Climate Watch: Arctic to be hit by record-breaking heat wave from Europe

This will adversely affect European birthrates again! A team, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, based their study on demographic data from church records of some 8,600 individuals from two different mid-Norwegian populations, one poor and one wealthy.This was matched to maps of historical solar cycles. On top of lifespan, being born in a solar maximum period also "significantly reduced" fertility for women ..."We show for the first time that not only infant survival and thus lifespan but also fertility is statistically associated with solar activity at birth," they wrote. One explanation could be ultraviolet-induced degradation of the B vitamin folate, a shortage of which before birth has been linked to higher rates of illness and death," Our findings suggest that maternal exposure to solar activity during gestation can affect the fitness of female children," the authors wrote."The effect of socio-economic status on the relationship between solar activity and fertility suggests that high-status pregnant women were better able to avoid the adverse effects of high solar activity" — possibly by staying out of the sun...The team did not have data about how early or late into a solar maximum event the children were born — a limitation of the study.And they could not fully distinguish between pre- or post-natal exposure to ultraviolet light.Further investigation is needed, they said, to test whether the results were repeated in people of different skin colours, and those living at different latitudes."This study is the first to emphasize the importance of UVR (ultraviolet radiation) in early life," the authors said."UVR is a global stressor with potential ecological impacts and the future levels of UVR are expected to increase due to climate change and variation in atmospheric ozone."Thus it could adversely affect future populations of Europeans!