gregladen | March 7, 2014Imagine that there is a trait observed among people that seems to occur more frequently in some families and not others. One might suspect that the trait is inherited genetically. Imagine researchers looking for the genetic underpinning of this trait and at first, not finding it. What might you conclude? It could be reasonable to conclude that the genetic underpinning of the trait is elusive, perhaps complicated with multiple genes, or that there is a non-genetic component, also not yet identified, that makes finding the genetic component harder. Eventually, you might assume, the gene will be…
gregladen | March 6, 2014Third warmest in Alaska since records began. Hot in China. Also, we may have a nut shortage. Video from WeatherNation:
gregladen | March 6, 2014Yes. Not only that, but we can't separate climate change from any single weather event that ever happens, anywhere, no matter what. So just stop saying that we can't. Here's a thought experiment to explain why this is true.
Imagine that climate science is like it is today with a few significant exceptions. First, humans never messed with fossil fuel, using only solar energy. If you need to, you can add in that there are only a half billion humans on the planet because birth control was discovered and implemented earlier in human history and everybody has Obamacare. Second, the climate…
gregladen | March 5, 2014I have four things for you, two of which you already know about and one that is brand new and very exciting.
You already know that Skeptical Science is a web site that addresses most, perhaps all, of the questions that people raise about climate science. These questions might come from your Uncle Jeb who just figures global warming is a fad and not very important, or they may be questions that come from trained trolls who travel the Intertubes attempting to systematically disrupt the most important conversation we can have in the early 21st century. Skeptical science is also like an intro…
gregladen | March 4, 2014Who What When Where
Nic Lewis, an unaffiliated self described climate scientist, and a journalist, Marcel Crok, also unaffiliated, are known climate science denialists. The two of them have an objection to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclusions regarding an important thing called "Climate Sensitivity." Perhaps unable to get their work in the peer reviewed literature, the two of them wrote "a report" titled "OVERSENSITIVE: How the IPCC hid the good news on global warming," that is available here. They make a claim which is totally incorrect but if it was correct it…
gregladen | March 4, 2014Very nice piece on MSNBC's The Reid Report. Spread this around.
Nice job, Michael Mann and Bill Nye.
gregladen | March 4, 2014There are few different, related, ways in which climate change, including anthropogenic global warming, can cause extreme weather events. One is that climate zones move. This may result in "normal" weather for a different location occurring elsewhere. For example, if southern warm air system shift north, than the frequency of low and high temperatures, and their distribution throughout the year, can change. Another is the rise of entirely new conditions that were previously either rare or virtually unknown. One example of this might be the steering of Hurricane Sandy into the northeastern…
gregladen | March 1, 2014Nice coverage of climate change that is NOT A "DEBATE" ASSUMING SOME KIND OF DUMB FALSE BALANCE. Way to go, MSNBC. Thank you.
Summer weather in Sochi, a record-drought in California and a polar vortex. The evidence for climate change is all around us. Bill Nye and Jeffrey Sachs talk about the climate debate and need for energy research.
See also this guy:
It is funny that this guy got two people who are also not climate change scientists, but whatever.
gregladen | March 1, 2014The following is also found HERE on the White House web site. I provide it here without comment because it speaks for itself. But if you want more, check out "Global warming action: good or bad for the poor?" by John Abraham, and "Keeping The Carbon In The Ground Elsewhere: Developing Nations" by me.
Drought and Global Climate Change: An Analysis of Statements by Roger Pielke Jr
John P. Holdren, 28 February 2014
Introduction
In the question and answer period following my February 25 testimony on the Administration’s Climate Action Plan before the Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate’…
gregladen | March 1, 2014The 69th carnival of evolution is up at Scientific American's S.E. Gould's Lab Rat Blog. HERE.
gregladen | February 28, 2014If water had its way, this is what California would look like:
Think about it for a second. Every single moment, currents of air move, slowly or rapidly, across every land surface on the planet. Anything loose gets blown slowly or rapidly, to lower places. Every now and then, in some places rarely and in other places commonly, liquid water falls from the sky on almost every land surface on the planet. Now and then, in certain limited areas, frozen water builds up to great heights, thousands of feet hight, and moves along, scraping deep hollows and grooves the size of big lakes out of…
gregladen | February 28, 2014John Abraham has an interesting post up at the guardian called "Global warming action: good or bad for the poor?" It is a response to a post by a group of guys who tend to write annoying stuff about climate change (you can go to John's post for that information). Here, I want to make a brief comment related to John's excellent post.
The crux of John Abraham's post is this, in two parts: 1) Some have argued that mitigation against climate change is bad for "the poor" (read: people in developing countries) because they have a right to go through the same phases of technological and social…
gregladen | February 28, 2014I will be giving a talk in Saint Paul, at the Best Western Kelly Inn, on Evolutionary Psychology.
The original plan was to get two people to debate the topic, but it was hard to find two people in town to do that. One idea was to get PZ Myers over here, and then he and I would debate the topic. Problem with that is that we probably agree a lot more than we disagree so that would be boring. Well, I'm sure we'd make it interesting but we'd have to switch topics.
So it ended up being me. There will be a debate. I'll handle both sides. Seriously.
I'd love to give you a working link to…
gregladen | February 28, 2014... OK, it doesn't really make sense, but that's actually the point.
I object to the radicalized stereotypes but they're British, they don't know better. Otherwise this is catchy.
gregladen | February 28, 2014Powered bikes have been around for a long time, and there are many electric bikes available now. But it seems that this new one is a significant change from prior versions.
The Faraday Bike doesn't even look like it could possibly be powered. But apparently it is. The frame is, more or less, the battery. The motor is small because electric motors can be small. It has a computer, and apparently, LED lights.
It does not operate without human power, but it adds power to your stroke, by about 300% (but that is adjustable) according to the manufacturer.
It costs a mere $3,500. But it is…
gregladen | February 27, 2014The famous Polar Vortex has come and gone in North America. Then, it came back. What a jerk.
As I write this the outside temperature is 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and tomorrow morning’s Bus Stop Temperature promises to be about –25F windchill here in central Minnesota. Meanwhile my Twitter stream is polluted with climate science denialist tweets pointing out that it is too cold outside to believe in global warming, even though the entire land area of the United States, where this cold is being experienced as a cultural and physical phenomenon, is about one and half percent of the…
gregladen | February 25, 2014There's this new thing. Quarterly.co has this thing that when I first heard described I didn't quite understand, and was not sure if I liked it or not, so I dug a bit deeper and it turns out I think it is cool. Here's the idea. Quarterly has assembled a bunch of people they call "Curators." These are famous people among whom you are likely to find someone you admire or respect or perhaps stalk in your own Internety way. The curators then work with Quarterly to assemble a box of stuff. Then, you, as Quarterly's customer, arrange to have the box sent. There are four a year (quarterly…
gregladen | February 25, 2014I first interviewed Dr. Alun Hubbard on the edge of the Watson River in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland last summer. His vivid language and lucid storytelling made that video on of the most popular in the Yale Series. (see below)
Both Dr. Hubbard, and my Dark Snow Project cohort, Sara Penrhyn Jones, live in the tiny village of Aberystwyth, on the coast of Wales, and teach at the local university. I skyped with Alun a week or so ago in the midst of the storms hammering the area. Shortly after that he wrote me to explain that his roof had just blown off in hurricane force winds....
Read the rest HERE…