Curiousity has launched
Curiousity has successfully launched. More updates here.
Curiousity has successfully launched. More updates here.
Tag: science
Curiousity has launched
Now the European carbon market is crashing
Now the European carbon-trading market is crashing.
Now the European carbon-trading market is crashing.
The ozone hole, in context
The ozone hole, today, recently, and in context over the past three decades.
Note that this data shows the ozone hole over Antarctica. There has never been a very significant ozone hole over the North Pole.
The ozone hole, today, recently, and in context over the past three decades.
Note that this data shows the ozone hole over Antarctica. There has never been a very significant ozone hole over the North Pole.
“Perpetuating rubbish”: a detailed analysis of one part of the new climategate emails
“Perpetuating rubbish”: a detailed analysis of one part of the new climategate emails.
I think the first comment sums up the tragedy of this situation very clearly:
So privately they said the series had a “dubious relationship to temperature”, but publicly they said it was “well calibrated”? I am just about to the point of never trusting any scientists at all.
The willingness of the climate field to whitewash the fraud and corruption revealed by the first set of climategate emails is now haunting this field badly. Why should anyone believe anything any global warming scientist ever says? It is very clear that too many of them put politics above science in their work.
“Perpetuating rubbish”: a detailed analysis of one part of the new climategate emails.
I think the first comment sums up the tragedy of this situation very clearly:
So privately they said the series had a “dubious relationship to temperature”, but publicly they said it was “well calibrated”? I am just about to the point of never trusting any scientists at all.
The willingness of the climate field to whitewash the fraud and corruption revealed by the first set of climategate emails is now haunting this field badly. Why should anyone believe anything any global warming scientist ever says? It is very clear that too many of them put politics above science in their work.
Einstein explains E=mc²
New data suggests the global climate is not as sensitive to changes in carbon dioxide as predicted by past climate models
The uncertainty of science: New data suggests the global climate is not as sensitive to changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as predicted by past climate models.
The uncertainty of science: New data suggests the global climate is not as sensitive to changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as predicted by past climate models.
Another carbon trading scheme is failing, this time in Alberta Canada
Another carbon trading scheme is failing, this time in Alberta Canada.
Another carbon trading scheme is failing, this time in Alberta Canada.
A very compelling case for life
One scientist’s perspective on the new Climategate emails
One scientist’s perspective on the new Climategate emails.
Long time readers will recall that in 2004 and 2005 (before Katrina), I led an interdisciplinary effort to review the literature on hurricanes and global warming. The effort resulted in a peer-reviewed article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. That paper, despite being peer-reviewed and standing the test of time (as we now know), was ignored by the relevant part of the IPCC 2007 that dealt with extreme events. Thanks to the newly released emails from UEA [University of East Anglia] (hacked, stolen, donated, or whatever) we can say with certainty why that paper was excluded from the IPCC 2007 report Chapter 3 which discussed hurricanes and climate change. Those various reviews associated with the release of the UEA emails that concluded that no papers were purposely kept out of the IPCC may want to revisit that particular conclusion.
Read the whole thing. It is worth it to get a real sense about how petty and political the IPCC process is. It has little to do with science, and everything to do with forcing a conclusion down everyone’s throat.
One scientist’s perspective on the new Climategate emails.
Long time readers will recall that in 2004 and 2005 (before Katrina), I led an interdisciplinary effort to review the literature on hurricanes and global warming. The effort resulted in a peer-reviewed article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. That paper, despite being peer-reviewed and standing the test of time (as we now know), was ignored by the relevant part of the IPCC 2007 that dealt with extreme events. Thanks to the newly released emails from UEA [University of East Anglia] (hacked, stolen, donated, or whatever) we can say with certainty why that paper was excluded from the IPCC 2007 report Chapter 3 which discussed hurricanes and climate change. Those various reviews associated with the release of the UEA emails that concluded that no papers were purposely kept out of the IPCC may want to revisit that particular conclusion.
Read the whole thing. It is worth it to get a real sense about how petty and political the IPCC process is. It has little to do with science, and everything to do with forcing a conclusion down everyone’s throat.
The best research paper abstract, evar!
A preview of the new Mars unmanned rover Curiousity, set for launch on Saturday
A preview of the new Mars unmanned rover Curiousity, set for launch on Saturday. This is the part of its mission that scares me the most:
The final stages of the entry, descent and landing sequence will be especially tense as the rover, dubbed Curiosity in a student naming contest, is gently lowered to the surface on cables suspended from a rocket-powered “sky crane” making its debut flight. Too large to use airbags like those that cushioned NASA’s Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Curiosity will rely instead on landing rockets positioned above the rover, avoiding the challenge of coming up with a reliable way to get a one-ton vehicle off of an elevated, possibly tilted lander. Instead, Curiosity will be set down on its six 20-inch-wide wheels, ready to roll.
If it works.
A preview of the new Mars unmanned rover Curiousity, set for launch on Saturday. This is the part of its mission that scares me the most:
The final stages of the entry, descent and landing sequence will be especially tense as the rover, dubbed Curiosity in a student naming contest, is gently lowered to the surface on cables suspended from a rocket-powered “sky crane” making its debut flight. Too large to use airbags like those that cushioned NASA’s Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Curiosity will rely instead on landing rockets positioned above the rover, avoiding the challenge of coming up with a reliable way to get a one-ton vehicle off of an elevated, possibly tilted lander. Instead, Curiosity will be set down on its six 20-inch-wide wheels, ready to roll.
If it works.
ESA tracking station loses contact with Phobos-Grunt
The ESA tracking station that had made contact with Phobos-Grunt earlier this week failed repeatedly yesterday to re-establish contact.
The ESA tracking station that had made contact with Phobos-Grunt earlier this week failed repeatedly yesterday to re-establish contact.
Evidence from a cave in Australia suggests that humans were doing deep sea fishing more than 40,000 years ago
New evidence from a cave in Australia suggests that humans were doing deep sea fishing — with the sophisticated maritime skills such ocean-going requires — far earlier than previously believed, as much as 42,000 years ago.
New evidence from a cave in Australia suggests that humans were doing deep sea fishing — with the sophisticated maritime skills such ocean-going requires — far earlier than previously believed, as much as 42,000 years ago.
An update on the efforts to save Phobos-Grunt
An update on the efforts to save Phobos-Grunt.
“The first pass was successful in that the spacecraft’s radio downlink was commanded to switch on and telemetry was received,” said Wolfgang Hell, ESA’s Service Manager for Phobos–Grunt. Telemetry typically includes information on the status and health of a spacecraft’s systems. “The signals received from Phobos–Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft’s orbital position.”
The second pass was short, and so was used only to uplink commands – no receipt of signal was expected. However, the following three passes in the early morning of 24 November proved to be more difficult: no signal was received from Phobos–Grunt.
An update on the efforts to save Phobos-Grunt.
“The first pass was successful in that the spacecraft’s radio downlink was commanded to switch on and telemetry was received,” said Wolfgang Hell, ESA’s Service Manager for Phobos–Grunt. Telemetry typically includes information on the status and health of a spacecraft’s systems. “The signals received from Phobos–Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft’s orbital position.”
The second pass was short, and so was used only to uplink commands – no receipt of signal was expected. However, the following three passes in the early morning of 24 November proved to be more difficult: no signal was received from Phobos–Grunt.
ESA antenna contacts Phobos-Grunt again, this time downloading telemetry data
An ESA tracking station has once again contacted Phobos-Grunt, this time downloading telemetry data.
“We have again established contact with the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, we obtained telemetry reports, they are being analyzed by our colleagues from the Lavochkin Research and Production Association,” ESA spokesman Rene Pischel said.
An ESA tracking station has once again contacted Phobos-Grunt, this time downloading telemetry data.
“We have again established contact with the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, we obtained telemetry reports, they are being analyzed by our colleagues from the Lavochkin Research and Production Association,” ESA spokesman Rene Pischel said.
India pushes for a sharing of intellectual property rights at Durban climate talks
India pushes for a sharing of intellectual property rights at Durban climate talks.
If you ever had any doubts about the political goals behind the global warming movement, this headline and story should put those forever to rest. The advocates of climate change really don’t care about climate change. What they really want is to get their hands on other people’s success. Failing to get a deal that would limit the activities of the developed countries so that the developing countries would have an advantage in the free market, the effort is now aimed at attacking and even eliminating the property rights of private technology companies. What this has to do with climate change is beyond me.
That India is leading the way here is puzzling, however, as that country’s economic success in the past decade is solely due to its abandonment of communist ideals in favor of capitalism and the free market. You would think, with that experience, that India’s government would thus understand the importance of protecting property rights, not violating them.
India pushes for a sharing of intellectual property rights at Durban climate talks.
If you ever had any doubts about the political goals behind the global warming movement, this headline and story should put those forever to rest. The advocates of climate change really don’t care about climate change. What they really want is to get their hands on other people’s success. Failing to get a deal that would limit the activities of the developed countries so that the developing countries would have an advantage in the free market, the effort is now aimed at attacking and even eliminating the property rights of private technology companies. What this has to do with climate change is beyond me.
That India is leading the way here is puzzling, however, as that country’s economic success in the past decade is solely due to its abandonment of communist ideals in favor of capitalism and the free market. You would think, with that experience, that India’s government would thus understand the importance of protecting property rights, not violating them.
A team of Italian scientists have reviewed the earlier faster-than-light neutrino results and have rejected them.
Not so fast: A team of Italian scientists have reviewed the earlier faster-than-light neutrino results and have rejected them.
Not so fast: A team of Italian scientists have reviewed the earlier faster-than-light neutrino results and have rejected them.
‘Perfect black’ coating can render a 3D object flat, raises intriguing dark veil possibility in astronomy
A newly developed “perfect black” coating can render a 3D object flat, which raises an intriguing dark veil possibility in astronomy.
“The carbon nanotube forest can absorb very wide range of electromagnetic wave from ultraviolet up to terahertz,” Guo said, “and in principle it can be applied to an arbitrary sized object.” Just how large an object? Guo suggested an intriguing possibility—perhaps entire planets or even stars. “Since deep space itself is a perfect dark background, if a planet or star were surrounded by a thick, sooty atmosphere of light-absorbing carbon nanomaterial gases, it would become invisible due to the same principle,” Guo said. “It would become totally dark to our instruments that rely on the detection of electromagnetic waves.”
A newly developed “perfect black” coating can render a 3D object flat, which raises an intriguing dark veil possibility in astronomy.
“The carbon nanotube forest can absorb very wide range of electromagnetic wave from ultraviolet up to terahertz,” Guo said, “and in principle it can be applied to an arbitrary sized object.” Just how large an object? Guo suggested an intriguing possibility—perhaps entire planets or even stars. “Since deep space itself is a perfect dark background, if a planet or star were surrounded by a thick, sooty atmosphere of light-absorbing carbon nanomaterial gases, it would become invisible due to the same principle,” Guo said. “It would become totally dark to our instruments that rely on the detection of electromagnetic waves.”
Climategate 2
Having failed to clean up its act after the release of the climategate emails two years ago, the field of climate science is about to turned upside down all over again. Today there was another release of hacked emails, written by the same collection of global warming scientists. Once again, these emails show that these scientists are anything but scientists. Instead, they seem far more interested in campaigning for a certain result, regardless of the science. A few quotes:
» Read more
A new batch of hacked climategate emails have been released
A new batch of hacked climategate emails have been released. More info, including some examples from the emails, can be found here and here.
Update: A quick scan by me of these, hardly finished, reveals this one email from Phil Jones, demonstrating beyond doubt how much fraud is involved in climate science:
Basic problem is that all models are wrong – not got enough middle and low level clouds.
Stay tuned for more bombshells.
A new batch of hacked climategate emails have been released. More info, including some examples from the emails, can be found here and here.
Update: A quick scan by me of these, hardly finished, reveals this one email from Phil Jones, demonstrating beyond doubt how much fraud is involved in climate science:
Basic problem is that all models are wrong – not got enough middle and low level clouds.
Stay tuned for more bombshells.
Russia is considering shifting its planetary research from Mars to the Moon, following the failure of Phobos-Grunt
Russia is considering shifting its planetary research from Mars to the Moon, following the failure of the Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars.
Russia is considering shifting its planetary research from Mars to the Moon, following the failure of the Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars.
Figuring out the diet of an extinct lion subspecies
Figuring out the diet of an extinct lion subspecies.
Figuring out the diet of an extinct lion subspecies.
Japanese engineers aim Akatsuki for a second attempt at orbiting Venus in 2015
Japanese engineers have re-adjusted the course of their science probe Akatsuki for a second attempt at orbiting Venus in 2015.
Japanese engineers have re-adjusted the course of their science probe Akatsuki for a second attempt at orbiting Venus in 2015.
The man behind the cameras on Mars
NASA’s next chief scientist: an former astronaut
NASA’s next head of its science programs: former astronaut John Grunsfeld.
NASA’s next head of its science programs: former astronaut John Grunsfeld.
James Hansen and the corruption of science
A 70-million-year-old nest of fifteen baby dinosaurs has been found
A 70-million-year-old nest of fifteen baby dinosaurs has been found.
A 70-million-year-old nest of fifteen baby dinosaurs has been found.
The hunt for the “God Particle” enters the final stretch
The hunt for the “God Particle” enters the final stretch. And scientists might find it doesn’t exist!
The hunt for the “God Particle” enters the final stretch. And scientists might find it doesn’t exist!
Uncertainty rules the day
The press reports have been unanimous:
- Nature: Climate panel says prepare for weird weather
- Associated Press: Get ready for extreme weather
- The Guardian: Extreme weather will strike as climate change takes hold, IPCC warns
- Reuters: Extreme weather to worsen with climate change: IPCC
Unfortunately, if you read the actual IPCC panel summary report, you find that, though the majority of the press stories accurately describe the report’s worst scenarios and predictions, all of them downplay the most important point of the report, that the uncertainties are gigantic and that the influence of human activity on the increase or decrease of extreme weather for the next few decades will be inconsequential. To quote the report:
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An engineering prize to rival the Nobel
An engineering prize to rival the Nobel.
An engineering prize to rival the Nobel.