People who are insecure about their romantic relationship are more likely to use Facebook to stalk their exes online, scientists have confirmed.  They are also the most likely to overshare personal information and create a false impression of themselves through their social media accounts.

According to the latest findings, Facebook users with high levels of attachment anxiety are also the most likely to compare themselves with other online users.  Researchers hope that highlighting these links will help people to consider how they feel before logging into a social network, like Facebook.

The study from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway found that adults in insecure relationships may use Facebook to fulfil their attachment needs.  This is particularly the case for people with low self-esteem, or for people experiencing high levels of psychological distress, including anxiety and depression.

Researchers asked 717 adult Facebook users to complete a series of questionnaires, according to research published in the journal BMC Psychology.  People with high levels of attachment anxiety were more likely to compare themselves against other social network users — known as social comparison.  These users were also the most likely to carefully curate their own image online, known as impression management, scientists revealed.

When Facebook users were in a heightened emotional state, they were more likely to disclose personal information in posts on the social network.  These individuals were more likely to use the site intrusively, in a way that meant it impacted upon their sleep, work and social relationships.

People with high levels of attachment avoidance were more likely to engage in impression management on Facebook.  They also had a greater tendency to use the site intrusively, to the detriment of their offline social relationships.

Dr Sally Flynn, lead author of the study said: 'Our study is the first to apply attachment theory to better understand why people might engage with Facebook in problematic ways.  Our findings suggest that Facebook may be used by some to fulfil fundamental attachment needs, especially for those with low self-esteem, who are experiencing psychological distress.'

As with all research, the team behind the study admits it has limitations, and does not necessarily reflect cause and effect.

Dr Flynn added: 'The study may also be limited by its use of self-reported data and probability sampling which have the potential to introduce bias to the findings.  While psychological distress and self-esteem provide some explanation of the association between attachment and problematic Facebook use, further studies are needed into a range of additional interpersonal factors relevant to attachment.'

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The long, sizzling love affair between America and meat may finally be cooling off, a new report reveals.  Two thirds of Americans said that they have cut back the amount of meat they eat, according to the results of a newly-published Johns Hopkins survey.

Public health officials and nutrition experts have been campaigning for people in the US to reduce their red and processed meat consumption for the last few years.  At long last, it seems the American public is starting to listen, for the sake of their hearts, waist lines and wallets.

Second only to Australia, Americans have always eaten a lot of meat.  But red and processed meats contain a lot of saturated fat, which turns into an oily waxy substance that can line and block off blood vessels.  This in turn raises the risks of diabetes a and heart disease.

Studies conducted through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggest that eating one additional serving of unprocessed red meat a day raises the risks of death by any cause by 13 per cent.  For unprocessed meat, it's a 20 per cent increase in mortality risks.  But those alarming statistics - and warnings from major medical authorities like the American Heart Association (AHA) - have done little to curb meat consumption in the US.

When the housing bubble burst and the American economy entered a recession in 2008, meat consumption crashed too.  Annual intake continued to decline, reaching a 20-year low in 2014.

But beef, pork and chicken are back, and meat is expected to be a bigger business than ever this year.  Analysts estimate that the average American will eat a record-setting 222 lbs of meat over the course of this year.

Lead author of the new study, Dr Roni Neff said: 'Many Americans continue to have a strong preference for meat.  But this survey adds to a growing body of evidence that a significant portion of the population may be purposefully reducing their meat consumption without becoming vegetarian or vegan.'

The survey results, gathered in 2015 but published yesterday in the journal Public Health Nutrition, seem to stand in opposition to the economic trends.

The same year that Johns Hopkins polled the American public on cutting back on meat, annual consumption started to climb back up, rising five per cent after a seven-year decline.

Of the two-thirds of survey respondents who said they had been cutting back their meat purchasing, many said they were doing so to save money.  In fact, the people most likely to cut back on meat were those with relatively low incomes at $25,000 a year.  People in the highest-earning bracket, $75,000 or greater, on the other hand, were the least likely to cut back on their meat consumption.

The other most common reason was to try to incur health benefits, or at least protect against potential negative health effects of a diet too heavy in meats.  Only 12 per cent of Americans said that they didn't eat meat because of their concerns for animals or the environment.  Yet costs for all forms of meat - poultry, pork and beef - are falling, which Bloomberg analysts argue is partially driving annual consumption up.

Processed meat, at least, seems to have fallen largely out of favor.  More than half of those Johns Hopkins surveyed said that they had cut food like hot dogs out of their diets while 41 per cent said they'd scaled back their overall red meat intake.  Most cut back on red meat by substituting poultry and seafood, and only a small number (nine per cent) gave it up altogether.

In place of traditional proteins, those who made meatless meals took instead vegetables, cheese and dairy and eggs.  Surprisingly, relatively few Americans report consuming many protein-rich non-meats, like beans, nuts tofu and imitation meats.

Those that continued to eat as much meat as ever said they believed that eating beef, pour or poultry was essential to their nutrition or that eating was just boring if it didn't involved meat.

Still, in this first survey of its type, many Americans reported taking steps to cut back on meat by buying less, eating smaller portions of meat when they did indulge, and went meatless either on certain days or for certain meals.

Dr Neff said: 'Our survey results suggest that public health messages on the benefits of reducing red and processed meat consumption may be reaching and resonating with many US consumers, but more work remains to be done.  Priorities for meat reduction campaigns should include addressing common misperceptions about meatless meals, and promoting alternatives that consumers enjoy and that are affordable, healthy, and environmentally friendly.  They should emphasize that meatless meals can be interesting and taste good, and could also provide resources like recipes with other options.'

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BMW has revealed a self-driving motorcycle that can speed around a racetrack and even park itself without anyone sat on top.  The vehicle is powered by intelligent software that can turn, accelerate, lean around corners and brake with no human input.  BMW hopes the AI can one day keep bikers safe by operating as a driving assistant that automatically brakes or adjusts the steering during dangerous situations on the road.

In a new video, BMW Motorrad - the German automaker's motorcycle division - showed off a self-driving version of its R1200GS, a vehicle it has spent more than two years developing.  The driverless bike is shown starting its own engine, accelerating and then making turns on a racing track at breakneck speed before returning to a complete stop - all without a rider perched on its seat.

BMW claims the vehicle was not built for consumers, but to learn more about how it can work new safety features into its motorcycle range.  It is developing these tools to support inattentive drivers, providing 'more stability' in emergency situations.  These include scenarios at crossroads, during sharp turns or when braking quickly, according to the BMW Motorrad video.

Stefan Hans, a Motorrad safety engineer, says in the video: 'The prototype helps us to expand our knowledge about the vehicle's dynamics so that we can classify the rider's behaviour.  This helps us determine if a future situation will become dangerous or not.  If so, we can inform, warn or intervene directly.'

Researchers have already spent hundreds of hours developing the technology, and hope it could be installed in BMW motorcycles of the future.  The automaker has not revealed what technology it uses to help the bike see, but it likely involves use of motion-sensing cameras, lidar and AI technology - like almost all autonomous cars.

As self-driving technology grows, it appears our roads are destined to be filled with cars, trucks and other vehicles driven by robots.  But while the technology is improving, it seems the general public still isn't fully convinced.  A survey last month found that almost half of Americans have no interest in buying a fully self driving car.

The Cox Automotive Evolution of Mobility Study found that consumer awareness of driverless vehicles has skyrocketed - but that people still want to be able to drive themselves.  49 per cent of respondents said they would never own a fully-autonomous car, known in the industry as a Level 5 vehicle, researchers found, up from 30 per cent in 2016.  It also found 84 per cent want to have the option to drive themselves even in a self-driving vehicle, compared to 16 per cent who would feel comfortable letting an autonomous vehicle drive them without that option.

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Worms will be sent into space to be studied aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in a bid to study muscular dystrophy.  More than 360,000 one millimetre long roundworms will be launched into orbit in a container no bigger than a matchbox.  The experiment, the first developed by the UK Space Agency to be tested aboard the ISS, hopes to analyse the worms' rate of spaceflight-induced muscle loss.

The extreme environment of space triggers a number of negative health changes, with astronauts typically losing around 40 per cent of their muscle after six months.  Scientists believe that combating the health impacts for astronauts in space could  lead to a greater understanding of the ageing process on Earth – and might help researchers improve treatment of diabetes and ageing muscle loss.

The UK Space Agency, which is based in Swindon, Wiltshire, has chosen to use the microscopic Caenorhabditis elegans species for the experiment.  The species, known as C. elegans, shares many of the same essential biological characteristics as humans.  In fact, we share almost 80 per cent of the same genes with C. elegans, which are highly similar at the metabolic level, and have muscles that act much like our own.  As such, the worms will be affected by the same biological changes in space, including alterations to muscle and the ability to use energy.  These worms are also ideal specimens to send to space because they are small, quick to mature, and easy to keep alive.

Thousands of purpose-bred nematodes have now been sent to the US and will be launched on the Space X Dragon capsule in November as part of the programme titled Molecular Muscle Experiment.

Sue Horn, head of space exploration at the space agency, said: 'I'm really pleased to have experiments ready to be conducted on the ISS.  It was difficult to get this approved as only the best ideas are selected.  We have put a lot of research into finding this specific species for the experiment and we believe this will show great results.'

Ms Horn added: 'Understanding changes to provide opportunities to understand how humans age on earth and develop countermeasures for this is essential to the test.  If this works it will help in so many ways with contributing to medicine on earth and it will also help astronauts.'

Scientists have previously looked to C. elegans to study genetics.

MP Sam Gyimah, the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, said: 'It's not every day that you hear of the potential health benefits of sending worms into space, but this crucial project which is also the first of its kind, could lead to better treatment for muscular conditions for people on Earth as well as improving the wellbeing of our astronauts.'

The worms will be bred again inside the International Space Station.  Samples of medicine to combat muscle loss will be administered to the worms before they are frozen and brought back down to earth.

Experiments are expected to take around ten days and will be carried out over three months.  Preparations to send worms into space in November have already started.  The worms are in liquid bacterial feed and are sealed in a special gas permeable plastic bag.  These bags will soon be housed in a special incubator.

The worms reproduce in space and after growing to adults (a process which takes around 6.5 days) they will be frozen until returning to Earth.

The Molecular Muscle Experiment is the first UK-led experiment to take place on the International Space Station.  UK scientists are able to carry out this research thanks to the UK Space Agency's membership to the European Space Agency's exploration programme, which contributes to the costs of the International Space Station.  The UK joined the scheme back in 2012.

Tim Etheridge, Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, said; 'Worms are, perhaps surprisingly, a very good model for human muscle maintenance.  At the molecular level, both structurally and metabolically they are highly similar to that of humans and from a space flight specific perspective – they provide a lot of practical advantages.'

'They are very small, quick to grow, cheap and easy to maintain which makes them good to work with,   Spaceflight represents the accelerated human model of the ageing condition and so, hopefully, by understanding the molecular changes it may provide the opportunity to understand human ageing on earth,' he said.

Libby Jackson, Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programme Manager at the UK Space Agency said: 'This is the first of many exciting experiments heading to the International Space Station from the UK, thanks to our contributions to ESA.  The Molecular Muscle Experiment will provide knowledge that will benefit our understanding of muscle aging and help to improve life on Earth.'

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NASA's plans to launch a spacecraft capable of crashing into an asteroid to knock it off its collision course with Earth have now entered the final stages.

The space agency is set to fire its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) system, which could one-day be called upon to save the planet, into space by 2020.

DART is set to target the binary asteroid Didymos to test the system, following approval from NASA late last month.   Although the egg-shaped target, also known as 'Didymoon', is only 160 metres across, the test will highlight whether the technique could be used to deflect a much larger asteroid that threatens to wipe out human civilisation.

The DART system is being designed, built and managed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

The joint US-European Aida (Asteroid Deflection & Assessment) mission will crash a probe into the smaller of two binary asteroids to test whether the object's path is able to be altered by the spacecraft.

As it stands, NASA is unable to deflect an asteroid set to impact Earth.  The space agency could only hope to mitigate the impact of the asteroid by issuing evacuation orders to protect lives and property.

'With DART, we want to understand the nature of asteroids by seeing how a representative body reacts when impacted, with an eye toward applying that knowledge if we are faced with the need to deflect an incoming object.   In addition, DART will be the first planned visit to a binary asteroid system, which is an important subset of near-Earth asteroids and one we have yet to fully understand,' said APL's Andrew Rivkin, who co-leads the DART investigation with APL's Andrew Cheng.

DART would use what is known as a 'kinetic impactor technique' — striking the asteroid to shift its orbit.  The impact would change the speed of a threatening asteroid by a small fraction of its total velocity.  However, doing so well before a predicted impact adds up enough over time to result in a big shift of the asteroid's path from Earth.

Dr Patrick Michel, lead investigator for the European Space Agency half of the mission, said back in 2015: 'To protect Earth from potentially hazardous impacts, we need to understand asteroids much better – what they are made of, their structure, origins and how they respond to collisions.  Aida will be the first mission to study an asteroid binary system, as well as the first to test whether we can deflect an asteroid through an impact with a spacecraft.  The European part of the mission... will study the structure of Didymoon and the orbit and rotation of the binary system, providing clues to its origin and evolution.  Asteroids represent different stages in the rocky road to planetary formation, so offer fascinating snapshots into the solar system's history.'

Aida is made up of two 'sub-missions', the ESA-led Asteroid Impact Mission (Aim) and the American space agency NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) mission.

Aim will measure properties of Didymoon, including its mass and density, before deploying a small lander to investigate the object's internal structure.

Recent missions have shown that asteroids vary greatly in their geology, structure and evolution.  Almost all asteroids appear to be covered by soil, known as 'regolith', but this varies from fine grains to lumpy pebbles.  Most asteroids are aggregates of material, rather than solid bodies, but it is unclear whether they are filled with large rocks, pockets of empty space, or finer gravel.

Didymos made its closest recent approach to Earth in 2003, a distance of 7.18 million kilometres.

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Fungi could help tackle some of the world's biggest challenges, such as finding clean fuels and tackling plastic rubbish, experts have claimed.

A new report estimates there are around three million species of fungi, but little is known about this 'Jekyll and Hyde' kingdom of nature.  Many species could already be under threat as a result of habitat loss, nitrogen pollution and climate change.  This could have wider impacts on the wildlife and natural systems that rely on them, according to the first study into the state of the world's fungi.

The study was undertaken by researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and their report talks about a fungus found in a rubbish tip in Pakistan that is capable of breaking down plastics, such as polyester polyurethane.  It does so in weeks - rather than hundreds of years - raising hopes of new ways to tackle global plastic pollution.

Fungi living in plants can also break down molecules in plant cell walls directly into chemicals with similar properties to diesel.  This could also help make biofuels more economically and sustainable than they are at the moment.

Fungus which can grow in extremely acidic conditions and tolerate high levels of gamma radiation could help clean up sites contaminated by radioactive waste, the report said.

Director of science at Kew, Professor Kathy Willis, said: 'The potential of fungi to address clearly critical problems we have is very strong.  This report represents the first time the understanding of fungi is brought together in one document. This is an incredibly diverse, yet hidden kingdom.  Our knowledge of fungi is so small in comparison to plants and animals.  And yet in terms of addressing global challenges going forward, fungi may well hold many of the answers.'

Experts from Kew also warn that only 56 species have had their conservation status assessed for the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species compared with 25,452 plants and 68,054 animals.  More than 2,000 new species of fungi were found last year, in the soil, forests and caves.  However, new micro-species were also found in diverse places including under fingernails, on a baby carrier and on oil paintings.  Analysis of a packet of porcini mushrooms from the supermarket has even revealed three new species, experts at Kew said.

They are hugely important to life, with fungi that grow around roots and help plants absorb more water and nutrients helping around 90 per cent of the world's plants thrive.

One new species identified in the sandy desert soils of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could be helping lime, pomegranate and grape plants survive harsh conditions.  But they can also be among some of the most dangerous organisms, responsible for problems such as ash dieback and honey fungus.

Around 350 species are eaten by humans, from truffles to common mushrooms, meat substitutes and blue cheese, as well as products such as beer and bread which need yeast.  The market is worth $42 billion a year.  They also provide medicines, such as penicillin, statins and immunosuppressant drugs needed for transplants and speed up chemical processes in industry.

Professor Willis added: 'They are the Jekyll and Hyde, because they are important for all aspects of life on Earth but they are also some of the most devastating organisms to life on Earth.'

She warned that because many fungi were not easily visible, they were not valued, and therefore not conserved, while habitats such as woodland and wetland edges where they are found are being lost.

'We need to change this because with climate change many fungi are getting very stressed, they like rain, they like damp, moist environments, as things get  drier and hotter, things getting lost are those key fungi', she said.

Climate change could harm beneficial species, with knock-on effects on the survival of plants and reducing the storage of carbon, while rising temperatures could also mean the spread of fungal pathogens.  But they could also help plants alleviate some of the effects of climate change such as drought and increased flooding, the report said.

Professor Willis added there was a significant lack of knowledge about the threats to fungi or how they were changing because of climate change, and more research was needed.

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The reason some women smell better to men than others is because of their body chemicals, say scientists.  Ladies at the most fertile point in the menstrual cycle release reproductive hormones that boast a more alluring smell, they found.  Humans have evolved to pick up these subtle cues to pick out a partner who is most likely to give birth, researchers said.

Experts at the University of Bern in Switzerland investigated how the hormones oestrogen and low progesterone affected women's smell.  The two hormones regulate the menstrual cycle, and so their levels in the body are key determinants of a woman's fertility over the course of each month.

A total of 28 women donated their body odour as part of the study, with the samples later rated from 0-100 by 57 men.  During peak fertility they stuck cotton pads in their armpits overnight to 'capture' their body odour.  Their hormone levels were determined using saliva samples.

The researchers found that women with high oestrogen levels and low progesterone levels - an indicator of fertility - were consistently rated as having a better smell.  Researchers said the result makes sense from an evolutionary perceptive, as it means men find it easier to find a mate with whom they can sexually reproduce.

'Reproductive hormones are indicators of a woman's fertility.  And the higher their levels are the more attractive the woman is to men,' said study lead author Dr Janek Lobmaier.

Researchers said they controlled the experiment to make sure other factors did not impact each of the women's smell.  The women were not allowed to use hormonal contraception, were not allowed to share their bed with anyone during the time of odour collection.  They washed themselves and their bed clothes using neutral detergents and did not drink any alcohol or eat any spicy foods on the days they took samples.

The contraceptive pill alters women's oestrogen and progesterone levels, and researchers suggested this may change their smell.  'It is presumed that hormonal contraception may distort the body’s own odour,' said study coauthor Daria Knoch.

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Google's parent Alphabet is set to beam internet to the remotest areas of the planet via high-altitude balloons.  The firm has launched six balloons as part of its 'Project Loon' that have managed to transfer data across a 1,000 km area as part of a landmark test.  They travelled 20 km above the Earth's surface and harnessed power from card table-sized solar panels that dangle below them.  A spokesperson from Loon, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet, said the stratospheric balloons rely on a single connection to the ground in Nevada.  The test is Project Loon's latest as it heads towards its planned commercial launch of the service next year.

Salvatore Candido, head of engineering at Loon, wrote in a blog post: 'The thing about people is that they tend to live all over the place.  Even with our balloons’ expanded coverage area — which is 20 to 30 times greater than a traditional ground-based system — there are people who live outside the reach of one of our balloons.  If we can extend our reach by passing that connection across a network of balloons like a cosmic soccer team advancing the ball through the sky, we can cover far more people.'

According to Mr Candido, the balloons can overcome the main constraint of connecting people which is proximity.  The connection originated from the ground in Nevada, where packets of data were transmitted to a balloon overhead.  That data then travelled nearly 1,000 km along a network of six additional balloons.

'These connections were made using custom-built antennas mounted to the bottom of our communications payload.  Their accuracy is equivalent to throwing a ball 100 meters and landing it in a wastebasket', he said.

At the end of last year, Alphabet said its stratospheric balloons had helped more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans to connect to the internet.

The firm is working with AT&T and T-Mobile to successfully deliver basic internet to remote areas of Puerto Rico where cellphone towers were knocked out by Hurricane Maria.  At the end of last year two of the search giant's 'Project Loon' balloons were already over the country enabling texts, emails and basic web access. 

Project Loon head Alastair Westgarth said in a blog post that the technology is still experimental, though it has been tested since 2016 in Peru following flooding there.

'We've never deployed Project Loon connectivity from scratch at such a rapid pace, and we're grateful for the support of AT&T and the many other partners and organizations that have made this possible.  This is the first time we have used our new machine learning powered algorithms to keep balloons clustered over Puerto Rico, so we’re still learning how best to do this,' Mr Westgarth wrote.

The balloons were launched from Alpahbet's launch site in Nevada to Puerto Rico.

'As we get more familiar with the constantly shifting winds in this region, we hope to keep the balloons over areas where connectivity is needed for as long as possible.  Thanks to the Pan-American and Puerto Rican governments' aviation authorities and air traffic controllers, who enabled us to send small teams of balloons from our launch site in Nevada to Puerto Rico.  Thanks also to SES Networks and Liberty Cablevision who helped quickly set up essential ground infrastructure so that the balloons could get internet connectivity.'

Loon balloons have flown more than 26 million kms around the world, Alphabet said.

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A special issue of Nature has published a series of studies looking at how monitoring Antarctica from space is providing crucial insights into its response to a warming climate.  Here are their key findings:

Three trillion tonnes of ice has been lost from Antarctica since 1992

The Antarctic Ice Sheet lost around three trillion tonnes of ice between 1992 and 2017, according to research led by Leeds University.

This figure corresponds to a mean sea-level rise of about eight millimetres (1/3 inch), with two-fifths of this rise coming in the last five years alone.  The finds mean people in coastal communities are at greater risk of losing their homes and becoming so-called climate refugees than previously feared.

In one of the most complete pictures of Antarctic ice sheet change to date, an international team of 84 experts combined 24 satellite surveys to yield the results.  It found that until 2012 Antarctica lost ice at a steady rate of 76 billion tonnes per year - a 0.2mm (0.008 inches) per year contribution to sea level rise.  However, since then there has been a sharp, threefold increase.

At some point since the last Ice Age, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was smaller than it is today

Researchers previously believed that since the last ice age, around 15,000 years ago, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) was getting smaller.  However, new research published by Northern Illinois University shows that between roughly 14,500 and 9,000 years ago, the ice sheet below sea level was even smaller than today.

Over the following millennia, the loss of the massive amount of ice that was previously weighing down the seabed spurred an uplift in the sea floor.  Then the ice sheet began to regrow toward today's configuration.

'The WAIS today is again retreating, but there was a time since the last Ice Age when the ice sheet was even smaller than it is now, yet it didn't collapse,' said Northern Illinois University geology professor Reed Scherer, a lead author on the study.

'That's important information to have as we try to figure out how the ice sheet will behave in the future', he said.

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet was stable throughout the last warm period

The stability of the largest ice sheet on Earth is an indication to scientists that it could hold up as temperatures continue to rise.

If all the East Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, the sea level would rise by 175 feet (53 metres).

However, unlike the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets it seems it would be resistant to melting as conditions warm, according to research from Purdue University and Boston College.

Their research showed that land-based sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet were mostly stable throughout the Pliocene (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago).  This is when carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were close to what they are today - around 400 parts per million.

'Based on this evidence from the Pliocene, today's current carbon dioxide levels are not enough to destabilise the land-based ice on the Antarctic continent,' said Jeremy Shakun, lead author of the paper and assistant professor of earth and environmental science at Boston College.

'This does not mean that at current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, Antarctica won't contribute to sea level rise.  Marine-based ice very well could and in fact is already starting to contribute, and that alone holds an estimated 20 meters of sea level rise,' he said.

Decisions in the next decade will determine whether Antarctica contributes to a metre of sea level rise

One of the largest uncertainties in future sea-level rise predictions is how the Antarctic ice sheet reacts to human-induced global warming.

Scientists say that time is running out to save this unique ecosystem and if the right decisions are not made in the next ten years there will be no turning back.

Researchers from Imperial College London assessed the state of Antarctica in 2070 under two scenarios which represent the opposite extremes of action and inaction on greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the high emissions and low regulations narrative, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean undergo widespread and rapid change, with global consequences.  By 2070, warming of the ocean and atmosphere has caused dramatic loss of major ice shelves, leading to increased loss of grounded ice from the Antarctic Ice Sheet and an acceleration in global sea level rise.

Under the low emissions and tight regulations narrative, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and implementation of effective policy helps to minimise change in Antarctica, which in 2070 looks much like it did in the early decades of the century.  This results in Antarctica's ice shelves remaining intact, slowing loss of ice from the ice sheet and reducing the threat of sea level rise.

What saved the West Antarctic Ice Sheet 10,000 years ago will not save it today

The retreat of the West Antarctic ice masses after the last Ice Age was reversed surprisingly about 10,000 years ago, scientists found.  In fact it was the shrinking itself that stopped the shrinking: relieved from the weight of the ice, the Earth crust lifted and triggered the re-advance of the ice sheet.

According to research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) this mechanism is much too slow to prevent dangerous sea-level rise caused by West Antarctica's ice-loss in the present and near future.

Only rapid greenhouse-gas emission reductions can, researchers found.

'The warming after the last Ice Age made the ice masses of West Antarctica dwindle.  Given the speed of current climate-change from burning fossil fuels, the mechanism we detected unfortunately does not work fast enough to save today's ice sheets from melting and causing seas to rise,' said Torsten Albrecht from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

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The world's ice shelves may be being destabilised by forces from above and below

Researchers found that warm ocean water flowing in channels beneath Antarctic ice shelves is thinning the ice from below so much that the ice in the channels is cracking.  Surface meltwater can then flow into these fractures, further destabilising the ice shelf and increasing the chances that substantial pieces will break away.

The researchers, led by the University of Texas at Austin, documented this mechanism in a major ice break up, or calving, event in 2016 at Antarctica's Nansen Ice Shelf.

The findings are concerning because ice shelves, which are floating extensions of continental glaciers, slow down the flow of ice into the ocean and help control the rate of sea level rise, according to the study.

'We are learning that ice shelves are more vulnerable to rising ocean and air temperatures than we thought,' said Professor Christine Dow, lead author of the study.

'There are dual processes going on here. One that is destabilising from below, and another from above.

'This information could have an impact on our projected timelines for ice shelf collapse and resulting sea level rise due to climate change', he said.

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Scientists have mapped Antarctica’s terrain in unprecedented detail, in what’s said to be the highest-resolution map of its kind for any continent in the world.

The new map shows a much better look at the icy continent’s surface features, with a crisp resolution of 2 to 8 meters – compared to the previous standard of 1,000 meters.  The massive 150 terabyte file will provide much more precise information for scientists planning to explore the region.

The new map, called the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA), was created by scientists at Ohio State University in collaboration with Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois.

Ian Howat, professor of Earth sciences and director of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University said: ‘It is the highest-resolution terrain map by far of any continent.  Up until now, we’ve had a better map of Mars than we’ve had of Antarctica.  Now it is the best-mapped continent.’

According to the researcher, this ultra-precise map could revolutionize how we study Antarctica.  Images of the new map compared to the prior surface imaging show just how dramatic the improvement is.  Where features are pronounced and detailed in the new version, they appear blurred smudges in older maps.

Howat said: ‘At this resolution, you can see almost everything.  We can actually see variations in the snow in some places.  We will be able to measure changes in the surface of the continent over time.  We will see changes in snow cover, changes in the motion of ice.  We will be able to monitor river discharge, flooding, and volcanoes.  We will be able to see the thinning of glaciers.’

For the map, researchers used the high-performance Blue Waters supercomputer to process data, using software developed by the team at the Byrd Center to assemble overlapping pairs of satellite images.

Howat said: ‘We had to start from scratch to build this.  The software had to filter data, process it, and turn it into a refined product for the scientific and broader community to use.’

Navigating the treacherous Antarctic terrain is no easy feat.  But, with the new map, scientists will have a much better idea of what they’re getting themselves into as they plan excursions to the continent.

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