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pgleick | February 10, 2013It is time we just said “no.”
There is growing attention to climate change in the media; and there is a growing realization that decisions we make today will have a lasting effect on the world’s climate tomorrow.
But there is still a gap – a chasm really – between the reality of climate change and our day-to-day choices, investments, and public debates about water, energy, food, and resources.
Here is the reality: the burning of fossil fuels is the leading contributor of gases that are already changing the planet’s delicate climate, and the climate will continue to change in an exponentially…
gregladen | February 9, 2013Don't forget to register for CONvergence. If you register early you get a break on the rate. Details at their site.
For those who don't now, CONvergence is the largest fan run fantasy and science fiction convention, and it is held in the Twin Cities at or near the 4th of July. And, even better, every year for the last several years, Skepchick has organized a bunch of panels at The CON on skepticism, science and stuff, and for the last few years I've been invited to be on some of those panels, and have helped organize. Last Year Free Thought Blogs joined with Skepchick so some of those…
gregladen | February 9, 2013Skeptically Speaking's 200th show is coming up soon! But first, there is show #199. But before I mention show #199, I want to remind you of show #198, because I was in it:
#198 Nature’s Compass and New Caledonian Crows
This week, we’re looking at some of the amazing abilities exhibited by our animal cousins. We’ll speak to James Gould, co-author of Nature’s Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation, about the varying strategies animals use to find their way across all kinds of distances. And biological anthropologist Greg Laden discusses new research on the surprising reasoning abilities of…
gregladen | February 8, 2013I wasn't living in Boston yet; Albany, instead. But at the time I was actually travelling by car out to California, and was in Texas when this particular storm caught up with me. Texas got iced over, the Rio Grande froze, the citrus crop was destroyed and I spent two nights in Big Spring. Two months later there were still semi's littering the roadside on Route 40 and elsewhere. This storm was the end of coastal residential development in New England. Between this storm and a few bad coastal storms that came over the next few years, thousands of homes were destroyed without being rebuilt,…
gregladen | February 8, 2013Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute joins Scienceblogs.com, and here is his introductory post!
Welcome to the first post in my new National Geographic ScienceBlogs column “Significant Figures.” I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on a wide range of environmental science-related issues, data, and people, and to a productive and constructive interaction....
If you've hear me mention something about "something cool about to happen on the blogs" lately, this is it. Welcome Peter!
pgleick | February 8, 2013Welcome to the first post in my new National Geographic ScienceBlogs column “Significant Figures.” I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on a wide range of environmental science-related issues, data, and people, and to a productive and constructive interaction.
My background? I’m an environmental scientist by training and inclination, with experience in engineering, hydrology, climatology, and interdisciplinary analysis. My research and writing have, for over thirty years, focused on water resources, climate dynamics and change, energy, risk assessment, and the synthesis and…
jrosenhouse | February 7, 2013Sorry for another post that's all about me, but I received a pleasant surprise today. The Association of American Publishers just gave out their annual PROSE awards. The awards recognize excellence in scholarly publishing in some forty categories. One of those categories is “Popular Science and Mathematics.” The winner in that category? None other than Taking Sudoku Seriously! Yay!
gregladen | February 6, 2013This is important stuff. Along the lines of whether or not Bigfoot is real. So let’s talk about it for a moment.
The crosswalk buttons in my neighborhood work. At least some of them. Last summer and the summer before, Huxley and I would walk around quite a bit, crossing through intersections that at other times I would drive through, and from the latter vantage (driving) I’d observe people at intersections trying to get a walk light. Between our pressing of the buttons, and my observations of others, I’m pretty sure that the lights change to “walk” during the traffic signal cycle far more…
jrosenhouse | February 5, 2013Writing in the academic journal Metascience, philosopher Stefan Blancke has reviewed Among the Creationists. Blancke is a postdoc in the Department of Philosophy at Ghent University in Belgium. Together with fellow philosophers Maarten Boudry and Johan Braeckman, is the author of an important paper calling into question some of the arguments made by the pro-evolution side with regard to methodological naturalism. Since I quote their paper favorably in the book, I was especially interested to know what Blancke thought of the book. Did he like it? Well, here's the opening paragraph:
On a…
gregladen | February 5, 2013There was an 8.0 magnitude earthquake a few minutes ago in the vicinity of Santa Cruz Islands, in the South Pacific, and it is now confirmed that this generated a potentially severe tsunami that by now would have hit nearby islands. But, no one has reports from the scene to confirm or elaborate on this. That is a very large earthquake, and apparently shallow.
Info here.
Of special note, in all caps, because that's how meteorologists roll:
http://www.tsunami.gov/product.php?id=TSUPAC.2013
SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR…
carlyo | February 4, 2013
In today's blog USA Science & Engineering Festival Fan Dr. Jessica Carilli offers a little advice to those that are pursuing graduate school.
Blog post from "Jessica's Blog of Bad Advice"
Go To Graduate School by Dr. Jessica Carilli
This could be the worst piece of advice you will get from this blog, because there is ample evidence these days that obtaining a graduate degree won’t get you a job (or not the kind you thought).
But I’m going to take the opposite tack, and tell you why attending grad school is not the worst idea you’ve ever had.
In 2003, I graduated with my BS in…
gregladen | February 3, 2013As you know, the permafrost is melting due to global warming, and this is releasing greenhouse gasses which cause global warming. What you may not know is that we could not have had this conversation even a century ago because science has only recently recognized permafrost (it was not clearly defined and known of in the early 20th century). John McKay, an expert on hairy elephants and related things, has written up a description of what may be the first scientific description of permafrost, from a century or more prior to it's incorporation into the scientific conversation as a reasonably…
gregladen | February 2, 2013Ben Goldacre, the Bad Science column writer and at present, Wellcome research fellow in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has a book coming out soon (Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients). I've not seen it yet, but when I do I'll get you a review as soon as I can. Mean time, he's written a nice piece for the New York Times.
Bottom line: All that icky stuff you hear, think, assume, guess, wonder about regarding the medical industry, especially Big Pharma? Well, a lot of it is true. The NYT piece is especially focused on the file…
gregladen | February 2, 2013Birdchasers: An educational documentary ideal for the Discoverie Channel.
Two teams of birdwatchers spend the entire birding season (from June 1st through June 22nd) in sometimes friendly, sometimes not so friendly competition in a desperate and dangerous search for dangerous and disparate birds. Team A is from Cornell University Bird Research Center, and their main objective is to collect good scientific data and a few nice pictures. Team B consists of Corey Finger and Mike Bergin, from the Internet Blog 10,000 Birds. The bloggers, with the nickname "The Dominators," are mainly after…
gregladen | February 2, 2013The Public Religion Research Institute has conducted a poll about the Superbowl They found:
27% of Americans believe that God plays a role in determining which team winds a sporting event.
53% of Americans believe that god rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success
42% of Americans don't think that those 53% of Americans are correct.
By religion, there is variation in the percentage of people who believe that god determines the outcome of sporting events, or that god rewards athletes of faith. They have a graph:
50% of Americans are fine with athletes making public shows…
gregladen | February 1, 2013Minnesota Atheists is auctioning off a rare $20.00 bill that does not say "In God We Trust" on it. I've already placed my first bid of $36.66! Go here to check it out. Good luck!
jrosenhouse | February 1, 2013Here's a charming story for your Friday afternoon:
Be careful what you post on Reddit. It may just get you canned.
Earlier this week, an Applebee’s waitress posted a photo on Reddit of a receipt from an alleged pastor who, instead of leaving the suggested 18 percent tip, wrote “I give God 10%, why should you get 18.” Now, after the bill went viral, Applebee's has fired the waitress, according to Consumerist.
“I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical,” the waitress, whose name is Chelsea, told Consumerist. “I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it…
gregladen | February 1, 2013TRIGGER WARNING: Rape, molestation, physical attack, misogyny, abuse. Followed by one billion angry women kicking the patriarchy in the ass. You have been warned.
*Trigger Warning* A film by @EveEnsler and Tony Stroebel.
Please spread far and wide w/this tweet: Rise up on 2-14 to end Violence against Women in a global event! @vday
gregladen | February 1, 2013Glaciologist Jason Box describes a post-warming world that you won't even be able to recognize.
gregladen | February 1, 2013History, Culture, Math and the Superbowl
Roman Numerals? What the heck does Exel Vee Aye Aye mean anyway? Does anybody really know?
The Superbowl may be one of the few places where we count above three in Roman Numerals anyway. I assume this is a subtle reference to the gladiatorial aspects of the contest. Which reminds me of this:
A man “lies crumpled on the sand … Behind him a dark trail leads back to the spot from which he has just been dragged. Looking closer, we notice something slightly odd about the figure crouching over the wounded man. His posture does not suggest a doctor…