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cortex | February 26, 2007I'm glad Al Gore won the Oscar. Personally, I found his film a little dry and pedantic, but it has clearly played an essential role in shifting the public debate on global warming. (Or are we now supposed to call global warming "the climate crisis," pace Gore?)
But it's worth remembering that our scientific models of global warming, although they seem accurate and are backed by an iron clad scientific consensus, will no doubt turn out to be wrong, at least in the details. This is just the nature of scientific models. As the respected scientific authors of Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental…
sb admin | February 26, 2007This week, two Senate Committees will focus attention on worker safety and health topics. On Wednesday, February 28, Senator Tom Harkin's Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education will receive testimony on "Improving Mine Safety: One Year after Sago and Alma." On Thursday, March 1, Senator Patty Murray's Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing entitled "Asbestos: Still Lethal, Still Legal: The Need to Better Protect the Health of American Workers and Their Families."
Senator Harkin's hearing…
cmcclain | February 25, 2007 Unfortunately, this weekend I came across the complete stupidity of Paul Hollrah and Phillip Brennan.
In their own words...
...the "inconvenient truth" is that Gore's hypothesis of global warming is exactly wrong... upside down...In the January 15 edition of NewsMax, writer Phil Brennan provides an excellent primer on global cooling that almost anyone - with the possible exception of liberals, Democrats, and radical environmentalists - can understand...It is not the impact of industrialization and fossil fuel combustion that is causing the seas and oceans to warm. To the contrary, it is…
cmcclain | February 25, 2007
About a year ago the Seed Mothership, sponsored an event that allowed readers to pose questions to their favorite blogger. Peter and I, before we had the mothership connection, joined up with that event. You, the readers, presented several insightful questions.
So once again, I ask you to suggest some questions/topics. Just put them in the comments and Peter and I will do are best to answer them. You may want to keep the questions deep sea related or you will be forced to read our ramblings on matters we have no idea about!
grrlscientist | February 25, 2007Ever had your beach picnic spoilt by seagulls trying snatch your sarnies? Or been ambushed by the birds while quietly minding your own business? Well here's an opportunity to get your own back and have a bit of fun with this interactive game. See if your score makes the grade. (Click play on the lower left side -- it's a little difficult to see).
I didn't do very well with this game -- only scoring 102.
drorzel | February 25, 2007Syracuse beat Providence yesterday, in a good old-fashioned Big East game-- on a critical late-game play, a Providence player got smacked across the face hard enough to turn his head, and no foul was called. He missed the shot, Syracuse got the rebound, and it was all over but the free-throw shooting.
This was a classic bubble-team game-- Syracuse was up six for much of the first half, and trailed by four at halftime. Then they were up again for a while,were tied a few times in the middle of the second half, and held on to eke out a narrow victory. The win was their 20th, which is not as much…
grrlscientist | February 25, 2007This is a fun quiz to play with and I think it is reasonably accurate, although rather singular in its focus (I think it should give percentages as to what your different intelligences are), but what do you think?
Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence
You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.
An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.
You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view.
A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary.
You would make…
grrlscientist | February 24, 2007
Try this online sheepdog trial game and see how good you are at preventing those pesky sheep from escaping! Get a high enough score and you can challenge a friend.
cmcclain | February 23, 2007During "Friday Night Discussion", aka pizza and pitchers, a question was posed. Which is prettier, Britney Spears or the Kraken?
OR
grrlscientist | February 23, 2007This quiz might be more accurate than the previous one for diagnosing your linguistic profile.
Your Linguistic Profile:
45% General American English
25% Yankee
15% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
cmcclain | February 23, 2007
Hermit crab from a cold seep site sampled during seeps voyage on RV Tangaroa. Note the seep-associated bacterial filaments on its claws (furry-looking covering).
Image courtesy of NOAA/NIWA.
tqa | February 22, 2007
Over the last few days, I've had a lot of conversations with scientists about what scientists can do to help change the way that the American public views science. The phrase, "what can I do?" has come up more than once in these conversations, but every time it has I've discovered that I was actually being asked a slightly different question: "what can I do that won't take up much time or cause me much inconvenience."
It's a frustrating question, but a fair one. Scientists, like most other academics, tend to be overworked and underpaid - particularly in the university setting. Most of the…
grrlscientist | February 22, 2007
Swarms of giant hornets are getting ready to invade Britain. The 1.8 inch long insects feed their young with the larvae of bees and they can destroy a nest of 30,000 honeybees in several hours. Already, they have devastated bee populations in large areas of France.
The Asian hornets, with a three-inch wingspan, can also attack humans with their stings. Their string has been compared to a hot nail entering the body.
"There's no doubt that these hornets are heading north and will probably find their way to Britain," said Stuart Hine, of the Natural History Museum in London. "However, they…
grrlscientist | February 22, 2007The 43rd edition of I and the Bird is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on wild birds.
cmcclain | February 22, 2007Scientists added several species of deep sea sharks on Thursday to the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) endangered Red List due to overfishing.
cmcclain | February 22, 2007On the 15th, I reported about the recently sequenced genome of R. magnifica. One of the coauthors is not pleased with the papers outcome.
Actually, in reality, most everything about this paper, well, kind of sucks.
Why? Not because of the quality of research or the topic. First, Science favored a jazzy, unecessary figure over content. Second, Science, and the paper, are not open access. And let me add a third, the poorly written press release on the work.
cmcclain | February 22, 2007Here are the pictures I promised yesterday of the new catch...
From Dominion Post...MONSTROUS CATCH: A colossal squid, weighing about 450kg, was caught by a longliner in Antarctica. It was barely alive when it reached the surface.
Photo courtesy of the New Zealand Fisheries department
cmcclain | February 21, 2007 Sweet Jesus! Several news agencies are reporting that New Zealand fisherman in the Ross Sea caught the LARGEST SQUID EVER FOUND. It's not Architeuthis dux, the giant squid but rather Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the colossal squid! The monster comes into 450kg (992 lbs). That is 1/2 ton! It is 10m long (32.9ft). The previous record was 300kg from 2003, so you can see this quite a find. As I posted before, while the giant squid is longer, the colossal squid is heavier. "It is believed the crew on the boat stopped winching in the long-line and spent two hours manoeuvring a net under the…