Archives for July, 2011
Skeptical Search Engine
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2011 I’ve updated the Skeptical Search Engine (on the left side bar of this site, as well as below in this blog post) to include more sites dealing with climate change. Enjoy!
How Badly did Rebecca Watson Abuse Stef McGraw and Humanity in General?
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2011 Here’s the talk.
The Last Word on Global Warming: There Will Be No More Denialism
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2011 The podcast is here
Google Inc IS a different kind of thing
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2011 In the old days, canals, roads, train tracks, etc. were almost all privately owned in many countries. Some airports too, but not many. Now, most of these elements of our infrastructure are publicly owned or so regulated that they may as well be. Same with utilities. I wrote a while ago about how Amazon Dot…
“We can know nothing about the origin of life”
Posted by Greg Laden on July 30, 2011 Falsehood!!! Sometimes people say that because it seems reasonable to them … what, with life originating so long ago and so much geological mushing-around happening since then. But sometimes people say that, and sound quite innocent in saying it, because they want to throw the average person off track and make them think that Evolutionary…
Darwinian Thinking From The Birds
Posted by Greg Laden on July 29, 2011 …Louis Agassiz, the most famous scientist of his time, eclipsing Darwin in his stature and influence (up to a point) addressed this diversity across the landscape in one way. Darwin addressed it in another way. Today, most people don’t even know what Agassiz said, even though it is a perfectly rational model if you are…
What would you ask an expert on climate change?
Posted by Greg Laden on July 29, 2011 Sunday’s radio show is going to be a very special treat for all of us. Mike Haubrich and I are going to be speaking with Kevin Zelnio and John Abraham about climate change, global warming, and science vs. denialism.
Climate Change Update
Posted by Greg Laden on July 29, 2011 Relying heavily on the excellent resource known as Dr. Jeff Master’s Wunderblog and a few other sources, I’ve compiled a quick list of a few of the highlights of weather events related to global warming in the news these days, in preparation for this weekend’s radio show “The Science of Global Warming: Science V Denialsim”…
On the Misdiagnosis of Surface Temperature Feedbacks from Variations in Earth’s Radiant Energy Balance
Posted by Greg Laden on July 29, 2011 According to a newly published paper in the journal “Remote Sensing” the Earth’s atmosphere releases into space more heat than climate scientists had previously estimated in a way that effectively removes concern about fossil CO2 being released into the atmosphere.
Friday Cephalopod to DIE For
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 I know, I know, PZ Myers at Pharyngula does a Friday Cephalopod thing, and I’m totally ripping him off here and it’s not even friday yet, but still .. (Below the fold. Not work safe if you work, say, in a Japanese resturant.)
Bill Nye: “Science is science is science, bitches”
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 Birds feared Darwin
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 Have you been keeping up with my posts at Birdingblogs.com? If Darwin was alive today he would be a bird watcher. But he would do his bird watching differently, using a nice set of binoculars rather than a shotgun. In his autobiography, Darwin reminisces … Read more
Japan Nuclear Disaster Update 32: “Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in History”
Posted by Analiese Miller and Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 In the old days this was easy. The power plants were melting down but no one knew what was going on inside them; Water was being poured in and cooking off as steam, and every now and then the way they were getting the water in or the way they were powering the pumps would…
A robot that flies like a bird
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 Archaeopteryx Falls from Bird Family Tree Again
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 A proposal has been made to remove beloved Archaeopteryx from the bird family tree and push it over to some non-avian dinosaur subtree. This is not the first time that the ancient species has had its position on the tree of bird life threatened, but this time it may be for real. The proposal is…
A few things you should have a look at if you are bored.
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 Atheists are trolls it turns out!!!! Jason has it covered. Hey look, I won an award! Some bad news from the Death from the Skies front: a half dozen meteors all seemed to come from the same spot in the sky, indicating they all had a common origin. … they probably come from a parent…
Where the lion sleeps tonight
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 You have probably heard about the cougar which was just killed in Connecticut but which is thought to have wandered there from the Dakotas. Well, I have a couple of stories to bookend that story. One of them has to do with the lion in this photograph, and the other with something I saw in…
Speaking of shrews …
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 Speaking of shrews, some new ones just got discovered. Pics and details here. They are said to be cute. I dunno.
Ruh Roh, a Trojan Asteroid
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2011 PASADENA, Calif. – Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known “Trojan” asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth. Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet near stable points in front of or behind the planet. Because they constantly lead or follow in…
The Origin of Wine
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 With Julia spending the summer and most of the fall in The Republic of Georgia, I’ve been thinking about various political and historical aspects of that country, and one of the things that is claimed to be true is that wine was first invented there. Recently, someone asked me (always ask the archaeologist esoteric stuff…
Rory Stewart: Time to end the war in Afghanistan
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 Why shrews are interesting
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 It has been said that our most distant primate ancestors, the mammal that gave rise to early primates but itself wasn’t quite a primate, was most like the Asian tree shrew, which is neither a shrew nor does it live in trees. This is, of course, untrue. When the average American sees a shrew native…
Minnesotans for Sanity in Climate Change Policy!
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 MN 350 is planning an event for September 24th, and would like you to help get it off the ground, or at least, show up! This September, people all around the world are joining together for Moving Planet–a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. In Minnesota we’ll gather on the State Capitol…
Eyes, Brains and Latitude
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 Two things have been known for some time now: Human brains get bigger as you go north, and the volume of the primate eye and the primate brain are correlated. This COULD mean, and this may not be true, that as you go north in human populations you’ll get larger brains (for thermoregulatory reasons) and…
Global warming denialism? It ends now.
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Somewhere around 1990 I wrote an article for a monthly paper on global warming. My intention was to explain the idea behind it (the greenhouse phenomenon) and to make clear the distinction between depletion of the ozone layer and greenhouse effects (the two were getting confused on a regular basis in those days). The reason…
NASA Sets Launch Coverage Events for Mission to Jupiter
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Juno spacecraft is set to launch toward Jupiter aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Aug. 5. The launch window extends from 11:34 a.m. to 12:33 p.m. EDT (8:34 to 9:33 a.m. PDT), and the launch period extends through Aug. 26. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at…
Nyiragongo Volcano
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Goma Congo (Zaire), trying hard to stay out of trouble, and I’ve flown around this mountain and driven around this mountain or its sister volcanoes, and the very existence of this volcano field has a lot to do with some of the research I’ve done. Oh, and…
The Pre-Clovis Debra L. Friedkin site
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Butter Milk Creek is a Texas archaeological site and an archaeological complex located rather symbolically a couple of hundred miles downstream from the famous Clovis site in New Mexico. It is the most recently reported alleged manifestation of a “pre-Clovis” archaeological presence. The most important thing about this site is probably this: It is well…
Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Cool Idea: Community group for climate change information
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Cool Planet is a community science-oriented organization located in Edina, Minnesota which “… strives to strengthen and empower the community of Edina by providing fun and engaging opportunities for citizens to join together in local homegrown solutions to climate change.” Interesting idea. If you are in the Edina Area or are just interested in local…
, which is now available for the 
