If you're in the lucrative right-wing science denial biz, that chart above would have to be going
up. Because the Earth is cooling, according to the climate deniers, and that's the NASA
average global temperature record for the last century. The trick of course, it's been
flipped upside down for this post. Which brings us to another nugget of stupidity spotted by Hunter
this week:
“As you sit there in your chair with your data, we sit up here in ours with our data and our constituents and stuff behind us. I don’t want to get into the debate about climate change, but I will simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars. There are no factories on Mars that I’m aware of.”
The actual average temperature on the surface of Mars is estimated to be
about -67 °F. But what's even funnier; this is what happens when a lying moron gets their wingnut BS all garbled up. The real spiel is supposed to go like this: Mars is warming, and it can't be fossil fuel emissions causing it, therefore, fossil fuels can't be causing the Earth to warm, either.
- After a disappointing loss in 2009 and a few more obstacles over the years, this week NASA finally got the Orbiting Carbon Observatory into polar orbit. The new research satellite will closely monitor carbon dioxide levels related to climate change.
- A shortlist of Astronomy images of the year: well worth a click!
- Climate change deniers, rejoice! You can earn $30,000 simply by scientifically proving your claim that there is no such thing as man-made global warming. Anyone ... anyone ... Bueller ... Bueller?
- Fascinating:
Past research has concluded that a particular gene helps people live in the thin air of the Tibetan plateau. Now scientists report that the Tibetan version of that gene is found in DNA from Denisovans, a poorly understood human relative more closely related to Neanderthals than modern people.