The boycott of science journal publisher Elsevier has grown now to almost 5,000 scientists.
The boycott of science journal publisher Elsevier has now grown to almost 5,000 scientists.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
According to scientists, Obama’s proposed budget — to be announced on Monday — will cut the planetary program severely.
According to scientists, Obama’s proposed budget — to be announced on Monday — will severely cut NASA’s planetary program.
We will find out if this is true on Monday. However, I suspect it is, as all the rumors have pointed that way for months.
Meanwhile, Congress is forcing NASA to spend $3 billion on the Space Launch System (SLS), a rocket that will never get finished. As I have written previously, this is a very bad use of the taxpayer’s money. Better to get rid of SLS, put half the savings into the science program (which would almost certainly increase its overall budget) and pocket the rest as budget savings.
Two Christian leaders said today that they’d go to jail rather than comply with the new Obamacare regulations.
The correct response: Two Christian leaders said today that they’d go to jail rather than comply with the new Obamacare regulations.
“I feel duped.”
The man duped is Fritz Vahrenholt, a former global warming advocate and leftwing environmentalist in Germany. The words were spoken in a long and detailed interview in Der Spiegel. Read it all, as it demonstrates without question that Vahrenholt has done his research about the complexities of climate research as well as the flaws and dishonesty contained within the IPCC reports. However, he gets to the nub of the matter when he is asked why he has taken on the role of a climate skeptic with such passion.
» Read more
The Martian meteorite that was recovered in Morocco in July is now thought to contain pockets of trapped Martian atmosphere.
The Martian meteorite that was recovered in Morocco in July is now thought to contain pockets of trapped Martian atmosphere.
Or at least, the geology says the meteorite should have these pockets. The actual analysis has not yet happened.
Bryson Andres busking – Soul Sister
An evening pause: Street performer Bryson Andres performs a cover of Train’s “Soul Sister” in Spokane.
The Sun goes bust
It is that time of the month again. Today NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center today released its monthly update of the ongoing solar cycle sunspot activity, covering January 2012. I have posted the graph below the fold.
For the second month in a row the Sun’s sunspot activity plunged. The drop in activity has been so steep that it has cancelled out almost two thirds of the activity rise that occurred during the last half of 2010. In fact, the drop brings the Sun’s sunspot count back to numbers comparable with March of last year, hardly a sign of a fast ramp up to solar maximum, which is what solar scientists have come to expect the Sun to do. Instead, the Sun’s activity during this ramp up has fluctuated wildly, going up strongly for several months and then dropping precipitously for another few months. These wild swings have now repeated themselves four times since the fall of 2010.
» Read more
An Islamic mob destroyed Buddhist statues yesterday in the national museum of the Maldives.
The tolerance of Islam: An Islamic mob destroyed Buddhist statues yesterday in the national museum of the Maldives.
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
The uncertainty of science: New satellite data shows that the glaciers in the Himalayas have lost no ice in past 10 years.
The scientists are careful to point out that lower-altitude glaciers in the Asian mountain ranges – sometimes dubbed the “third pole” – are definitely melting. Satellite images and reports confirm this. But over the study period from 2003-10 enough ice was added to the peaks to compensate.
Is this further confirmation that global warming stopped ten years ago? Not really. As the report notes, the time period is too short to establish a clear trend. Moreover, this study only deals with the Asian glaciers, which is also too small a sample for any firm conclusions.
Nonetheless, the data does illustrate once again how complex and uncertain the study of the Earth’s climate is. Anyone who claims we know what is really happening is either refusing to look at all the data or is simply lying.
“Speakers will be physically assaulted, not just verbally confronted.”
Based on computer models a team of scientists have concluded that the world’s continents are slowly forming the next supercontinent, which will coalesce over the North Pole in 50 to 200 million years
Based on computer models a team of scientists have concluded that the world’s continents are slowly forming the next supercontinent, which will coalesce over the North Pole in 50 to 200 million years.
Is the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way eating asteroids?
Is the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way eating asteroids?
“It is unacceptable that HHS fails to maintain accurate financial records and fails to adhere to federal law designed to protect taxpayer dollars from mismanagement and waste.”
HHS is Health and Human Services, the federal department tasked with running Obamacare.
The important thing to note about this story is how completely normal it seems for a government agency like HHS to have significant problems keeping track of its money and operations. No one is ever surprised when a government agency is found incompetent in this manner, and in fact, it happens frequently. And yet, the President and the Democrats in Congress thought it perfectly reasonable to hand over control of healthcare to that same government.
Not only is this story further evidence that Obamacare should be repealed, it illustrates again how clueless the Democrats were who voted for it.
The Russians have confirmed that their scientists have successfully drilled into Lake Vostok in Antartica.
The Russians have confirmed that their scientists have successfully drilled into Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
Still no results, but this is not surprising, as these scientists will need time to analyze their data.
Update: More details from Science:
On Saturday, the drill had encountered water at about 3766 meters depth, but the team determined that it was a water lens sitting above the surface of the lake rather than the lake itself. The team collected water samples from the lens, and then kept drilling until reaching the lake surface itself. As expected, the pressurized water of the lake rose about 30 to 40 meters through the borehole and froze, plugging the borehole; the team will return next fall to retrieve the plug and examine it for signs of life.
There is simply no time in American history we can recall where nearly the entire body of American Catholic bishops and priests have united to speak against a sitting president by name, and promised civil disobedience.
Another Airbus jumbo jet found with cracks in its wings
Not good: Another Airbus jumbo jet has been found with cracks in its wings.
The DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver song
An evening pause: A ballad to a plane.
Two more global warming scientists turn skeptics
Two more global warming scientists, this time in Germany, have become global warming skeptics.
One of the fathers of Germany’s modern green movement, Professor Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, a social democrat and green activist, decided to author a climate science skeptical book together with geologist/paleontologist Dr. Sebastian Lüning. Vahrenholt’s skepticism started when he was asked to review an IPCC report on renewable energy. He found hundreds of errors. When he pointed them out, IPCC officials simply brushed them aside. Stunned, he asked himself, “Is this the way they approached the climate assessment reports?”
Vahrenholt decided to do some digging. His colleague Dr. Lüning also gave him a copy of Andrew Montford’s The Hockey Stick Illusion. He was horrified by the sloppiness and deception he found. Persuaded by Hoffmann & Campe, he and Lüning decided to write the book. Die kalte Sonne [The Cold Sun] cites 800 sources and has over 80 charts and figures. It examines and summarizes the latest science.
[The c]onclusion: climate catastrophe is called off. The science was hyped.
A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been fitted into an 83-year-old woman’s face.
A new first: A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been transplanted into an 83-year-old woman’s face.
Using heat to speed up computer hard drives.
Using heat to speed up computer hard drives.