February 13, 2013
The The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin was published over 150 years go. At the time, several different alternative theories of the origin and history of life were being discussed in the West. Some of these theories were theological. Theological ideas included a literal translation of the…
February 13, 2013
At 11:30 AM eastern time today, an act of "civil disobedience will take place around at the East Gate of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, just east of the picture-postcard zone." #NoKXL is the hashtag.
It is time, apparently. This is a time when more of the money that is out there is in…
February 12, 2013
So, I posted something at Daily Kos you might find interesting:
As we wrestle with hard science and hard policy and the interaction between the two, the real problem we face are made much harder to solve because of the seemingly incessant drumbeat of science denialism.
Climate change is real and…
February 12, 2013
Minnesota has three things you may have heard about: Cold weather, “Minnesota Nice,” and a vigorous training program in Passive Aggressive Behavior (PAB). Unless you know about things, you probably didn’t know any of that.1
The part about the cold weather is neither here nor there with Global…
February 12, 2013
Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!
Oh, and Abe Lincoln too.
For Darwin's birthday, I want to discuss the uses of the terms "Darwinism, Darwinian, and Darwinist." Many have written about this and many don't like any of those words, some seem to equally dislike all three. A couple of years back,…
February 11, 2013
I already told you about this. In a BBC/David Attenborough special on Africa, this specific statement was made: That part of the African continent had warmed by 3.5 degrees. This was corrected by Leo Hickman. That datum is invalid. Africa has indeed been affected by climate change, but that…
February 11, 2013
Today, a new Climate SOS Blogathon starts at the Daily Kos. I'll be contributing a post tomorrow, which I'll let you know about. The other contributors include an amazing list of bloggers, scientists, policy experts, and at least one federal level elected official of which I'm aware.
The first…
February 11, 2013
This graphic is from GRID-Arendal, a Norwegian Foundation collaborating with the UN Environment Programme. It shows CO2 concentrations in the ocean going up over a period of 20 eyars, and the corresponding drop in pH over the same time period.
Ocean acidification is a serious effect of climate…
February 11, 2013
Everyone knows that Darwin was a biologist, and in many ways he was the first prominent modern biologist. Though Darwin scholars know this, many people do not realize that he was also a geologist. Really, he was mainly a geologist on the day he stepped foot on The Beagle for his famous five year…
February 10, 2013
Climate experts have pointed out that Nemo, the very bad nor’easter that just hit the Northeastern US and Maritimes, is partly an effect of global warming. Some meteorologists have responded with an incorrect response, a recitation of a now tired and useless mumbling retort that I’m afraid may even…
February 9, 2013
Climate change has had a big impact in Africa. We can certainly talk about that some time. But when a David Attenborough BBC special mentioned one aspect of climate change impact they got the facts wrong. Leo Hickman of The Environment Blog at The Guardian noticed the error and wrote a very…
February 9, 2013
Don't forget to register for CONvergence. If you register early you get a break on the rate. Details at their site.
For those who don't now, CONvergence is the largest fan run fantasy and science fiction convention, and it is held in the Twin Cities at or near the 4th of July. And, even better,…
February 9, 2013
"You will be a restless wanderer on the earth" -Genesis 4:12
Today, a few of us visited the Twin Cities Home School Creation Science Fair of 2013 at its new location. The fair used to be held in the historic Har Mar Shopping Mall but for some reason it has wandered up the road and across Snelling…
February 9, 2013
Skeptically Speaking's 200th show is coming up soon! But first, there is show #199. But before I mention show #199, I want to remind you of show #198, because I was in it:
#198 Nature’s Compass and New Caledonian Crows
This week, we’re looking at some of the amazing abilities exhibited by our…
February 8, 2013
I wasn't living in Boston yet; Albany, instead. But at the time I was actually travelling by car out to California, and was in Texas when this particular storm caught up with me. Texas got iced over, the Rio Grande froze, the citrus crop was destroyed and I spent two nights in Big Spring. Two…
February 8, 2013
This graph shows the extremes in one-day precipitation in a given month relative to the amount of precip in that month for the Northeastern US. So, if the green bar is at 30%, that means that that 30% of month's precip fell in one event. The way this is computed is a little complicated because it…
February 8, 2013
Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute joins Scienceblogs.com, and here is his introductory post!
Welcome to the first post in my new National Geographic ScienceBlogs column “Significant Figures.” I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on a wide range of environmental science-related…
February 8, 2013
The #LearningSpace Google Hangout was talking today about the Galileoscope project. Galileo invented (I'm sure the story is more complex) the telescope and all that, and the Galileoscope project is HERE.
The Galileoscope is a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit developed by a team of leading…
February 8, 2013
... which I imagine is a lot of people. It is brilliant. Yellow, so you can find it among your other utensils and remember that it is for bananas. Banana shaped, which makes it godly, almost, as you all know. Safer than a knife. But what is most wonderful about the Hutzler 571 are the product…
February 8, 2013
Here's a graph from the USDA:
This comes from a post by Peter Sinclair: USDA: Warming Will Devastate Agriculture.
Also from that post, this interview with Phil Robertson of Michigan State University related to the question of C02 as "plant food."
February 7, 2013
... but this can change, according to a report from Media Matters.
CNN founder Ted Turner said in 2011 that climate change is "probably the most serious ... problem that humanity has ever faced," adding that we need to "increase the amount of the debate" to motivate people to take action.…
February 7, 2013
It seems that people "believe" in climate change (really, global warming in particular) when it it hot out more than at other times. And by "people" I mean the population in general. It turns out that Democrats don't change their position on climate change as the temperature outside changes (they…
February 6, 2013
... at any serious level, and then, only if enough Republicans get thrown out of the House to allow committee work and legislation to happen. From The Hill:
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans have rebuffed Democrats’ bid to require the high-profile panel to hold hearings on links…
February 6, 2013
Comet ISON appears to be a new comet. This bundle of icy dirty icy stuff was tugged by subtle gravitational forces out of the Ort Cloud, which is really really far away, and is now falling towards the sun. It will pass within view of us Earthlings later this year on its way towards the sun, and…
February 6, 2013
Here are two graphs that show the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, mainly as CO2 and mainly form the burning of fossil fuels, per year, from various sources for a long span of time. Both graphs are based on the same data set. the first graph was created by the Carbon Dioxide…
February 6, 2013
Minnesota has two populations of moose, one in the northwestern part of the state, one in the northeastern part of the state. Both are in decline. The decline seems to be mainly due to disease, which in turn, seems to be exacerbated by the occurrence of shorter, warmer winters and longer summers…
February 6, 2013
According to some estimates, if sea levels rose one meter, Boston would lose 3% of it’s land surface, Washington DC a mere 1%. Tampa and Miami would lose 18% and 15% respectively. New Orleans would lose 91%.
A six meter rise would result in much larger losses. Norfolk, Virginia and Miami Florida…
February 6, 2013
This is important stuff. Along the lines of whether or not Bigfoot is real. So let’s talk about it for a moment.
The crosswalk buttons in my neighborhood work. At least some of them. Last summer and the summer before, Huxley and I would walk around quite a bit, crossing through intersections that…
February 5, 2013
There was an 8.0 magnitude earthquake a few minutes ago in the vicinity of Santa Cruz Islands, in the South Pacific, and it is now confirmed that this generated a potentially severe tsunami that by now would have hit nearby islands. But, no one has reports from the scene to confirm or elaborate on…
February 5, 2013
Valentine’s Day is coming up, so it is time to think about kissing. Pursuant to this, Sheril Kirshenbaum, author of “The Science of Kissing,” has made the Kindle version of her excellent book available at a discounted price through February 18th. The book is here: The Science of Kissing: What Our…
