Science Etcetera, Moonday 20090126

Posted in Science Etcetera on January 26th, 2009

AGW deniers have lost one of their favorite talking points about Antarctica getting colder, as the evidence shows the continent is warming.

It turns out temperatures are rising on a large chunk of West Antarctica, with dark red showing the area that has warmed the most, according to new data. Scientists in Antarctica also report the Wilkins Ice Shelf may soon break apart.

Antarctica Warming
Credit: NASA/ E. J. Steig

50 years of data show that global warming is causing Pacific Northwest forests to die twice as fast as they were 17 years ago. (ht Carolyn)

Scientific consensus. A survey of 3,146 scientists shows strong belief in Anthropogenic Global Warming, with Climatologists the most strongly convinced (ht Carolyn)

A squirrel touched two electrical wires, burst into flames, and took out five acres. (ht Carolyn)

Aquatic beetle larvae inspire a method of propulsion for nanobots, using an electric pulse to destabilize surface tension.

Side view snapshots of the water meniscus on the EWOD electrode<br />
before (a) and after (b) applying the voltage.

Electic Pulse Disrupts Water Tension

An eighth grader invents and ultraviolet decal, invisible to humans, that can be placed on a window pane to warn birds away.

Wire blows away the recent Google-Carbon Emissions story, putting it into perspective.

Why cold air causes runny noses.

Did Archimedes beat Newton and Leibnitz to calculus?

International Space Station Tour (Part I)

One comment to “Science Etcetera, Moonday 20090126”

TechCrunch had a few articles that approached the original Google Carbon Emission claims with a much more reasonable approach, basically, it costs a lot more in Carbon Emissions to drive to a library and to produce books etc…

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/11/are-we-killing-the-planet-one-google-search-at-a-time/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/12/revealed-the-times-made-up-that-stuff-about-google-and-the-tea-kettles/

Unfortunately, it’s more sensational for the media to say “we’re dying! we’re killing everything! it’s all bad!” rather than look into it and get some perspective.

I am glad Wired is doing their part to put things into perspective.

As far as calculus and it’s development/credit goes, to me it doesn’t really matter what anyone did, it surely was a subject that others have observed or used throughout history to some extent, but the reason Newton deserves all the credit for it is because it put it into a functional framework, using it to explain the environment, he didn’t just develop it as a mathematical curiosity.
by John January 26th, 2009 at 1:34 am

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