By Phil Plait24 March 2014 (Slate ) – As you may recall, last month Bill Nye “debated” creationist Ken Ham about evolution. There was a lot of pre-debate debate about it, mostly in the form of asking if it even makes sense for a science-based person to debate someone who clearly ignores any and all […]
By Dave Tickner 21 March 2014 (Guardian Professional) – All hydro, no power? Yesterday afternoon I made a list. I’d like to share it with you: Alon, Solar Alliance, Eskom, GDF Suez, Iberdrola, Ranhill Berhad, Sasol. Can you guess what it’s about? If not, don’t fret. All will be revealed. I made the list while […]
By Beth Daley9 March 2014 SCITUATE (Boston Globe) – Over and over again, the Atlantic has taken aim at 48 Oceanside Drive. Almost four decades ago, it slammed the seafront house clear off its foundation. Thirteen years later, ocean water poured through the roof during a nor’easter. So often has the sea catapulted grapefruit-sized rocks […]
By Andrew Freedman20 March 2014 (Mashable) – It’s been exactly 29 years — or 348 consecutive months — since the last cooler-than-average month on this planet, according to new data released on Wednesday morning. The data, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reflects the warming trend seen around the world during the past […]
By Scott Cohn and Brad Quick21 March 2014 (NBC News) – The first thing you notice at the Spring Creek mine in Decker, Montana, is the size. It’s a sprawling, 9,000-acre site in Big Sky Country near the Wyoming line. Giant coal hauling trucks the size of two-story buildings zip around the complex with surprising […]
By CARL HULSE and ASHLEY PARKER20 March 2014 WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races to the rising alarm of Democrats — was also among the politically active groups on the […]
By Brandon Keim17 March 2014 (Wired) – One of agricultural biotechnology’s great success stories may become a cautionary tale of how short-sighted mismanagement can squander the benefits of genetic modification. After years of predicting it would happen — and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators — scientists have […]
By Kiley Kroh19 March 2014 (Climate Progress) – Nate Silver’s highly anticipated data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight launched on Monday, with a controversial figure covering science issues. Silver has brought on Roger Pielke, Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, as a contributing writer – a political scientist who comes with […]
By ADAM NAGOURNEY7 March 2014 LAKE OF THE WOODS, California (The New York Times) – People in this mountain town straddling the San Andreas Fault are used to scrapping for water. The lake for which it is named went dry 40 years ago. But now, this tiny community is dealing with its most unsettling threat […]
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — California is coming off of its warmest winter on record, aggravating an enduring drought in the most populous U.S. state, federal weather scientists said Monday. The state had a average temperature of 48 Fahrenheit (9 Celsius) for December, January and February, an increase from 47.2 F in 1980-81, the last hottest […]
