Environment
oracknows | June 16, 2009Here we go again.
You may have noticed that I've been laying off that repository of quackery, autism pseudoscience, and anti-vaccine nonsense, The Huffington Post. I assure you, it's not because things have gotten much better there. Oh, sure, occasionally someone will try to post something resembling science and rationality, but it's impossible for so few to overcome so much history and so much woo. Indeed, even when someone tries, he can't help but be sucked into the morass of pseudoscience that is HuffPo. For example, Dr. Harvey Karp (the same guy who went toe-to-toe with Dr. Jay Gordon--…
mspringer | June 15, 2009Over at The Volokh Conspiracy, Jonathan Adler notes that the NAS is starting to look into the possibility of geoengineering to roll back human changes in the climate. For those of you who haven't heard, geoengineering is the process of deliberately changing the climate to compensate for the effects of greenhouse gases.
There's no shortage of reasons it might not work. The most obvious is that climate is not fully understood as it is, and so massive alterations may have unintended consequences and make things worse. Especially if the methods of geoengineering result in permanent changes,…
illconsidered | June 15, 2009 Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News June 14, 2009 Top Stories: Bonn, USA & China, REDD, Peru, Over 2C, Upcoming G8 Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Gentle Education, Sol, New Measure Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires,…
khannula | June 14, 2009I've got a question for women readers, especially those in the geosciences, environmental sciences, or field sciences: what do you get out of reading blogs? And if you have a blog yourself, what do you get out of writing it?
I'm asking because there's a session at this year's Geological Society of America meeting on "Techniques and Tools for Effective Recruitment, Retention and Promotion of Women and Minorities in the Geosciences" (and that's in the applied geosciences as well as in academia), and I wondered whether blogs (whether geo-blogs or women-in-science blogs or both) help. Although…
illconsidered | June 9, 2009 Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Information overload is pattern recognition June 7, 2009 Chuckle, Top Stories:Bonn, UNFCCC Meetings, Ethanol Summit, FAO Meeting, Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica, Open Access, Late Comments Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Satellites Impacts,…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Boreal or Tengmalm's Owl, Aegolius funereus.
Boreal Owls are circumpolar, occupying subalpine and northern, or boreal,
forests around the globe. These seasonally monogamous birds nest in small
cavities; woodpecker holes, other natural tree cavities, or man-made nest boxes.
These small owls occasionally irrupt from their northerly homes in search of food.
Image: orphaned [larger view].
This edition of Birds in the News is dedicated to Snowflake and Biosparite, and to Miriam, whose $upport was inspired by Birds in the…
laelaps | June 8, 2009
In the middle of August 2008 Matt Whitton, Rick Dyer, and "professional Bigfoot hunter" Tom Biscardi claimed to have found what so many had sought after: the body of a real Bigfoot. FOX News picked up the story, DNA tests were performed, and a grand unveiling was planned, but, as ever, it all was a hoax. There was still no definitive proof that Sasquatch, Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape, Skookum, or a long lost "missing link" by any other name ever existed.
Last summer's brief frenzy over Bigfoot was hardly unique. As author Joshua Blu Buhs illustrates in his new book, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of…
terrasig | June 7, 2009
Since last December, we've been involved with a number of good friends in Key West, Florida, on a green initiative that includes the investigations of medicinal plants of the Florida Keys and northern Caribbean. Following from these interactions with students and colleagues at Duke University and in Key West itself, I had the good fortune of being interviewed last week together with conservation biologist Stuart Pimm on KONK-1630AM community radio by Erika Biddle for her biweekly Eco-Centric World program.
Raised in Germany, she participated in the formations of the first political Green…
sb admin | June 5, 2009It is with deep sadness we inform you of the sudden passing of Kathyrn R Mahaffey, PhD.   Kate had an exceptional and diverse career, with appointments at FDA, NIOSH, NIEHS and EPA.  Most recently, Kate served as a Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
Her husband, David Jacobs offers the following remembrance and tribute to her significant contributions to the public's health.  Information about a memorial service appears at the end of this post.
Kathryn R. Mahaffey passed away peacefully in her sleep June 2, 2009 after decades of…
clock | June 4, 2009As you may have noticed if you saw this or you follow me on Twitter/FriendFeed/Facebook, I spent half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday at the XXVI International Association of Science Parks World Conference on Science & Technology Parks in Raleigh. The meeting was actually longer (starting on Sunday and ending today), but I was part of a team and we divided up our online coverage the best we could do.
Christopher Perrien assembled a team (including his son) to present (and represent) Science In The Triangle, the new local initiative. They manned a booth at which they not only showcased…
stoat | June 4, 2009Or, Pielke versus the world. To put my prejudices up front, my money would be on Pielke. Since I get to write this whilst watching a backup of my laptop (for for some odd reason) I'll have time to read the sources as I write this.
Background: global warming is happening, and will continue into the future. But how much of a problem is it now, and how much will it be in the future? These are difficult questions. Many organisations and people (the Greenpeace types) appear to automatically assume that All Will Be Ill, and there is no particular need to study this question or even think about it.…
grrlscientist | June 1, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Common Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis.
Image: Gisela Delpho [larger view].
Birds in Science
Unpredictable weather seems to stimulate chatter among birds -- as well as humans -- according to researchers. A team of US scientists has found that Northern Mockingbirds living in variable climates sing more elaborate songs. Complex tunes, sung by males to impress females, are likely to signal the birds' intelligence. Carlos Botero, a researcher from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina, led the study. Dr…
illconsidered | June 1, 2009 Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News May 31, 2009 Chuckle, Top Stories:MEF, Nobel Laureates, AGU Joint Assembly, WBS, G8, Billionaires Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica, GHF, Climate Gap, Methane, Sol, Late Comments Food Crisis, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Sea Levels, Satellites Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes,…
stoat | May 28, 2009Over the last decade or so, hard rock geologists have done rather poorly in science, because they have become unfashionable, and are overshadowed by the popularity of climate change. Some of them become bitter and twisted and prominent septics.
Which brings me on to Copenhagen Congress: why the biased reporting? from Nurture, which reports on Mike Hulme's letter to Science complaining about the reporting of the Copenhagen conference: Hulme et al. point out that the dominant mode of media reporting after the event was of impending doom which is no great surprise, because that was what the…
clock | May 28, 2009If you ever glanced at the circadian literature, you have probably encountered the statement that "circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in living systems". In all of my formal and informal writing I qualified that statement somewhat, stating something along the lines of "most organisms living on or near the Earth's surface have circadian rhythms". Why?
In the earliest days of chronobiology, it made sense to do most of the work on readily available organisms: plants, insects, mammals and birds. During the 20th century, thousands of species of animals, fungi, protists and plants - all living on…
clock | May 27, 2009Virtual Smart Home Controlled By Your Thoughts:
Light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past thanks to brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe that lets users perform everyday tasks with thoughts alone.
Spectacular Deep-water Coral Province Discovered Off Ireland's West Coast:
NUI Galway researchers, during a recent deep-water expedition, have confirmed the existence of a major new coral reef province on the southern end of the Porcupine Bank off the west coast of Ireland. The province covers an area of some 200 sq. km and…
esiegel | May 26, 2009There are very few sources of truly clean energy out there. Coal, oil, natural gas, etc. all expel tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, something we know we need to stop doing very soon if we want our planet to be habitable to humans for very much longer. Biofuels, while not as harmful as fossil fuels, still emit tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide, and are not a long-term solution. Modern nuclear power produces low amounts of carbon dioxide, but significant amounts of radioactive waste, which isn't good for anybody! Even hydroelectric power has disastrous environmental…
hrynyshyn | May 26, 2009There's an interesting but frustrating little essay up at Grist, which has become the go-to publication to follow the fate of the Waxman-Markey bill as it wends its way through Congress. Frequent columnist Gar Lipow argues that
Mainstream environmentalists who take the position that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill "could be worse" help ensure that it will be.
I take it he thinks those who want to see the United States embrace serious climate change mitigation strategies should be working hard to strengthen the bill. Sure.
Proclaiming "It could be worse" makes the bill in its current…
grrlscientist | May 25, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Who's shooting endangered condors?
The shooting of two rare California condors, like this one, set phones ringing at the offices of environmental groups.
Image: [larger view].
Birds in Science
Northern Mockingbirds tend to sing fancier tunes with changing climate, say researchers. The research team from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre (NESCent), the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and McGill University showed that species in more variable climes also sing complex tunes. "Survival and reproduction become more…
illconsidered | May 25, 2009 Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News May 24, 2009 Chuckle, Top Stories:UNFCCC Negotiating Text, MIT Study, Obama CAFE, US Poll, Biz Conference, C40 Summit Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Conveyor Belt, Food Crisis, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather,…