July was Earth's third-hottest on record, included a record for Turkey, EU scientists say
Last month continued a trend of extreme climate conditions that scientists attribute to man-made global warming, even though there was a pause in record-breaking temperatures for the planet.
According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the average global surface air temperature reached 16.68 C in July, which is 0.45 C above the 1991-2020 average for the month.
"Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over – for now," said Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S.
"But this doesn't mean climate change has stopped. We continued to witness the effects of a warming world in events such as extreme heat and catastrophic floods in July."
While not as hot as the record-setting July 2023 and second-warmest July 2024, Earth's average surface temperature last month was still 1.25 C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale.
Moreover, the 12-month period from August 2024 to July 2025 was 1.53 C warmer than pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 1.5 C threshold that was set as a maximum in the Paris Agreement that sought to curb global warming and entered into force in 2016.
The main cause of climate change is the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
Last year was the world's hottest year ever recorded.
The world has not yet officially surpassed the 1.5 C target, which refers to a long-term global average temperature over several decades.
However, some scientists argue that staying below this threshold is no longer realistically achievable. They are urging governments to accelerate cuts to CO2 emissions to reduce the extent of the overshoot and curb the rise in extreme weather events.
The C3S has temperature records dating back to 1940, which are cross-referenced with global data reaching as far back as 1850.
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The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Can an AI chatbot of Dr Karl change climate sceptics' minds? He's willing to give it a try
There's arguably no face, voice or collection of exuberant, patterned shirts more recognisable than those belonging to Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. The bespectacled boffin has been answering curly listener questions about science, with characteristic excitement and passion, for more than 40 years. Despite a seemingly tireless work ethic, Kruszelnicki, now 77 years old, can't be everywhere all at once. Those questions now come in waves, across social media platforms at all hours of the day. 'Sometimes I get 300 requests a day on Twitter to answer an involved question about climate change,' Kruszelnicki says. Particularly on X (formerly Twitter), he says he would often engage with users who don't believe climate change is real or urgent. He hoped there might be a way to change the minds of this group of people, who he says have been bombarded by misinformation in places such as the Murdoch press for the past 30 years. After speaking with longtime friend and technology journalist Leigh Stark, the pair settled on an idea: an AI-powered Digital Dr Karl. Using a large language model (LLM), they're creating a chatbot designed to sound like Kruszelnicki that provides users with evidence, backed by trustworthy sources, that the climate crisis is caused by humans and is an urgent problem to solve. 'I cannot answer all the questions by myself and people want questions answered. The only way I can do it is develop this digital AI,' he says. Kruszelnicki's achievements as a science communicator are unparalleled: in Australia he's considered a National Living Treasure, he won the Unesco Kalinga prize, he wrote dozens of books and is the one and only Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the University of Sydney, a position he has held since 1993. He believes AI can help convince those who don't believe in the severity and causes of the climate crisis – even if there are outstanding questions around the ethical use of AI, its training data, accuracy and its own environmental impacts. 'I think with climate change, we are at a stage where the perfect is the enemy of the good,' he says. 'We're certainly not going to become unethical or become like the forces of evil.' Digital Dr Karl runs on an open-source LLM developed by Mistral, a French company considered one of Europe's challengers to OpenAI and Google. To create Digital Dr Karl, Stark has taken Mistral's base model, then trained it on a corpus of Kruszelnicki's climate science resources acquired through his own research for his own books and writing on climate. It includes academic papers, consensus statements and original articles from publications including the New York Times, the Guardian and RenewEconomy to build out its knowledge, just like the real Kruszelnicki has. 'This is an AI that's been trained on the 40,000 PDFs I've gathered over the last 40 years,' he says. Stark says questions over copyright are valid, and he would like to ultimately have the chatbot trained exclusively on data, but says 'we're not at that point yet', emphasising 'this is beta, this is really early stuff' and the intent is to build something 'based solely on data'. Taking the Guardian through a demonstration of Digital Dr Karl, Stark reveals the AI interface is similar to ChatGPT, and users can type in a single query about climate change to kickstart a conversation. Stark types in 'climate change is a hoax' and the Digital Dr Karl replies a few seconds later in a stilted and tonally inconsistent recreation of Kruszelnicki's voice. It wants to know if we are suggesting climate change 'is a fabricated idea'. We are only able to answer yes or no. We respond yes, at which point the AI quotes Barack Obama on the effects of climate change. As the conversation continues, Digital Dr Karl displays data, such as graphs showing atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 170 years. But it also seems to mix metaphors and 'hallucinate' (the terminology used in AI research for 'make up') some of the numbers for atmospheric carbon dioxide rise. Stark describes the AI as both an 'alpha' and 'beta' version, and he is working to improve the AI voice, but expects Digital Dr Karl will release this in October. Kruszelnicki says he has already spent $20,000 of his own money since February to develop the AI: 'This is purely philanthropic – I do this because I see this as my duty, in return for 16 years of free university education that I received.' Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion Kruszelnicki plans to run his digital self for 100 days because 'it's a nice round number'. He will also deliver 100 TikToks, one a day, alongside the project and each one will push people to his Digital Dr Karl, Stark says. After 100 days, the pair will switch off their AI and 'work out what the fuck just happened'. At that juncture they will do a survey with the hope that the result is that 'more people are open-minded and believe in climate change', says Stark. Kruszelnicki says they're just 'trying to do the Mark 1' and will see what they find before deciding whether they go on to a Mark 2. There are some hints about what could happen. Mounting evidence – academic and anecdotal – suggests LLMs can influence emotion, opinion and belief. In September 2024, a study in the journal Science showed conversations with a chatbot could reduce participants' belief in their chosen conspiracy theory, including everything from the Kennedy assassination to the illuminati, by around 20% on average. The effect persisted for two months after the conversations took place. Thomas Costello, assistant professor of psychology at American University and lead author of the Science study, says the AI is persuasive because it can rapidly access and strategically deploy information in conversation. 'The back and forth is useful because [reasoned] dialogue and debate is excellent at surfacing the crux of disagreements and kicking the tyres of each side,' he says. Costello has also co-authored another study, yet to be peer-reviewed but available online, suggesting a similar effect is seen when AI models, tailored to respond to specific concerns from a user, address climate scepticism and inaction. One of the key elements though, is that these AI agents are not based on any real person, and to shape belief, users must be willing to engage in conversation. But even if Digital Dr Karl can change minds, it contains the same outstanding issues as other LLMs. Kruszelnicki and Stark hope to alleviate the concerns around AI's environmental impacts. 'We'll run the website entirely off solar panels and you don't need a lot of energy,' says Kruszelnicki. Stark says Digital Dr Karl is running off a very small amount of computer memory on a $12,000 Mac and it theoretically can run on renewables. 'If we can get several of these computers running off of a solar battery or basically solar panel and a large battery, then we can effectively run this on renewables.' However, with more users, Stark says scaling it could be a challenge – he expects up to 2,500 people will be accessing Digital Dr Karl at any time. 'We're going to be keeping an eye on it, on every response that it makes,' Kruszelnicki says. 'And if it goes bad, we'll pull the plug.'
Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Alan Turing Institute accused of ‘mismanagement of public funds'
Staff at the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) have filed a whistleblowing complaint with the charity watchdog, alleging the 'mismanagement of public funds' amid a 'crisis' at the publicly funded research institution. The ATI, which last year was handed £100m in taxpayer funding, was accused of a 'failure to deliver on its charitable mission' in the filing with the Charity Commission, The Telegraph understands. The complaint alleges that public cash and donations have been spent on 'wasted resources' with 'no accountability' over how funds have been deployed. Established in 2015 as Britain's leading centre of artificial intelligence (AI) research, the ATI has been in turmoil amid questions over its effectiveness and internal anger from staff. Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, stepped in last month, writing a letter to the chairman of the ATI demanding 'reform' and that it change its focus to defence. Mr Kyle told Doug Gurr, the former Amazon UK boss who is chairman of the ATI's board of trustees, it must 'evolve and adapt' and warned long-term funding for Turing would be tied to new objectives prioritising 'defence, national security and sovereign capabilities'. In the whistleblowing complaint, staff warned that the threat to funding 'could lead to the Institute's collapse'. It is understood that the Charity Commission is in the early stages of examining the claims. As part of the complaint, staff claim that the ATI has shifted its priorities away from its stated charitable purpose, which includes research into 'data-centric engineering, high performance computing and cyber security, to smart cities, health, the economy and data ethics'. Questions for the ATI The ATI, which is named after the Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing, has since scrapped or paused a number of initiatives under its public policy programme, including initiatives to study women and diversity in data science and AI bias. It is not the first time the ATI has faced questions over its direction. A report last month from British Progress, a think tank, claimed it had a 'fragmented and thinly spread research portfolio' that had drifted toward 'work rooted in social and political critique'. The uncertainty at the research lab has been accompanied by the exit of senior researchers and executives. Turing's chief technology officer, Jonathan Starck, left the ATI just nine months after being appointed, while two senior scientists – Andrew Duncan and Marc Deisenroth – both also left earlier this year after originally being asked to lead a series of 'grand challenges' for the organisation. The ATI has been in the process of cutting dozens of jobs, while it has been grappling with plunging morale among staff after ending a number of projects. It is understood that a separate whistleblowing complaint, sent to the UK Research and Innovation funding agency, about the ATI was the subject of an independent investigation, which found no concerns. A spokesman for the Alan Turing Institute said: 'We're shaping a new phase for the Turing, and this requires substantial organisational change to ensure we deliver on the promise and unique role of the UK's national institute for data science and AI. 'As we move forward, we're focused on delivering real-world impact across society's biggest challenges, including responding to the national need to double down on our work in defence, national security and sovereign capabilities.'
BreakingNews.ie
43 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Alcohol and drug use in e-scooter injuries doubles since law change, research shows
The presence of alcohol and drugs in patients involved in falls and collisions from e-scooters has doubled while use of helmets has decreased since the use of e-scooters on public roads was legalised last year, according to the findings of new research. Doctors at one of Dublin's largest hospitals found there has been no significant reduction in injury incidence, severity or adoption of protective measures such as helmet use and avoidance of intoxicants since legislative reform allowing the use of e-scooters on public roads was introduced in May 2024. Advertisement Instead, overall injury rates are continuing to increase due to the growing popularity of e-scooters, although fewer related injuries have been recorded among young people under 16 years. The research by doctors at the National Maxillofacial Unit at St James's Hospital also revealed that alcohol or some other substance had been consumed by the victims of an e-scooter related injury in 36% of cases since the passing of the legislation compared to 18% beforehand. As a result of the study's findings, they recommended that mandatory safety training or educational modules should be implemented as a prerequisite for use of e-scooters. The study analysed patients presenting with e-scooter related facial injuries for two 10-months periods before and after the passing of the legislation which classified e-scooters as 'personal powered transporters'. Advertisement The law requires users to be over 16 years and to adhere to a maximum speed limit of 20km/h, although the use of helmets is not mandatory. The study, which is published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science, highlighted how e-scooter-related injuries rose from 1.7% of all facial trauma presentations at St James's Hospital to 2.5% since the use of e-scooters on public roads was legalised. Rates of admission to hospital of such patients have also increased from 31% to 36% with an associated rise in the number of related surgical procedures. The use of helmets by patients with e-scooter-related facial injuries declined from 23% to 18% over the same period. Advertisement Prior to the legislation being introduced, most injuries occurred between 4pm and 7pm. Since the passing of the legislation, however, more than half of all cases took place between 7pm and 6am, of which more than half reported having consumed alcohol at the time. In contrast, the lowest frequency of injuries occurred during the busy commuter period of 6am-9am. 'Alcohol use and poor helmet compliance in the later hours of injury incidence was a prevalent finding in both cohorts,' the study noted. Advertisement The researchers said such findings highlighted the critical need to tailor public health and safety interventions to periods of elevated risk. 'Infrastructure improvements—such as enhanced street lighting—and targeted public awareness campaigns focused on evening and night-time riders may offer substantial benefits in reducing both the frequency and severity of e-scooter-related injuries,' they added. The analysis showed 22 patients had presented with 26 maxillofacial injuries between May 2023 and February 2024, while 28 patients with 36 maxillofacial injuries were recorded between May 2024 and February 2025. Many of the same patients had also suffered injuries to other parts of their bodies. Advertisement The overwhelming majority of patients over both periods were drivers of e-scooters with only three of 50 cases involving pedestrians. The analysis also revealed that the proportion of patients with e-scooter-related injuries who were male increased from 59% to 71%. Non-Irish nationals account for almost half of all patients with such injuries with their share of total cases increasing from 41% to 46% over the two periods analysed. There was also a significant increase in the proportion of patients who live in Dublin which increased from 45% to 75%. The study said such figures suggested an increased uptake of e-scooter use within the capital. The average age of patients remained stable at approximately 33 years. Only one person under 16 years sought treatment for an e-scooter-related facial injury after the legislation was introduced compared to three in the period before they were legalised for use on public roads. However, the study found an increase in injuries among both the 16-34 and 35-44 age groups. Nobody over 60 years was reported as suffering from an e-scooter-related facial injury during either period. The study said there had been a shift in frequency and severity in facial fracture patterns since implementation of the new legislation. The most common facial fracture experienced by e-scooter users is to the cheekbone followed by the jaw. The authors of the study said their findings suggested that recent legislative changes had 'some modest impact' on e-scooter-related facial injuries due to fewer injuries among younger teenagers, while a decrease in head trauma incidents might be attributable to the introduction of a statutory speed limit. In addition, they claimed the increasing rate of facial injuries among e-scooter users was contributing to a rising burden on healthcare services. They also observed that a growth in the number of injuries of e-scooter users from Dublin coupled with the increased prevalence of alcohol consumption and night-time riding 'underscores a potential growing risk profile.' The study recommended that ongoing surveillance and policy evaluation were essential for having effective strategies to prevent injuries from e-scooters.
