sheril | May 8, 2008I'm back in the District to speak at the 33rd Annual AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy alongside Adam Bly and Dr. Anthony Crider. We'll be discussing 'Science and the New Media' and there's still time to participate online!
I'm looking forward to connecting with SciBling Jessica Palmer of Bioephemera and would love to meet any readers in attendance as well... Come on over to say hello and I hope you'll stay for my talk Friday at 1:45:
I Am New Media (And So Can You!)
Communicating Science And Policy Through The Series Of Tubes And Beyond
cmooney | May 7, 2008That's what CNN is suggesting. This puts the catastrophe at tsunami scale. And it suggests that Nargis could rank among the top three or four most deadly cyclones of modern times.
My god.
Courtesy of Weather Underground, the deadliest cyclones list:
1. Great Bhola Cyclone, Bangladesh, 1970, 550,000
2. Hooghly River Cyclone, India and Bangladesh, 1737, 350,000
3. Haiphong Typhoon, Vietnam, 1881, 300,000
4. Coringa, India, 1839, 300,000
5. Backerganj Cyclone, Bangladesh, 1584, 200,000
6. Great Backerganj Cyclone, Bangladesh, 1876, 200,000
7. Chittagong, Bangladesh, 1897, 175,000
8. Super…
cmooney | May 7, 2008MSNBC's Alan Boyle, author of Cosmic Log, just interviewed me about the ever worsening Nargis catastrophe. You can hear the audio here, and excerpts here. An excerpt:
Q: Is this another sign that the global warming nightmare is coming upon us?
Mooney: I'd be careful about saying that. There's good evidence that global warming should affect tropical cyclones ... in some way and probably make them stronger on average. But when you get a catastrophe like this, global warming isn't the direct cause, and it really doesn't explain why there's been so much suffering.
You really have to look at other…
cmooney | May 7, 2008I can't tell you how many people this morning have emailed me this Michael Gerson op-ed from the Washington Post, which debunks the "Republican war on science" thesis. They all want me to debunk the debunker in this instance. But why?
Gerson doesn't accurately represent my argument in the first place. He's off down the eugenics trail, talking about values, blah blah blah. We "war on science" folks all know these distinctions--that the facts of science don't prescribe moral positions, that science doesn't dictate policy, etc--but they're dealt with long before we actually make our "war on…
sheril | May 7, 2008Myanmar ranks #4 in the world for annual forest area lost per year. Between 2000 and 2005, the country lost, on average, 466,000 hectares per year which puts their annual deforestation rate at 1.45% based on FAO statistics.
Given deforestation results in higher flooding and erosion rates and mangroves serve as important buffers against storm surges, I'm wondering to what degree Myanmar's serious deforestation played a role in the tremendous loss of life from Cyclone Nargis...
cmooney | May 6, 2008
We've been watching Cyclone Nargis for a week here at the Intersection, but I've finally done my first lengthy piece about the disaster over at Science Progress. Over there, I make the following points, most of which I don't think you're seeing elsewhere:
1. It's Not About Global Warming, But Poverty and Infrastructure.
2. The American Media Present a Very Selective Picture of Cyclone Disasters in the Developing World.
3. Hurricane/Cyclone Forecasting in the North Indian Region is Lackluster at Best.
4. Hurricanes Can Bring Down Governments.
I want to expand upon the last point, which is…
sheril | May 5, 2008A death toll this high is unfathomable. No words beyond a reminder we collectively share this pale blue dot and must now do all we can to help the people of Myanmar in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
sheril | May 5, 2008* UPDATE: The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone has exceeded 10,000 people. *
For over a week, we've been watching and worrying about Cyclone Nargis from halfway around the world. The storm hit Maynmar on Saturday with wind speeds reaching 190km/h (120mph).
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Almost 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 remain missing in Myanmar as a result of this weekend's devastating cyclone, state media reported Monday amid fears that the death toll could continue to soar.
Diplomats summoned to a government briefing on Monday said the foreign minister had acknowledged that as…
sheril | May 5, 2008While I love Randy Olson's 'Flock Of Dodos', one science documentary remains the most memorable of all... 'Cane Toads: An Unnatural History'. I had the pleasure of watching this fantastic film once again with a number of graduate students last week and I'm convinced it gets better every time. If you somehow missed out catching it during biology 101, the product description from Amazon.com provides a good synopsis:
"A fat, ugly creature whose sole purpose in life is the pursuit of sexual gratification is rapidly taking over Australia! The Cane Toads were imported by the sackload from Hawaii…
cmooney | May 2, 2008Kinda like opening up your fist after you've punched someone...in this case, that someone was Myanmar, and the punch came at Category 3 strength....
CORRECTION: Looks like the punch was actually a Category 4...
sheril | May 2, 2008A reminder to readers that in exactly one week, I'll be speaking at the AAAS Forum On Science And Technology Policy about 'Science and the New Media.' I encourage you to comment with thoughts on the topic HERE. I'll be showing the post live during my talk. For ideas, consider these questions:
* New media addressing S&T issues - what/where/who are they?
* Who do they see as their primary audiences?
* What do they try to convey (or try not to convey)?
* What do they see as missing from the current dialogues on S&T and policy?
* How are they addressing those…
sheril | May 2, 2008As bloggers and blog readers, we spend lots of time behind a computer. And while I don't recognize many of the cameos in this video, there are enough to convince me I should get out more. This is Episode 1. of a weekly web cartoon by the 'brilliant yet weird' Dan Meth, hosted by Channel Frederator. My buddy, graphic artist Ben Marra, is the voice of Meth's Space Cowboy (Episode 20.) which may appeal to fellow sci-fi fans.
So gauge your own interweb habit by checking out how many 'Internet People' you remember...
[Hat tip to Homestar Runner, who kept my entire lab laughing through grad…
cmooney | May 1, 2008This coming Sunday morning, I'll be speaking in the "Feed Your Brain" lecture series at the Center for Inquiry-West, right here in Los Angeles (info here). The talk will be entitled, "The War on Science: What Have We Learned?" It's auspicious to me for two reasons:
1. This event is in my neighborhood, actually just about a mile from where I live, on Hollywood Boulevard in the Los Feliz area of LA.
2. I am actually spending five days a week lately in residence at the CFI-West, which has generously provided me with space to work on the next book, and asked me to lecture to boot. Cool, huh? As a…
sheril | May 1, 2008Here on Scienceblogs, many of us ponder the gender disparity in the sciences, but the gap goes well beyond the ivory towers into another area we discuss at The Intersection worth exploring:
Congress: women hold 87, or 16.3%, of the 535 seats in the 110th US Congress -- 16, or 16.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 71, or 16.3%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as Delegates to the House from Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, DC.
So if half the population has about 16% representation across the board on Capitol Hill, what's going on?…
cmooney | April 30, 2008In my latest Science Progress column, I describe the utter meltdown at the Environmental Protection Agency, which involves not only mistreatment of agency scientists but the blatant failure to follow the law. Things probably haven't been this bad at the agency since the days of Ann Gorsuch Burford, if anyone remembers her. And that's saying something.
You can read the piece here.
cmooney | April 29, 2008It has recently come to my attention that Amazon is selling them for $ 8.49--a dramatic markdown from the list price of $ 26.00--so if you haven't gotten one yet but had planned on it or wanted to, now is the time.
Alternatively, you can wait for the paperback with the new cover and afterword, which is due out in August.
sheril | April 29, 2008Paging Kevin, Craig, Peter, PZ, Jennifer, Josh, Mark, Andrew, Benny, Ed, Miriam, Rick, J., and Hugh...
COLOSSAL SQUID!
'On Wednesday, a 30 foot long, 900-pound colossal squid hauled up from the Antarctic last January will be studied by a team of scientists... but the catch is, they'll only have FOUR hours!'
[Note, the awesomeness of the colassal squid has no bearing on where I stand in the Great Marine Invertebrate Wars. Echinoderms Rule!]
Read my full post over at Correlations...
cmooney | April 28, 2008
Meet Cyclone Nargis--image courtesy of CIMSS--which may be set to terrorize the Bay of Bengal region. This storm is expected to steadily intensify to Category 4 or higher, and then hit something. That something could be India, Bangladesh, or Burma/Myanmar...not a development that anyone in this vulnerable region needs.
Read more for my take on the developing Nargis over at the Daily Green.
sheril | April 28, 2008According to NOAA.gov, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep citizens informed of the changing environment around them.
As it happens, many of my good friends and colleagues--natural and social scientists--reside within this federal agency to protect oceans, coasts, human health, biodiversity, commerce, natural resources, and so on. Their work supports education and stewardship, enhances economic security and safety, studies…
cmooney | April 24, 2008You may have noticed that things have been a little wild here on the blog lately, argument and comment-wise. To calm things down, we've decided that all comments from now on will be moderated. This is actually going back to the way we used to do things. If comments are not on point, respectful, and intellectually serious, they do not belong. Ad hominem attacks, etcetera, won't be allowed. The general principle is that we encourage speech here, but not speech that lowers the quality of discussion for everyone else. Furthermore, please remember that commenting on this blog is a privilege, not a…