Environment
illconsidered | October 22, 2008At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory there is a news article posted yesterday that discusses "the other carbon dioxide problem." That problem is, of course, ocean acidification.
Ocean acidification is the result of CO2 released into the atmosphere finding its way into ocean waters. Estimates are that around one third of all human emissions of CO2 are currently absorbed this way. While that is good news for the problem of an enhanced greenhouse effect causing global warming, it is not good news for marine ecosystems.
In fact it is extremely bad news, and make ocean acidifications one of the…
j7uy5 | October 20, 2008Carborexia is not a word. Any
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_%28computer_science%29">string
that garners only six hits on Google is not a word.
But the string appears in the New York Times, so maybe it will be a
word soon. Perhaps even by the time you read this.
Carborexia is a cute play in the neologism game.
It refers to a
condition in which a person strives ardently to reduce his or her
carbon footprint, much as a person with anorexia strives to reduce her
or his body mass.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/fashion/19greenorexia.html?partner=rssuserland&…
illconsidered | October 20, 2008 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) Top Stories:Canadian Election, Credit Crunch, Melting Arctic, Climate Futures, Sensitivity, Sunspots, Ozone Food Crisis, World Food Day, Global Hunger Index, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production Hurricanes, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Other Planets' Climates Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings…
sb admin | October 17, 2008Bloggers have more thoughts on the environmental and human-health impacts of the economic crisis:
Sarah Rubenstein at WSJâs Health Blog explains why a sick economy can make the case for health reform more compelling.
Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters suggests a way to improve the health insurance situation that doesnât require a huge amount of federal funding.
Robert McClure at Dateline Earth relays a message from the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about using the meltdown as an opportunity to combat climate change.
Tom Philpott ponders the credit crunchâs effect on…
clock | October 13, 2008There are 12 new articles in PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming--Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait:
For generations many families in and around Florida's Apalachicola National Forest have supported themselves by collecting the large endemic earthworms (Diplocardia mississippiensis). This is accomplished by vibrating a wooden stake driven into the soil, a…
illconsidered | October 13, 2008 Information overload is pattern recognition...
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 October 12, 2008 Top Stories:Overshoot, Bailout Blues, YACCC, Grumbine, World Bank, Late Comments Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Permafrost Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Carbon Cycle, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts Mitigation: Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration…
clock | October 12, 2008
'Virgin Birth' By Shark Confirmed: Second Case Ever:
Scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of a "virgin birth" in a shark, indicating once again that female sharks can reproduce without mating and raising the possibility that many female sharks have this incredible capacity.
Digital Zebrafish Embryo Provides First Complete Developmental Blueprint Of A Vertebrate:
Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have generated a digital zebrafish embryo - the first complete developmental blueprint of a vertebrate. With a newly developed microscope scientists could for…
jrosenhouse | October 10, 2008Sorry for the sporadic blogging lately. I have a really good excuse though: haven't felt like blogging.
But this article got me thinking. It seems that Christopher Buckley, son of William F., is voting for Obama:
John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, “We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us.” This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2008tags: Seattle Washington, Montlake Fill, Union Bay Natural Area, urban wetland, urban nature preserve, University of Washington
Entrance to the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA), more commonly known as the "Montlake Fill".
Image: GrrlScientist 29 September 2008 [larger view].
One of my most favorite places to go birding is the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA), which I have always known as the Montlake Fill. In my opinion, this is one of the finest small- to medium-sized urban birding areas and nature preserves on the west coast.
This area originally started out as a freshwater wetland, but the…
clock | October 7, 2008
Key To Rapid Evolution In Plants: Reproduce Early And Often:
Yale researchers have harnessed the power of 21st century computing to confirm an idea first proposed in 1916 -- that plants with rapid reproductive cycles evolve faster.
Nerve Cell Actions Made Optically Visible In Mice:
Thought processes made visible: An international team of scientists headed by Mazahir Hasan of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in optically detecting individual action potentials in the brains of living animals. The scientists introduced fluorescent indicator proteins into…
illconsidered | October 6, 2008 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 October 5, 2008 Top Stories:Ecuador, Google, Energy Plan, Ocean Acidification, Bailout, Hadley, Sunspots, Melting Arctic Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperature Record, Paleoclimate, Sea Levels, Satellites Impacts, Forests, Brazil & Amazon, Floods & Droughts Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation Journals, Misc.…
dgmacarthur | October 4, 2008Anyone who has walked past a TV set over the last few days will have seen footage of the remarkable Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who comfortably cruised to victory (and a world record) in the Olympic 100 metre sprint, and as I write this has just done precisely the same thing in the 200 metre sprint. The interest in Bolt stems not from the fact that he wins his races, but rather from the contemptuous ease with which he does so.
And Bolt is not the only Jamaican to impress in short distance events in Beijing: the country's women's sprint team took all three medals in their 100 metre dash.…
sb admin | October 3, 2008Bloggers worry about how a Wall Street bailout and economic turmoil might affect environmental issues, and they advocate for green avenues to help the economy.
David Roberts at Gristmill compiles warnings from opinion leaders about not letting a bailout interfere with green investments, and advocates for an energy-efficiency initiative to help the economy.
Alex Salta at Oh My Gov! cites recent events in Canada to suggest the U.S. economic crisis might take the focus off of global warming (via SEA).
Angelique van Engelen at Triple Pundit reports on the findings from a new report on the…
pauloffit | October 1, 2008 I want to thank all of you who took the time to read the book and comment. Many of you had kind things to say about the writing and content, clearly understanding what I was trying to do and why I did it. I'll try and answer as many questions that were directed at me as I can, writing a blog entry every morning.
I'll start with the easier questions.
We tried to get companies that publish audio books interested in this book, but were unsuccessful.
All of my royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I have…
clock | October 1, 2008We are busy preparing for The Open Laboratory 2008. The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, but it is time now to dig through your Archives for your best posts since December 20th 2007 and submit them. Submit one, or two, or several - no problem. Or ask your readers to submit for you.
Then take a look at your favourite bloggers and pick some of their best posts - don't worry, we can deal with duplicate entries. Do not forget new and up-coming blogs - they may not know about the anthology - and submit their stuff as well.
As we did last…
mstebbins | September 30, 2008CBS is ever so slowly releasing bits and pieces of Katie Couric's interviews with John McCain and Sarah Palin. Last night they released the transcript and some of the video of the third part of the interview where Governor Palin addresses several key science and health issues including her opinion of the use of Plan B, on teaching creationism in schools and on the contribution of man to climate change. Unfortunately, her answers were often strange, but there were some moments of relief as well. Below are two excerpts from the interview with highlights added to the good bits. Of particular…
tlambert | September 30, 2008
Monckton should have SPPI investigated for making him look like a "potty peer", because they've published a wrongheaded piece of his about the hockey stick, where he calls for Mann, Bradley and Hughes to be put on trial for genocide. Yes, really.
"The environmental extremists, who have already killed 50 million
children through malaria by their now-canceled ban on the use of DDT,
the only effective agent against the anopheles mosquito that spreads
the infective parasite, are already eagerly killing millions more
through their latest scientifically-baseless scare -- the "global
warming"…
illconsidered | September 29, 2008 Another Week of Climate Disruption News
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 September 28, 2008 Top Stories:Methane, GCP CO2 Report, WCI, RGGI, Carbon Trust Report, CGI Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Finance & Climate, Amphibian Extinction, Abrupt Climate Change, Tutorials, Solar Cycle Food Crisis, Food Production Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Sea Levels Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods &…
clock | September 27, 2008Earth's Magnetic Field Reversals Illuminated By Lava Flows Study:
Earth's north magnetic pole is shifting and weakening. Ancient lava flows are guiding a better understanding of what generates and controls the Earth's magnetic field - and what may drive it to occasionally reverse direction.
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Current evidence suggests we are now approaching one of these transitional states because the main magnetic field is relatively weak and rapidly decreasing, he says. While the last polarity reversal occurred several hundred thousand years ago, the next might come within only a few…
choofnagle | September 27, 2008I had the opportunity to see Felicity Barringer, the New York Times correspondent, speak on the "The Dangers of Environmental Parables" at University of Wyoming's Consumer Issues Conference. Barringer argued that simple parables, such as the greed-versus-good stories present in the seminal Silent Spring no longer capture the complex landscape of environmental issues presented today. She offered the example of the potential for wind power in the Alleghenies, which is opposed by an environmental NIMBY activist named Dan Boone who thinks that the broader environmental movement has perverse…