We're Toast 46

This post is a collection of links that support my increasingly strong feeling that the human race (or at least our technological civilization) is doomed. It is part of an ongoing series of posts.

Carrington Event-Sized Solar Storms Are More Common Than We Thought. "The effects of these events would be much more devastating today." Our electrical grids are not ready for a geomagnetic storm of this intensity. 

An Invasive Tick That Can Clone Itself Is Spreading Across the U.S., Threatening Livestock. "Researchers documented three cows in Ohio killed by Asian longhorned ticks, which can lay up to 2,000 eggs without needing to mate. The ticks pose a serious threat to livestock, because they congregate in the thousands and can drain an entire animal of blood." 

Zooplankton in ocean and freshwater are rapidly escalating the global environmental threat of plastics, finds study. "A collaborative research team lead by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently revealed that rotifers, a kind of microscopic zooplankton common in both fresh and ocean water around the world, are able to chew apart microplastics, breaking them down into even smaller, and potentially more dangerous, nanoplastics—or particles smaller than one micron. Each rotifer can create between 348,000–366,000 per day, leading to uncountable swarms of nanoparticles in our environment."

We're in a Global Health Emergency Warn Leading Medical Experts. "Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss a Human Health Emergency."

Deep warming. "Even if we ‘solve’ global warming, we face an older, slower problem. Waste heat could radically alter Earth’s future."

Earth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn.  "Humanity faces ‘devastating domino effects’ including mass displacement and financial ruin as planet warms."

What’s the big deal about Earth getting 2°C hotter? "The increase may sound inconsequential, but scientists say there are serious ramifications for life as we know it if the planet exceeds the climate target."

From Niagara Falls to Texas to Gaza, a horrifying look into the abyss of a post-truth future. "A New York car crash falsely propagandized as 'a terror attack'  symbolized our increasingly Orwellian post-truth world."