Planetary jostling
Pluto may escape demotion as a planet. A new definition of a planet is being submitted by the International Astronomical Union to astronomers at the IAU General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic, next week. If approved, we will have 12 planets, including Pluto鈥檚 moon Charon, the newly discovered 2003 UB313, and Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.
Zoo surfing
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It is an electronic Noah鈥檚 Ark. The names of every animal species known to science have been posted on a public website, the first time that details of all 1.5 million known species have appeared in one place. ZooBank, which went live on 10 August, marks a major step in the effort to discover and record all life on Earth.
The three degrees
The climate change 鈥渢ipping point鈥� could occur in about 40 years, according to an analysis of the potential effects of global warming from the University of Bristol, UK. If the average global temperature increases by more than 3 掳C over the next century then extreme floods, forest fires and droughts will become more common as carbon sinks release their CO2 and create a positive feedback loop.
Bird flu strikes again
The number of deaths from H5N1 bird flu now stands at 139. This week, China confirmed its 14th fatality, a man in the Xinjiang region who died on 14 July. Indonesia has also announced one confirmed case, and one suspected. The man carrying the virus is still alive, while his cousin, who had bird-flu-like symptoms, died last week.
Sea change
The future of the Caspian Sea looks a little brighter this week. On 12 August the Caspian Convention came into effect, the first binding agreement signed by all five bordering countries to safeguard the sea鈥檚 ecology and prevent pollution.