Blog RSS Feed
Earth Archive
Out of Balance
by Climate change can't be avoided in any way except by stopping our changes to the atmosphere.
> Read More
The River of Energy
Wherein we tackle global warming at last...
> Read More
Clouds from Both Sides Now
As much energy leaves the earth into space as arrives from the sun. As much energy reaches the surface of the earth as leaves the surface. But these are not the same! Does the earth somehow make something from nothing?
> Read More
In 2008, Dead Zones Are Deadlier
by Remember those disgusting vast areas of the ocean depleted of oxygen and devoid of fish, shrimp, and marine life? They're getting worse.
> Read More
Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature 2 :: Answers
by More beautiful freaks from the animal kingdom.
> Read More
Venter's Energy Bug
Craig Venter is out to create a bacterium that uses CO2 to create fuel. If he succeeds, it could change everything...
> Read More
What Goes Down Must Come Up
The earth emits almost exactly as much energy as it receives. This is not a coincidence.
> Read More
Energy in the Climate System
We discuss a diagram which is the first step toward understanding the climate system.
Fate Of The Ocean
Ocean acidification is intimately connected to our changing climate and as important as global warming...
> Read More
Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature 2
Here's another batch of bizarre & beautiful planetary creatures for our 2nd edition of Aliens on Earth. Click the images below to enlarge them and see if your inner Animal Planet nerd can name them all.
> Read More
Water, ice and stone: a love affair with Antarctica
by Cool off this summer with a new book...
> Read More
The Deadliest Storm This Millennium
Tropical Cyclone Nargis may be the world's deadliest storm since 1999's Orissa.
> Read More
Is an Elite Elitist?
On matters of consequence, there are ideological predictors of who believes a particular piece of science. This can't be good news.
> Read More
Beauty and Truth
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty" said the poet. I am not sure that is as true as it is beautiful, but scientists do find their work beautiful.
> Read More
Carolyn Porco on Titan
by Carolyn Porco gave an excellent talk at TED last year. I recommend it. You'll learn about some of the wonderful things that were learned about the Saturn system using Cassini and Huygens. She focuses on the moon Titan, which can teach us a lot about ourselves.
> Read More
COLOSSAL SQUID!
On Wednesday, a 30 foot long, 900-pound colossal squid hauled up from the Antarctic last January will be studied by a team of scientists... but the catch is, they'll only have FOUR hours!
> Read More
Taking Precocious Too Far
A famous mathematical thorem about the number of colors needed to cover a map has been solved since, but I took it up seriously in my childhood. Or so I thought. A cautionary tale for those who think they "know better"...
> Read More
Science Policy Forum
"Science and the Candidates" will appear in tomorrow's April 11th issue of the journal Science laying out out how ScienceDebate2008 began, its implications, and where it's going.
> Read More
The water problem
Clean water and adequate sanitation are real problems in many areas of the world--World Water Day seeks to raise awareness of the issues surrounding this critical global health tragedy.
> Read More
The Bard of Evolution
Marine paleoecologist Geerat Vermeij is blind. And yet, he sees what others do not...
> Read More
Go Dark Tonight For Earth Hour 2008
Tonight at 8:00 pm, millions of people around the globe will be turning off their lights... Why?
> Read More
Continental Drift and Global Warming
Fifty years from now, when the seriousness of climate change becomes obvious, will scientists be blamed for soft-pedalling their message?
> Read More
Four Degrees of Separation
by The British Antarctic Survey reported that a 220 square mile ice shelf in Antarctica is “hanging by a thread.” The cause? Global warming they say. Also, this big melt is happening much faster than scientists’ original predictions. Just how concerned should we be?
Sand, Man
Sometimes, if you look at things the right way, there are patterns all around to be spotted. Much of physics begins (and sometimes ends) with the business of looking at things the right way and asking the right questions in order to find important features of even the most complicated systems. Take sand, for example...
> Read More
Science And Society
Last week, Inoculated Mind's Karl J. Mogel interviewed me about ScienceDebate2008, the role of science in policy, science blogging, and the ever charismatic sea cucumber.
> Read More
Impacts of the Science Blogosphere
Science blogging may be gaining deserved influence. Here's another case in point.
DIY - Care For Your Microorganisms
A compost pile is a living, breathing community of microorganisms at work converting the organic matter you supply it with into various nutritional compounds. Knowing this is key to producing and using it correctly. Taking care of your compost pile well as it is being made for you by your microscopic friends (such as not letting it get waterlogged and turn into a pile of rotting stuff) is easy if you remember a few things.
> Read More
DIY - Fun with Microorganisms
There's a lot of science to be found all around us, without the need for expensive equipment to uncover much of it. Two favourite places of mine for this are the kitchen and the garden, and in this and the next post I'll talk a bit more about the latter. The topic is not plants per se, as it was last time, but an important link in the chain of which plants are part. I'm talking about making compost, one of those often-overlooked processes in nature that are crucial for the life-cycles on which we here on earth depend.
> Read More
Mapping Oceans Reveals Our Impact
Nearly forty percent of ocean areas are strongly impacted by humans and only four percent can be considered pristine. A fascinating new study provides a snapshot of what we're are doing to our home... the implications of which we're now only beginning to understand.
> Read More
The Science Fair Problem
Lots of earnest kids may be trying to detect a heating effect from CO2 as science fair experiments. Neither they nor their teachers fully understand the principles involved, so they get null results. Is there a way to help them?
The Third Branch of Science?
Some people these days are saying that computing has become so important to science that it constitutes a third branch. Even though computationally intensive science is what occupies my time, I am not sure that this is the right way to think about it philosophically. To some extent computing brings the theoretical and computational branches closer together. People interested in climate modeling whether as skeptics or as enthusiasts should consider how this works.
DIY that turns into DII
Some of the most pleasing forms of DIY are the simplest. When the DIY turns to DII, it's a good old-fashioned win-win situation.
> Read More
Climate Models Don't Predict Climate
We know the radiative properties of the atmosphere are changing as a result of human activity. We know that such changes are a primary factor in how the atmosphere behaves. We have, therefore three choices (you can pick all in combination, or just one, but you can't pick none of them) 1) accelerating climate change 2) large cutback in emissions and 3) artificial mechanisms to remove greenhouse gases from the air. The climate models don't really have much to say about how much, when, or how, which are really the big questions. So what are the models for?
> Read More
The Anthropocene
The Russian geologist Vladimir Vernadsky noted 60 years ago that "Mankind taken as a whole is becoming a powerful geological force." In honor of this change, the present (starting perhaps in 1900, or 1945 or 2000) era is already informally called the "anthropocene" in some circles. This may become the formal name for our time soon enough. Here's an interesting example of an unprecedented geological process that could not have happened before our time.
> Read More
Marine Mammals... Cute, Cuddly, And In Crisis
Twenty-five marine mammal populations in the US of A are currently classified as either endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and thirty are listed as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). While these policies aim to reduce the greatest threats, we've got a long way to go. To get readers up to speed, I've outlined five of the most serious...
> Read More
Obesity and Greenhouse Gas Addiction
Andrew Dessler makes an analogy between weight problems and greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that greenhouse gases are to society as overeating is to individuals. As a fat person obsessed with climate change, the analogy has not escaped me.
> Read More
The Political Climate
Last night CBS aired the news special "The Age of Warming." Scott Pelley, the "60 Minutes" correspondent did a very "60 Minutes"-like job reporting on the climate science. After the requisite standing at the feet of some receding glaciers, it was off to see some penguins so we could shudder at the thought that they might not have anywhere to march. While it was encouraging to see some mainstream media reportage on science, it wasn't until the investigation turned to the Bush administration's censorship of one of the world's leading climate scientists that I decided that the program warranted a mention here. The revelations are astounding.
Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature :: Answers
If you weren't able to guess, here are the answers to the mystery creatures!
> Read More
Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature
There are so many wonderously bizarre creatures on earth that even sci-fi depictions of aliens pale in comparison. So for fun today, I thought we could play a game. Below are images (none photoshopped to my knowledge) of real insects & animals. Click on the image to enlarge it and see if you can name them all.
> Read More
Save the Earth, Sacrifice a Tree!
Can carbon capture work? Yes, it seems unlikely, but think about it. This is actually what plants do. They capture carbon from atmospheric CO2 when they grow. The problem is that they release it when they die and decay back into earth. Chopping down a forest puts CO2 into the air. Regrowing a forest takes CO2 out of the air. A mature unmanaged forest breaks even. So, what if we buried some of the fastest growing plants before they decayed?
> Read More
Unicorns of the Future
I was at the bookstore this afternoon and came across Zoologia Fantastica by Jorges Luis Borges, a book on imaginary creatures in culture & mythology. The title itself got me to thinking about how different it must be for children to go to zoos today, knowing that so many of the creatures before them will soon cease to exist; how "the wild" is on the brink of becoming a landscape of the imaginary.
> Read More
She Swallowed the Spider to Catch the Fly
Some people look at how volcanoes episodically cool the planet and see the possibility of artificial volcanoes as a potential cure for global warming. Is there hope for this idea?
> Read More
Fun With π
Patterns exist that establish themselves out of disorder. So could it be that a higher order of some kind constructed a universe ascribing to specified geometrical axioms that result in early trajectories forward? And what if these single points of origin determine not only where we came from, but where we are headed?
> Read More
Earth as Alien Planet
The field of astronomy and planetary science devoted to the study of planets in other star systems is a young and exciting one. Soon, it is hoped, we will be able to learn about planets not so different from ours, but orbiting about other stars. Will there be life on those other planets? Will there be intelligent life? To learn that will require detection tools currently unavailable, but currently being developed. In preparing for such remarkable telescopes, some scientists have been wondering about what an alien species (perhaps on one of those very planets we might find one day) might see if looking back at our very own planet earth? What can they learn about our planet using telescopes of the sort we might build soon?
> Read More
The Sirens of Titan
Sometimes it isn't obvious why scientists study the things we study. Usually we have more reasons than meets the eye. A study of one of Saturn's moons, for instance, has managed to shed a great deal of light on the climate of the earth.
> Read More
The Sideshow (and also the circus)
The American Geophysics Union meeting got a fair amount of press coverage, notably for a deliberately high-profile talk by Jim Hansen, and a couple of other climate change related talks by Lonnie Thompson and Richard Alley. Each of these talks took place in huge and packed rooms, and the speakers certainly had interesting points to make. The problem with this sort of thing is that it may leave people with the wrong idea of what a scientific conference is and what it is for.
> Read More
Sign of the Times
The Society of the German Language has chosen its word of the year. While there were numerous consonant-rich options, I think their choice (along with some other recent news) is reason for optimism. And the winner is. . .
> Read More
Opting In
So in the last entry I began a discussion of just how much more energy those of us living in the industrialized world use to eat what we want to eat, buy whatever we want to buy, live where we want to live, and go where we want to go. Considering the strain this lifestyle puts on global resources it seems it could better be described as eating too much, buying too often, living where we shouldn't, and just generally going too far.
> Read More
How to Say When
So I'm back from an extended Thanksgiving holiday and I've been thinking about overconsuming. The percentage of my wardrobe that I can wear without feeling as though it's an act of mortification seems to be decreasing at alarming rate, but that's just the beginning.
> Read More
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Viewed from space, we see various white, frozen parts of the Earth's surface, but they are very different in nature. Understanding the past and the future of the world involves understanding these forms.
> Read More
Simple is Beautiful: Why I love my science
by So we've admitted human induced climate change is real. We've seen the sharp rise in carbon dioxide levels over the last few decades and we've accepted that the evidence is now overwhelming. But how many of us have stopped to think how we know all these things?
> Read More
Chaos Part 2: Chaos Doesn't Matter
I've stirred up some old controversies with my article about chaos and climate here. I think my correspondent is genuinely one of those people who don't believe that predictive climatology is possible. I wonder if he thinks that gives people license to change the atmosphere without limits. It always baffles me that some people argue that the less we understand about the atmosphere, the more liberties we ought to be willing to take with it. Anyway, the tack he's taken isn't very relevant. Here's why.
> Read More
Are There Fish In Our Future... Or is 2048 the Y2K for Seafood?
We humans long believed oceans must be so enormous, the abundance of resources in the marine realm had to be limitless. We're funny about holding onto ridiculous notions like that...
> Read More
1904: Meteorology Becomes A Science
In 1904, at the peak of classical physics, meteorology as a physical science was just being born.
> Read More
Antarctic Pioneers, Old and New
I've been fascinated by Tamsin's posts about her activities in Antarctica. I hope you've been reading them. Scientists from several disciplines now visit that remote part of the world, and are modern antarctic pioneers. It is sobering to recall just how recently the classic pioneering expeditions to that continent were made, and to hear the remarkable stories about what happened. One the big names from that era is that of Sir Ernest Shackleton, in connection with the heroic 1914 expedition that was intent on crossing the continent.
> Read More
The Hole Story: A Penguin's Nemesis
With all the fuss about climate change these days it's easy to forget about the hole up there in the ozone layer. Does it still matter? Why hasn't it gone away yet? And most importantly, does it really suck penguins out into space?
Every day I work with the very instrument used to discover the hole in the ozone layer so hopefully I can shed some light...
> Read More
The Story of Freshwater and A Geography Lesson for Developers in Mesa, Arizona
Do we really need a new water park in the Arizona desert? The idea just doesn't sit right with this conservation scientist. Actually, it shouldn't really sit right with anyone who has an interest in the future of freshwater.
> Read More
Cyclone Sidr: No Calm After the Storm
While it will take a while to understand the true extent of Cyclone Sidr's impact, now is the time to provide support and aid.
> Read More
The Storm King
While the large scale behavior of the atmosphere is complex and hard to grasp, it occurred to me that the basic ideas for understanding a rainstorm cloud were in place by the early nineteenth century. I wondered if history had captured the story of the person who had put the pieces together.
> Read More
Flying robots take to the skies
Tiny unmanned planes have been investigating the Antarctic atmosphere for the first time ever this year. Usually planes get bad press when it comes to global warming but these robot planes are different. They boldly fly where nothing has ever been before hoping to shed some light on some of the biggest climate change unknowns. How will sea ice respond to warmer temperatures? What effect will it have on warming all over the planet? Can sea ice provide an early warning of other major changes?
Flight team member Alex Gough tells us how it feels to launch a plane into uncharted territory...
> Read More
Cyclone Sidr: A Worst Case Scenario for Bangladesh?
Because Bangladesh is one of the low-laying regions most at risk from sea level rise, as a marine biologist I'm all too familiar with how vulnerable it is to flooding and storm surges. It's also one of the most densely populated countries and - as Chris Mooney has expressed - I fear Cyclone Sidr storm may be a worst case scenario. It's my sincere hope we're mistaken.
> Read More
The Elephant's Trunk: Meteorology and the Origins of Climatology
Meteorology is clearly the scientific tradition that best gets the story of climate science started. It's the trunk of the elephant, the most notable feature, aside perhaps, from the hugeness of the beast.
> Read More
Is Antarctica Melting?
The short answer is yes, parts of Antarctica have certainly been melting at an accelerated rate in recent years.
But wait a minute...
As some areas of the continent warm up (as a result of recent climate change) melting increases but snow accumulation increases too. The overall Antarctic contribution to sea level rise depends on the sensitive balance between melting and accumulation, so the real question is: Is more snow melting or falling?
> Read More
Ocean Acidification?
You may have been hearing all the hullabaloo over ocean acidification. Sure sounds frightening [visions of the melting Wicked Witch of the West] but no, oceans are not turning to acid. Still, acidification is a very real and scary possibility nonetheless. So let's explore what's going on just beneath the surface...
> Read More
Carnival of the Blue VI
A synthesis of the best ocean-related blogging... representing the other 70% of our planet!
> Read More
On the Importance of Flying Lizards
Virtual Paleontology was a segment that we had to fight to keep alive. Being that one of my failings is that I try to avoid conflict, this is a segment that could easily have gone the way of the dinosaur.
> Read More
Like a Model on the Cover of a Magazine
Climate science depends on climate models. There is nothing odd about that. All science depends on models.
> Read More
Iron Fertilization of Oceans 101
Phytoplankton take up CO2 in oceans and then go on to die and sink, and drum roll please.... we've got a natural process that helps mitigate lots of the pesky CO2 that's been mucking up planet earth! You see, iron is a limiting factor for phytoplankton growth, so if we were to, say, dump a lot of Fe into the sea - phytoplankton will bloom and carbon would be sequestrated in oceans. To offset emissions, for-profit corporations want to spread Fe where it currently limits phytoplankton. Investors hope to use this process to earn carbon credits which would be traded through markets or sold as offsets for greenhouse gas emissions. But WAIT just one second! Before we jump on the iron fertilization bandwagon, there are a few things important things to consider...
> Read More
A day in the life...
Imagine stepping into a freezer as you walk to work in the morning.
Imagine living without fresh food for 10 months of the year.
Imagine seeing nothing but a flat white horizon in every direction.
And living alongside 17 strangers, thousands of miles from civilization.
Put yourself in my shoes for a day and find out how you would cope...
> Read More
Digging for Treasure
Yesterday I set out to dig up a piece of history. I wasn't looking for ancient ruins or even dinosaur bones, just plain old snow.
Why? Because Antarctic snow and ice contains a treasure trove of information about past climates. Everyone wants to know how the climate is going to change in the future but before we can predict the future, first we need to understand the past. Trapped in between the buried grains of snow and ice are little air pockets - bubbles of the atmosphere as it was tens, hundreds, thousands, even millions of years ago...
> Read More
Climate, Chaos and Confusion
We climate scientists often hear the case made "If you can't predict the weather next week, how could you predict the climate in a hundred years?" The answer to the question is hidden in the question. The weather and the climate are not exactly the same thing, and so what you can say about the one and what you can say about the other are also different.
> Read More