Overnight News Digest is a daily series posting at approximately midnight Eastern. We have a staff of various editors, including rotating guest spots, and we are led by the irreplaceable Neon Vincent. We give a tip of our hats to Magnifico, our founder and long-term leader, and ek hornbeck, our former leader.
Neon Vincent is getting married today and asked for the day off. Since I have been lollygagging around Florida for almost two weeks, I volunteered.
Today is also International Day of Climate Action and you may have noticed a few (dozen) diaries on this topic.
My plan is to cruise my usual sources for science-themed articles and include anything that caught my attention this week.
Dash around the world, a stop in Utah, and all opinions expressed outside the blockquotes are the responsibility of tonight's editor, me. It seems that my personal view of science is somewhat more applied than NV's ;-) I will close with some in person reporting.
All links will open in a new window.
Number of Americans who believe in climate change drops, survey shows
The number of Americans who believe in global warming has plummeted, falling 20% in two years, a survey said today.
Only 57% of Americans believe there is solid scientific evidence that the Earth's atmosphere is warming, said the poll of 1,500 people by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press.
That is a fall of 77% from 2007. The number of people who believe that human activity is causing global warming also fell to just 36%.
The public uncertainty about the evidence behind global warming comes as the Senate prepares to begin debate next week on climate change legislation. Yesterday, 18 scientific organisations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming.
I was driving when I first heard this story on NPR, probably. I know Rimjob can talk about "quackery" and we can lament the clever PR of the bad guys. We need better strategies. Or tactics. Probably both. Science and PR. We elected Obama - it seems the talents are available.
Lawmaker takes beef with researcher to USU president
The Legislature's most outspoken skeptic of man-caused climate change was so angered by a scientist's published remarks about a fellow expert's work that the lawmaker complained to the researcher's boss.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, confirmed he spoke Tuesday with Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht about Robert Davies, an assistant research professor in physics.
Noel said he expressed his concerns about Davies but strongly denied making any threats or calling for the scientist's job.
Davies had been asked by The Tribune to describe how Roy Spencer's research stacked up against the scientific consensus on the role humans play in climate change. Spencer, of the University of Alabama-Huntsville, was invited by Noel to testify Wednesday before a legislative committee.
Davies was quoted Monday in The Salt Lake Tribune saying that he suspected lawmakers invited Spencer to provide "cover" for their resistance to adopting policies addressing the threat. A former NASA scientist, Spencer is renowned for insisting that Mother Nature -- not humankind -- is primarily responsible for warming the planet.
This article speaks to both academic freedom and climate change, and illustrates one of the tactics of the deniers.
The Australian, a Murdoch Group paper out of Sydney, has a Climate Section.
New hope for viable clean coal projects
AN unpublished government study has raised hopes that Australia will be able to develop commercially viable clean coal projects because prospective underground storage sites are close to power generation plants.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the assessment by Geoscience Australia showed Australia had several prospective sites in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
Mr Ferguson said transmission costs from power station to underground sites remained the greatest hurdle to the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage, but the technology was now "proven" and Australia was likely to lead the world in its rollout.
Former US deputy president Al Gore has likened "clean coal" to "healthy cigarettes" and several high-profile demonstration projects here and overseas have stalled. But Mr Ferguson said proving the commercial viability of the technology could be Australia's greatest contribution to the fight against global warming.
The Geoscience assessment will be used to choose up to four industrial-scale projects to be funded with the $2.4billion set aside in the May budget's "CCS flagships" program.
It comes as an audit by Australia's Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute of international efforts to prove carbon capture and storage at commercial scale found piecemeal efforts.
Physical illness or internet virus? Under the skin of a medical mystery
IMAGINE the sensation of parasites crawling beneath your skin, forming prickly nests of red, blue and black fibres that emerge through lesions all over your body.
Gillian Penkethman's body is a mass of bright white scars, the result, she says, of a mysterious condition sufferers call Morgellons. In addition to the skin sensations, Morgellons sufferers can endure chronic pain, sleeplessness, fatigue and often psychological symptoms such as paranoia and depression.
Gillian has suffered more than most. Last year she was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward in Melbourne's east for insisting too long, too loudly that her condition was real.
But critics say this is no medical mystery. The symptoms could be attributed to delusional parasitosis, with the sores self-inflicted by patients scratching at the spot they believe is infected.
The Times of India, the world's largest broadsheet daily in English, has an Environment Section.
'Climate change is a good business opportunity'
What kind of perspective do we need to deal with climate change?
Perspectives that are based on different frames: one looks to market solutions, for instance, like carbon pricing and carbon markets. The second frame is looking at technology as the answer, that enables us to harvest wind, solar and tidal energy options. The third frame is of injustice, of unequal distribution of responsibility between the North and South. The fourth frame looks to tackle climate change from causes that have arisen from aspirations to high levels of consumption. The fifth frame is alarmist, expecting a tipping point — an apocalypse and this calls for drastic solutions.
Shouldn’t we be doing a bit of everything?
I think some of these are contradictory. For example, Europe might buy into the historical responsibility and over consumption arguments but it might not agree to market solutions; it might be hesitant to go for carbon trading but be willing to bring about radical changes in lifestyles. Some of these can work together, like market solutions and clean technology.
Xinhua - English has a sci - tech section, with several sub-sections.
China's Antarctic expedition experiences worst storm since setoff
"Cloudy and rainy, a force 7-8 gale, a swell of 3-3.5 meters, with the highest at 4..." Wu Rongrong got a sinking feeling in his heart when reading the weather forecast for next day.
Along with other 250 crew members aboard China's Xuelong (Snow Dragon) vessel, Wu, a young researcher at the China Polar Research Center, was experiencing the worst storm since the vessel embarked on its 26th Antarctic expedition on Oct. 11 from Shanghai.
Xuelong, now navigating in the sea nearing South Pacific Solomon islands, has been sailing through the rough seas since it crossed the equator and entered the southern hemisphere on Monday.
The dining room on the vessel, which could accommodate more than 100 people, was frequented by just 20-odd crew members in the past few days, as most have been felled by seasickness.
Dawn.com has a Sci-Tech section, too.
Iodised salt intake dips to 17 per cent
As the international community prepared to mark Iodine Deficiency Disorder Day on Friday with significant advances and campaigns to ensure good health, Pakistan has progressively lagged behind its South Asian neighbours in salt iodisation policy.
The Network for Consumer Protection said on Thursday that in Pakistan iodised salt intake had dipped to 17 per cent from a high of 90 per cent during vigorous campaigns back in the 90s, it had increased to nearly 80 per cent both in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Iodine deficiency was the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable, cause of brain damage. This micronutrient deficiency disorder was most commonly seen among poor, pregnant women and pre-school children.
Asia Times Online does not seem to carry science news, even the applied science I seem to be seeking.
Der Spiegel in English does not have a science section per se, but I did find something eco and applied.
Samso Island Is Face of Danish Green Revolution
The Danish island of Samso is a mecca for climate protection experts, because its residents generate more energy than they consume -- with wind turbines, solar panels, straw combustion and heat exchangers that extract heat from cow's milk. The small ecotopia will be held up as a model at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Six years ago, Paul Erik Wedelgaard decided it was high time to set a new course for his future, even though he was already 70 at the time. The sun, the cold and the sea have carved deep furrows into his face. His wooden fishing cutter, the "Kyholm," is plowing southward through the Baltic Sea, to the place where the symbols of this future -- wind turbines -- stand off the coast of Samso.
Even today, Wedelgaard is almost as agile on deck as he was at 14, when he began fishing. But his catch of cod has declined sharply in recent years, and the small salmon farm he was operating with a partner wasn't sufficiently profitable. And then along came those young men who had decided to start something of a revolution -- on Samso, of all places. They had ideas, and they had an ambitious plan.
This is a pretty happy story.
I found this in South Africa's Mail & Guardian:
Madagascar feels the full effect of climate change
Remanonjona Feroce founded the village of Anjamahavelo -- meaning At the Lucky Baobab -- in Madagascar a generation ago. With memories of a flood still fresh, he chose a spot far from the nearest river. He cleared the wild forest and sacrificed a sheep in the hope that it would make the owls, lemurs and snakes go away.
"Animals can't live together with little children and young girls," explained Feroce, an 85-year-old great-grandfather. "They don't want snakes to be here because they have bad spirits. They strangle children by curling around the neck. Owls are bad birds. If one hoots, it means somebody will die."
The animals did go away, but so did the luck of Anjamahavelo, a cluster of wooden houses. Southern Madagascar has had three years of crop failure in five years, resulting in chronic hunger for tens of thousands of families and soaring rates of malnutrition, stunted growth and death among children.
The Guardian has an outstanding science section. I am limiting myself to two stories.
'Eighth wonder' Ida is not related to humans, claim scientists
Her arrival was announced with unrestrained razzmatazz. She was the "eighth wonder of the world", "our Mona Lisa" and an evolutionary "Rosetta Stone", according to the researchers who unveiled her.
The female in question was Ida, a 47million-year-old primate, whose exquisitely preserved fossil was touted as the remains of our earliest human ancestor. She was, they said, the "link" between us and the rest of the animal kingdom.
Or maybe not. Writing in the journal, Nature, a team of palaeontologists from New York claim that Ida is not related to humans at all. Instead, they conclude, the $1m fossil looks more like a small lemur or maybe a loris.
The challenge is being seen as the opening salvo in what is shaping up to be a hearty academic slugging match. At stake is not only the significance of one of the most extraordinary fossils unearthed, but the reputations of some of the world's leading researchers. So far, relations between the two sides are strained but courteous.
Lost Greek city that may have inspired Atlantis myth gives up secrets
The secrets of a lost city that may have inspired one of the world's most enduring myths – the fable of Atlantis – have been brought to light from beneath the waters off southern Greece.
Explored by an Anglo-Greek team of archaeologists and marine geologists and known as Pavlopetri, the sunken settlement dates back some 5,000 years to the time of Homer's heroes and in terms of size and wealth of detail is unprecedented, experts say.
"There is now no doubt that this is the oldest submerged town in the world," said Dr Jon Henderson, associate professor of underwater archaeology at the University of Nottingham. "It has remains dating from 2800 to 1200 BC, long before the glory days of classical Greece. There are older sunken sites in the world but none can be considered to be planned towns such as this, which is why it is unique."
Did NV have this last week? It's dated Oct. 16, 8 days ago. I thought it was wonderful. And the pictures and maps are beautiful too.
In Person Reporting, with Links
Space shuttle Atlantis is on the pad: it was moved the day before we arrived October 15. Now that they rolled out the Ares I-X for its test, both pads are occupied, which is apparently unusual.
The Kennedy Space Center was a fabulous day! It would have been wonderful even if we hadn't just been at Disneyworld for 5 days and 6 nights. We took the big fat bus tour, and I recommend returning to the main base after the Apollo mission stop. The first stop, to see the take-off pads, is kind of cool, but they're still really far away. The second stop, with all the moon stuff and Apollo items, is utterly fascinating. They have an entire Apollo rocket running down the center of this building. Several fascinating movies. Endless interesting displays.
Including an itsy-bitsy teensy-weensy moon rock:
(it is the little thing between the kids' hands)
the road for the launching pads:
Each side of the road is used for one set of the wheels/tracks on the Shuttle's Delivery Vehicle. The small white bump on the horizon is storage for liquid hydrogen or oxygen.