Technologies

NASA Declares Summer 2023 the Hottest on Record

NASA calls out climate change as a culprit for a summer that eclipsed heat records dating back to 1880.

If this summer felt to you like a never-ending sweltering heat wave, then you’re not alone. The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record, NASA said Thursday. Experts with NASA’s
Goddard Institute of Space Studies said the heat was connected to human-caused climate change combined with a natural climate pattern called El Niño.

Global records date back to 1880. NASA data shows the combined months of June, July, and August were 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (0.23 degrees Celsius) warmer than any summer on record. Compared with the average summer between 1951 and 1980, summer 2023 was 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 Celsius) warmer. NASA considers June through August to be meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

«Summer 2023’s record-setting temperatures aren’t just a set of numbers — they result in dire real-world consequences,» said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Nelson called out climate change as «a threat to our planet and future generations.»

NASA specifically cited human-caused greenhouse gas emissions as a driving force behind climate change and the global warming trend that led to such a scorching summer. Most of these greenhouse gas emissions come from China, the US and the countries of the European Union, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Per capita, greenhouse gas emissions are highest in the US and Russia.

NASA gathers its surface air temperature data from thousands of meteorological stations around the world, including ones that are located at sea. The agency isn’t just looking at the raw heat numbers but instead calculates temperature anomalies, so it’s looking at how temperatures are different from previous averages.

What happened with temperatures out at sea is just as important as what people were experiencing on land. «Exceptionally high sea surface temperatures, fueled in part by the return of El Niño, were largely responsible for the summer’s record warmth,» said NASA JPL climate scientist Josh Willis.

El Niño is a recurring natural weather pattern of higher than normal surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean. El Niño exacerbated conditions over the summer, setting the stage for record-high heat.

Summer may be history for the Northern Hemisphere in 2023, but concerns remain for the future. More records could fall as the globe continues to warm.

«Unfortunately, climate change is happening. Things that we said would come to pass are coming to pass,» said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. «And it will get worse if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.»

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The Hottest Switch 2 Accessory Could Be… a Lap Desk

Commentary: How else will you use the Joy-Cons’ cool new mouse feature?

One of the most interesting rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2’s Joy-Cons was that you could use them like computer mice. Now that the feature has been confirmed in the April 2 Nintendo Direct, and we’ve seen it used for action and strategy games, it’s pretty clear: The most-needed accessory for the new Switch 2 is a lap desk.

Given its rich history of introducing wacky new ways to control games, Nintendo can perhaps be forgiven for introducing a novel control function in a console that is otherwise largely identical to its predecessor. But the Switch 2 is a couch console when docked and freely roaming otherwise — rarely near a flat surface to use the Joy-Cons’ mouse functionality.

As a lap desk owner, fan and evangelizer, lap desks are the obvious answer to the mouse problem: portable around the house, multipurpose for work or play and somewhat affordable. Or at least, there are reasonable options that aren’t any pricier than the $90 Nintendo is asking for Switch 2 Joy-Cons.

While yes, any flat surface will technically do, just look at the gameplay for Drag x Drive, where players are shown running their dual Joy-Cons up and back in rapid succession. That seems hard to do on a makeshift surface like a clipboard or container lid. And for strategy games like Civilization 7, imagine not having a wide surface to move around the map and click in and out of menus.

Nintendo’s Treehouse stream for the launch game Drag x Drive showed how to use both Joy-Cons in mouse mode to move around. The presenter — playing on a desk — noted that players could run the controllers flat on their legs as alternative surfaces.

As CNET’s Scott Stein noted in his hands-on with the Switch 2, using the Joy-Cons on his legs was «a little less tiring» than on a desk — but presumably this only works well for a game like Drag x Drive, which relies on forward-and-back motion rather than side-to-side (unless you get really good at wrapping around your legs).

It’s worth pointing out how few of the Switch 2’s launch games and those coming later have mouse functionality — right now, only Drag x Drive requires it, while Civ 7 and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond optionally use Joy-Cons in mouse mode. Mario Party Jamboree will have also added mouse functionality in its Switch 2 version. We’ll wait to see how many games truly take advantage of this control potential.

Admittedly, the $450 Switch 2 and $80 Mario Kart World prices are already ruffling feathers, so expecting gamers to pay more for furniture just to get basic functionality for certain games is a big ask. But for all those couch crusaders planning their most relaxing way to play, a lap desk is the best way to have your Switch 2 and mouse with it, too.