By Phil Plait5 April 2013 “Against unreason, the gods themselves contend in vain.” —with apologies to Friedrich Schiller (Slate.com) – Lately I’ve been trying to write more about science, rather than write about those who attack it. I love science, and I love promoting it. It gives us wonder, knowledge, advances in technology and medicine, […]
5 April 2013 (Reuters) – A cool spring in the Midwest has farmers eager for soils to warm up before planting what is expected to be the region’s biggest crop in decades. Farmers this week could begin planting corn in many spots across the upper Midwest, according to insurance policies that cover costs if they […]
By STEPHANIE STROM5 April 2013 BLOOMING GROVE, Texas (The New York Times) – Gary Price is a rarity among cattle ranchers these days. He’s making money on his herd of 200 cows in this tiny town about an hour south of Dallas-Fort Worth. “The market is very good, and we’ve been able to keep what […]
By Tim Barlass7 April 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Major changes to the food chain, weather, and landscape of Antarctica have provided stark evidence of the impact of global warming, a report on a polar expedition has revealed. The preliminary report on the research by scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and the Woods Hole […]
By Ray Pierrehumbert 2 April 2013 (RealClimate) – This year, the Geological Society of America is rolling out their Switch Energy Awareness campaign. The centerpiece of the campaign is a documentary film, Switch, which purports to be about the need for a transformation in the world’s energy systems. Recently, I attended the Chicago premier of […]
By Brenda Ekwurzel, climate scientist 5 April 2013 (UCS) – You know something really weird is happening when in a single season more than 123 records are broken. That was the news from my home country, Australia, last month. The Australian Climate Commission, a government-sponsored science group, released a report confirming that the country’s climate […]
By Michael Warren and Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires 4 April 2013 LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) – Argentine police and soldiers searched house to house, in creeks and culverts and even in trees for bodies on Thursday after floods killed at least 57 people in the province and city of Buenos Aires. As torrential rains […]
By Becky Oskin, LiveScience5 April 2013 (NBC News) – From lakes and grasslands with hippos and giraffes to a vast desert, North Africa’s sudden geographical transformation 5,000 years ago was one of the planet’s most dramatic climate shifts. The transformation took place nearly simultaneously across the continent’s northern half, a new study finds. The results […]
5 April 2013 (Reuters) – Rising foreign demand for beef and soybeans will tempt Brazil to clear more of the Amazon rainforest, in a reversal of recent success in slowing forest losses, a study said on Thursday. About 30 per cent of deforestation in Brazil in the decade to 2010 was due to farmers and […]
[Des called it for the Asian carp back in 2010. Here’s more evidence strengthening the case, unfortunately.] By JOHN FLESHER4 April 2013 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – At least some Asian carp probably have found their way into the Great Lakes, but there’s still time to stop the dreaded invaders from becoming established and unraveling […]
