided serious damage, was 14.8 m (Matsumoto, 2007).

Geomicrobiological investigations benefit from knowledge of geochemical and biological systems at different scales, including information about both the abiotic and the biotic components. Gathering this information requires analysis and characterization of both abiotic and biotic components of the target system. The techniques presented in this chapter were selected to cover a variety of needs in geomicrobiological studies, including general sample collection and storage, organic and inorganic compound quantification, and best practices for cultivation, observation, and analysis of microorganisms and microbial communities. In this chapter, introductions and discussions for common techniques provide the reader with a basic understanding of the technique itself, which samples can be analyzed using the technique, and how to prepare samples for analysis. Detailed methods are provided for select techniques, and citations to standard methods are provided for techniques whenever available. For techniques that are rapidly evolving, recent developments and applications are discussed.

Francis Bacon, one of the luminaries of modern science, is thought to have said that “knowledge is power.” Since Bacon made that statement, it has become abundantly clear that humans have a very distinct and difficult “knowledge problem.” There is a fundamental defect in how we come to know anything, and while this is recognized as a problem, the depths of the problem are seldom appreciated and even less frequently discussed. At first glance such a statement may seem ridiculous. What is the problem in saying someone knows something? I know where I am and what I’m doing. I know the names and faces of my friends, family, and acquaintances. I know how to drive a car, how to cook (at least somewhat), and how to pay bills. In fact, just to navigate the tasks of daily life one has to “know” a great number of things.

The Earth’s atmosphere is composed mostly of molecular nitrogen (N2, 78 % of dry air) and molecular oxygen (O2, 21 % of dry air). It holds also a fair amount of water vapor (H2O), which varies greatly in concentration (ranging from negligible in dry regions to a few % in humid regions) and leads to the formation of clouds and fogs in case of supersaturation. The Earth’s atmosphere also contains carbon dioxide (CO2), which has an average concentration of about 0.04 %. H2O and CO2 are gases that absorb infrared (IR) radiation, but let ultraviolet (UV) and visible solar radiation go through. Since they partially absorb IR radiation emitted by the Earth toward space, these species are called “greenhouse gases” (GHG).