There’s a massive snowstorm in Greece. You know, that balmy, Mediterranean country? Did Al Gore visit recently?
I don’t know who said it first, but when it’s hot, it’s climate, but when it’s cold, it’s just…you know…weather.
Category Archives: Science And Society
Losing His Marbles
I have to agree with Derb:
I’ve always liked Ben’s stuff — used to read his diary in The American Spectator way back in the 1970s. Smart, funny, worldly guy, with just that endearing streak of eccentricity. I’m sorry to see he’s lost his marbles.
Me, too. Some conservatives have this very strange blind spot when it comes to evolution.
[Update a few minutes later]
Derb eviscerates Stein’s thesis. As is usually the case, his attack on evolution (or as he calls it, “Darwinism”) is founded on a profound ignorance of the subject.
[Late afternoon update]
Well, this is a heck of a way to celebrate the old man’s 199th birthday:
Florida’s department of education will vote next week on a new science curriculum that could be in jeopardy, because some conservative counties oppose it.
Nine of Florida’s 64 counties have passed resolutions over the last two months condemning the new curriculum that explicitly calls for teaching evolution. The resolutions, passed in heavily Christian counties in the state’s northern reaches, demand that evolution be “balanced” with alternative theories, mainly creationist.
That’s not really Florida. It’s more like deep southern Georgia, culturally…
More Stem Cell Advances
This stuff really is moving along at a good clip:
“Our reprogrammed human skin cells were virtually indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells,” said Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry, a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and lead author of the study. “Our findings are an important step towards manipulating differentiated human cells to generate an unlimited supply of patient specific pluripotent stem cells. We are very excited about the potential implications.”
The UCLA work was completed at about the same time the Yamanaka and Thomson reports were published. Taken together, the studies demonstrate that human iPS cells can be easily created by different laboratories and are likely to mark a milestone in stem cell-based regenerative medicine, Plath said.
Repeatability–one of the hallmarks of solid science. Of course, they always have the standard caveat:
“It is important to remember that our research does not eliminate the need for embryo-based human embryonic stem cell research, but rather provides another avenue of worthwhile investigation.”
I think that, at some point, the embryo work will be abandoned, because even for many researchers, it’s ethically problematic. But they will have to do a lot of correlation and validation before they can get to that point.
In any event, stuff like this brings us much closer to escape velocity.
[Via Fight Aging]
Happy Birthday, Chuck!
Alan Boyle has a roundup of links about Darwin’s birthday. I don’t have much to say right now, except that his theory is probably the most controversial, and most misunderstood (and most powerful as well, in many senses) in the history of science.
Progress In Longevity
I don’t know if there’s much point to living ten times as long if you’re a nematode, but if it works for us, too, Methuselah, here we come.
That Didn’t Take Long
John Kerry says that yesterday’s tornadoes were caused by global warming.
That Didn’t Take Long
John Kerry says that yesterday’s tornadoes were caused by global warming.
That Didn’t Take Long
John Kerry says that yesterday’s tornadoes were caused by global warming.
As If It Weren’t Bad Enough
Global warming will lead to an increase in zombie attacks.
I blame George Bush.
Fortunately, some of us have been prepared for a while.
[Mid-afternoon update]
Saved by the sun:
The Canadian Space Agency’s radio telescope has been reporting Flux Density Values so low they will mean a mini ice age if they continue.
Like the number of sunspots, the Flux Density Values reflect the Sun’s magnetic activity, which affects the rate at which the Sun radiates energy and warmth. CSA project director Ken Tapping calls the radio telescope that supplies NASA and the rest of the world with daily values of the Sun’s magnetic activity a “stethoscope on the Sun.” In this case, however, it is the “doctor” whose health is directly affected by the readings.
This is because when the magnetic activity is low, the Sun is dimmer, and puts out less radiant warmth. If the Sun goes into dim mode, as it has in the past, the Earth gets much colder.
Take that, undead!
Zombies and vampires. Is there any problem the sun can’t fix?
As If It Weren’t Bad Enough
Global warming will lead to an increase in zombie attacks.
I blame George Bush.
Fortunately, some of us have been prepared for a while.
[Mid-afternoon update]
Saved by the sun:
The Canadian Space Agency’s radio telescope has been reporting Flux Density Values so low they will mean a mini ice age if they continue.
Like the number of sunspots, the Flux Density Values reflect the Sun’s magnetic activity, which affects the rate at which the Sun radiates energy and warmth. CSA project director Ken Tapping calls the radio telescope that supplies NASA and the rest of the world with daily values of the Sun’s magnetic activity a “stethoscope on the Sun.” In this case, however, it is the “doctor” whose health is directly affected by the readings.
This is because when the magnetic activity is low, the Sun is dimmer, and puts out less radiant warmth. If the Sun goes into dim mode, as it has in the past, the Earth gets much colder.
Take that, undead!
Zombies and vampires. Is there any problem the sun can’t fix?