Click on the thumbnail to see the squiggles up close.
PNAS has a study (in an Open Access article) using Lake Malawi cores to indicate very severe arid conditions at times between 135 and 75 thousand years ago. The arid periods jive, more or less, with Milankovitch forcing patterns (see this for information […]

The discovery of ocean currents was one of the most important events in Western History. People “got” wind, alright, but currents were not really understood until fairly recently. During the early days of exploration, by such as the Portuguese, it was not understood that you could sail quite hard with the […]

Dryas is the genus name of a cute little yellow flowering plant that likes cold weather. In certain pollen cores in Europe, the Dryas indicates glacial or near glacial conditions. When the last Ice Age waned, we see the Dryas pollen going away. But then, it comes back and is visible in […]

This installment is about sea level rise and fall, in the past. Sea level change that results from the formation and melting of glaciers not only has an enormous impact on the physical nature of the landscape, but it also would not have gone unnoticed by people living ever pretty far from the sea! […]

“… All of the recent science … confirms that I was right on this thing. This thing is a hoax…” -unmitigated idiot and Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe on Global Warming …
First, I heard that Al took off a few pounds between the Academy Awards and his visit to the Senate. So […]

The War in Iraq, now in its fifth year, will probably be George Bush’s legacy. But the damage his administration has done to society through its support of faith based initiatives, a medieval policy regarding stem cell research, its tacit (at least) support of creationism, and its politically motivated (paid for by special interests) […]

First the good news:

Bald Eagle Nest Found in Philadelphia from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — Wildlife authorities have found the first bald eagle nest in the city in more than 200 years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission said Friday.
[…]

Bison Once Again Roam Eastern Colorado from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — After an absence of more than a century, […]

In the last post in this series (Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 05 ~ Causes of Large Scale Change) I talked about two aspects of large scale climate change: Milankovitch orbital geometry and the cycles of glaciation this effect causes, and the role of plate tectonics and related changes in altering sea and […]

During the 1970s and 80s, creationists had a long list of reasons to doubt evolution, and every one of those reasons was wrong. But they had so many reasons, and it was so hard to keep track of them all, each with various versions, that a creationist that was trying to not live a […]

“Climate Studies” is a “causal” science. Most sciences are “causal” in nature, which is why the sciences and scientists are often loathed and distrusted by people in the humanities and some of the soft sciences. There is not the time or space right now to address this issue, but I’ll just say this: […]

Why It Matters What you Burn and When you Burn It
Carbon Dioxide is a deadly poison. It is about 50% heavier than air, so where it occurs in density, in mines or certain natural vents associated with volcanics, it can accumulate in low spots. There are places in the Western Rift Valley where […]

Why Greenhouses have nothing to do with the Greenhouse Effect, and more importantly, why CAN’T I microwave toast?
A greenhouse is a glass house that is sealed to keep air in and insulated to keep heat in but at the same time allow sunlight in. This sunlight contributes to the heat in the greenhouse by […]

Please visit Greg Laden’s Blog at Scienceblogs.com to see this post. The site you are visiting now is the old site. This is the new site.

Moving on to the details of climate change…. Aerosols, the solid or liquid particles (dust, etc.) suspended in the air are an important part of the climate system, but in some ways are the lest understood. Aerosols can probably influence overall climate patterns (such as global warming or cooling) or more local rainfall conditions. […]

Remember the mess a few weeks ago regarding the National Science Teacher’s Association, Big Oil and the producers of Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”?

The NSTA gave up an opportunity to be in the middle of a free distribution of an important documentary, but the distribution continues. If you are a teacher, […]