Control engineers would call this a runaway controller.

When the response to a change is to increase the change, rather than decrease it (which is what, for example, thermostats normally do), change happens very quickly, and uncontrollably. One of the issues with global warming is whether or not the feedback is positive, or negative. That is, does the warming result in even more warming, resulting in…or do things happen at higher temperatures that result in cooling?

One potential positive feedback might be that if glaciers and ice caps melt, the albedo of the planet decreases, which means that less energy is reflected back into space, which could result in further warming. In the other direction, if we are headed into a new glacial period despite the greenhouse effects (perhaps because solar activity dominates all else), then increasing snow cover makes things colder because more solar energy is rereflected, thus causing more cooling, and an accelerating glacial advance.

On the negative feedback side, though, it could be that more warming results in more clouds, which might in turn have the effect of cooling things off.

I suspect that the reality will be a combination of positive and negative feedback mechanisms, and it’s hard to know what the overall effect will be, though ultimately, it will be negative, but perhaps at a significantly higher (or lower) temperature. I’d be very surprised if the seas end up either boiling, or freezing solid.

From Slashdot readers. He has answers.

[Via Fred Kiesche]

[Update a couple minutes later]

I just realize in reading it that this is an old piece (from over a year ago), that I’d previously linked. Oh, well. It’s still a good read for any who haven’t read it.

Professor Henry Petroski has written many interesting books and essays on the art and limitations of engineering. Nick Schulz has a fascinating interview with him.

A new semi-conductor compound from Intel:

Intel says that replacing silicon with indium antimonide cuts power consumption by ten times while boosting performance by 50 per cent.

New chips employing it are still a decade off, though.

A new semi-conductor compound from Intel:

Intel says that replacing silicon with indium antimonide cuts power consumption by ten times while boosting performance by 50 per cent.

New chips employing it are still a decade off, though.

A new semi-conductor compound from Intel:

Intel says that replacing silicon with indium antimonide cuts power consumption by ten times while boosting performance by 50 per cent.

New chips employing it are still a decade off, though.

Iain Murray:

…Inuit representatives complained about the effect climate change was having on their ancient way of life in that their snowmobiles kept dropping through the ice.

Last spring, in a piece at TechCentralStation, I disputed the notion that the world was “using up its resources,” and I cited the prevailing belief about the fate of the Easter Islanders:

There was a recent story in The Guardian about a new United Nations study, with the misleading headline, Two-Thirds of World’s Resources “Used Up”. It’s not the first time we’ve seen such hysteria, and it certainly won’t be the last. But relax — the sky isn’t falling. The headline is nonsensical, because it falsely implies that “resources” are a static quantity, and non-renewable. As an example, they often cite Easter Island, whose civilization supposedly failed due to running out of them.

At least one commenter at the time questioned the use of the word “supposedly,” asking (if I recall correctly) if anyone disputed that.

Well, apparently some people do now.

[Via Iain Murray]

Researchers have been able to achieve electrowetting of nanotubes with mercury. If they can do it with other metals at higher temperatures, it could lead to reliable nanowires.

Somehow, I suspect that there will be a lot of demand for this product, at least among men.