All posts tagged: slowdown

Slowdown of AMOC ocean current may be gradual and reversible

Slowdown of AMOC ocean current may be gradual and reversible

Published by skeptic

A visualisation of Atlantic Ocean currents based on satellite imagery KARSTEN SCHNEIDER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could weaken under a flood of Greenland meltwater, but this slowdown would be gradual and it would reverse if global warming were halted, according to a state-of-the-art climate model. The AMOC is a system of currents that brings warm, salty, tropical water into the North Atlantic Ocean, where it cools, sinks and returns southwards along the seabed. Fresh water melting from the Greenland ice sheet appears to be mixing with this dense seawater and slowing its cascade down to the ocean floor. Because Greenland is now losing 30 million tonnes of ice every hour, some scientists fear the AMOC could face an abrupt and irreversible collapse, plunging Europe into near-Arctic conditions. One study found the AMOC could cross a tipping point within decades. But modelling research by Oliver Mehling at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues has found that while continued rapid Greenland melt could steadily weaken the AMOC under global warming, this decline …

🍿 The exception to the slowdown

🍿 The exception to the slowdown

Published by Jenni Sidey

T. Clark is the author of All This Want (and I Can’t Get None), out today from One World. Below, they recommend three books with missing parental figures. My debut collection, All This Want (and I Can’t Get None), features 12 stories of protagonists chasing desires. The desires can be complicated; characters want things that are dangerous, counterintuitive, illogical, and strange. They are products of their circumstances, and for a myriad of reasons, their parents are physically absent and almost always unavailable to give wisdom or offer an inkling of common sense. Here are three books that might also make you ask, “Where are the parents?” Trust Exercise by Susan Choi: Susan Choi’s novel is told in three parts, with the first chunk set in a southern high school for performing arts. The students are ambitious, overachieving actors who spend a good deal of their free time rehearsing and trying to keep their reputations (and hormones) in check. Adult guidance comes not in the form of parents but in charismatic teachers, overseas visitors, and friends’ …

What is a ‘normal’ memory slowdown, and when should I worry?

What is a ‘normal’ memory slowdown, and when should I worry?

Published by skeptic

We all have moments of forgetfulness Craig Boylan We’ve all been there. You walk upstairs only to find yourself wondering why you bothered. You blank on an acquaintance’s name, just as you’re introducing them. Or maybe, after a frantic search, you find your car keys in the fridge of all places. Such momentary lapses of memory can be disconcerting, but they are part and parcel of getting older, and very much to be expected. “Decline in what researchers call episodic memory – what happened, where and when – is a normal part of human cognitive ageing,” says Ulman Lindenberger, a cognitive neuroscientist and director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. “In most adults, decline becomes apparent in their 60s… and it affects all stages of memory, from the encoding of new events over consolidation to retention and recall.” This is largely explained by structural and functional changes to the brain that begin in middle age and accelerate from there. In a 2025 paper analysing more than 3700 “cognitively healthy” adults, Lindenberger …

Wix Tumbles After Cutting 20% Of Workforce, Warns Of Deeper Growth Slowdown

Wix Tumbles After Cutting 20% Of Workforce, Warns Of Deeper Growth Slowdown

Published by Jenni Sidey

Website builder Wix announced an “organizational realignment” on Monday that will cut roughly 20% of its workforce, as the company warned of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in its Partners business. The restructuring is designed to streamline operations, discontinue lower-priority initiatives, and reallocate resources toward Wix’s core growth areas. “The organizational realignment to streamline operations and reallocate resources to support the Company’s top strategic priorities. This includes the scaling down and/or discontinuation of certain activities, initiatives, products, and subsidiaries,” Wix wrote in a Form 6k filing earlier this morning. As of 1Q26, Wix had 5,277 employees, so a 20% cut would represent about 1,055 layoffs. Wix is a SaaS website builder that competes with platforms such as Shopify, Squarespace, GoDaddy, and WordPress-related services. There was no mention of whether AI-related efficiencies contributed to the white-collar layoffs. The 6k filing noted that it expects 2026 free cash flow, excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, of about $420 million, roughly $20 million above its prior plan. This restructuring is a move to support profitability. “While Wix Harmony and Base44 continue …

IEA: Global EV sales headed for another record year despite the slowdown

IEA: Global EV sales headed for another record year despite the slowdown

Published by skeptic

BYD Denza Z9 GT makes its European debut (Source: BYD) According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) new Global EV Outlook, electric car sales are expected to hit 23 million in 2026, making up nearly 30% of all new cars sold worldwide. That comes after EV sales topped 20 million in 2025, up 20% year over year, with 1 in 4 new cars sold globally now electric. The IEA says global EV sales momentum is continuing despite the ongoing energy crisis tied to the war in the Middle East. And in many places, rising fuel prices are actually making EVs look even more attractive to buyers. EV sales dipped early in 2026 but most regions are still growing Global EV sales fell 8% in Q1 2026 compared to the same period last year, following policy changes in China and the US. But that headline number doesn’t tell the full story. For example, close to 55% of new cars sold in China – 13 million – were electric in 2025, maintaining its spot as the world’s …

Developing countries in Europe, Central Asia face slowdown, World Bank says

Developing countries in Europe, Central Asia face slowdown, World Bank says

Published by Sam Flores

April 8 : Emerging and developing economies in Europe and Central Asia face a sharp slowdown this year under a scenario of a large but temporary rise in energy prices from the conflict in the Middle East, the World Bank said on Wednesday. The Iran war, which broke out in late February, has hit global oil supplies and sent prices soaring, lifting companies’ costs and hitting people at the fuel pump. Tehran and Washington agreed a two-week ceasefire late on Tuesday. In an updated outlook, the World Bank said the conflict posed a substantial risk to the global economy, including developing and emerging countries in Europe and Central Asia. The region includes nearly two dozen countries from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia to European Union members Poland and Romania, Albania and Serbia in the Balkans, and Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.  While energy exporters are likely to benefit temporarily from rising commodity prices, most countries are energy importers and likely to face increased fiscal and current account pressure. As a whole, growth across the region …