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A new analysis suggests Earth may have been a water world three to four billion years ago with a global ocean large enough to have submerged Mount Everest. Scientists at Harvard University examined our planet's ancient mantle and found that in ages past it was four times hotter due to radioactivity, and would therefore not be able to hold the current amount of water. 'We find that water storage capacity in a hot, early mantle may have been smaller than the amount of water Earth's mantle currently holds, so the additional water in the mantle today would have resided on...

Humans may evolve bizarre features such as webbed feet and eyes like cats in response to changing environments, a scientist claims today. Experts calculated how our physical appearance could change under a number of scenarios, including a 'water world' if melting ice caps cause rising sea levels. They also considered what would happen in a second ice age which could be triggered by an asteroid strike, and if humans colonised other planets. Dr Matthew Skinner, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Kent, examined the three scenarios and worked with artist Quentin Devine to help visualise how humans could look in...

BERLIN, July 15 | Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:22am EDT (Reuters) - Sea levels could rise by 2.3 metres for each degree Celsius that global temperatures increase and they will remain high for centuries to come, according to a new study by the leading climate research institute, released on Monday. Anders Levermann said his study for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research was the first to examine evidence from climate history and combine it with computer simulations of contributing factors to long-term sea-level increases: thermal expansion of oceans, the melting of mountain glaciers and the melting of the Greenland...

DENVER (KMOX) - The battle for more river water is about to get even more serious. Along with the debate over whether to send more water down the Missouri River for navigation purposes, enter Colorado in the picture. The Colorado River is low on water and, according to the New York Times, a plan by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation is about to be revealed that would take water from the Missouri River and send it into a 600 mile pipeline to the Colorado River. It would provide the Colorado River Basin with 600,000 acre-feet of water each year. The...

Milton Friedman's grandson Patri has a vision that might have made the economist proud: to build a floating libertarian nation 12 miles off the coast of California.Billed as "Burning Man meets Silicon Valley meets the water," the planned nation flotilla would be constructed on a variety of barges and water platforms within sight of San Francisco. It would include everything from homes, schools and hospitals to bikes for transportation and aqua farms for food.Despite the widespread skepticism that the project is bound to invite, Friedman already has secured more than $2 million in venture capital for the development, which strives...

Pictured: The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees An architect has come up with an innovative answer to rising sea levels - a city that floats around the world. The self-contained 'Lilypad' city will be home to around 50,000 'climate refugees' from the worst hit areas - including London. {snip} The 'Lilypad' cities would be powered by renewable energy sources {snip} But now a visionary architect has found a solution which will see people in the affected cities making a new home for themselves on the futuristic-looking Lilypad. {snip} As land-based cities flood, the Lilypad will...

Germany To U.S.: Cut Emissions or Face Disaster Experts believe global warming is increasing the scope of natural disasters. In June, Germany will host a global conference on renewable energies. The country's environmental minister traveled to the U.S. this week to push needed emissions cuts and alternative energies. The Renewables 2000 conference, announced by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2002 at the U.N. Environment Summit in Johannesburg, is intended to demonstrate that renewable energies -- like wind and solar power -- have developed into fast growing industries that are not only environmentally friendly, but also economically viable solutions. But renewable...

Global warming could submerge three large Indian cities Date: December 8 2003 Global warming could submerge three of India's biggest cities beneath the sea by 2020 unless the crisis was brought under control, an Indian scientist warned yesterday. "If the warming continues, there will be about half to one metre increase in sea level by 2020 and cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras will be completely submerged," said Rajiv Nigam, a scientist with the Geological Oceanography Division in the western Indian state of Goa. He said a one-metre rise in sea level could cause five trillion rupees ($A147.24 billion) worth...

As the world gets warmer, it is getting wetter. And one of the main conclusions reached at Europe's largest ever earth sciences conference was that we are less prepared for it than ever. While some delegates were still reeling from the catastrophic floods that hit the continent in August 2002, others warned that the risk of future flooding has been vastly underestimated. And studies of past episodes of climate change suggest that a wetter world may be not only a consequence of global warming but a trigger for further, more dramatic temperature rises. The first task was to take stock,...