The SciTech group is dedicated to the explication of Science and Technology. We welcome all diaries, essays, and discussions that teach or explain the wonders of the universe.
Rapid irreversible melting of one third to two thirds of earth's permafrost, will add huge amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, accelerating warming, reports the National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC). Permafrost melt lakes portend the destabilization of the Arctic's landscapes and ecosystems and emissions of greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4.
The NSIDC model study makes "conservative" assumptions, such as no methane production and no temperature feed backs that accelerate melting. These assumptions make the models tend to underestimate the actual rate of change. The model predicts a peak in melting and CO2 emissions in 100 years, but methane and feedback loops could cause the peak to come sooner. The total quantity of carbon is calculated out to the year 2200.
Welcome to Afternoon Latte! This is a series I am trying out. It is intended to be a little something interesting and not to terribly deep to get you through the end of the day and into the evening! We'll see if I can keep finding light and frothy things to talk about but for now, take a sip, it is just the right temperature!
The first x-class flare (x is the strongest class of flare) of the new solar cycle sent a "coronal mass ejection" (CME) of energetic, charged solar particles racing towards earth. A rapidly growing sunspot produced 3 CME's earlier this week. The last and largest CME, the X2 is expected to overtake the smaller CME's, striking earth late today or tomorrow.
"The last of the three seems to be the fastest and may catch both of the forerunners about mid-to-late day tomorrow, February 17," read a statement from Noaa's Space Weather Prediction Center.
Ten years ago a momentous achievement in science was completed - the sequencing of the human genome. Initially started as a publicly-funded venture, the Human Genome Project eventually morphed into a public vs. private competition, both pursuing the same goal but for very different reasons. Each group succeeded and published their results in the scientific journals Nature and Science, respectively. (access required) Much was expected from the completion of the human genome sequence, from advances in research to the development of personalized medicine. And while progress in the research community has been staggering, the promise of a genomics revolution has largely been unmet.
Ten years is an eon in the timescale of research science. We have gained massive amounts of knowledge in the past decade, but we still have much to learn. And perhaps most relevant, we still have much to debate about how best to use and safeguard the knowledge we have uncovered. This final task requires an informed and engaged citizenry, so I hope you will join me below the fold to become a part of this integral group.
About 200,000 years ago a new species looked around the African savanna, another in a line of great apes the early modern humans would have been shorter than us, maybe a little more hairy but if you dressed them up in modern clothes you would be hard pressed to pick them out of a crowd (with the exception of their wide eyed stare at all the things they had never seen or dreamed of before, of course).
It has been thought that sometime around 70,000 years ago the first early modern humans left the continent of their origin and started into the Middle East and the Mediterranean Coast in a series of migrations. That time line is being turned on its head.
The Guardian Newspaper is reporting that a team lead by a German scientist Hans-Peter Uerpmann (cool name by the way!) has found stone tools that date back to around 125,000 years ago, or 55,000 years earlier than anyone thought humans had left Africa.
Hi Kossacks! Since we can post more than one post a day I thought I'd try something in the late afternoon to wrap up the day. Nothing too serious, just a light and frothy drink to carry us through the end of the day. So welcome to Afternoon latte, hopefully there will be enough foam!
First, a simple definition, per Wikipedia:
Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge" or "knowing") is the effort to discover and increase human understanding of how physical reality works. Using controlled methods, scientists collect data in the form of observations, records of observable physical evidence of natural phenomena, and analyze this information to construct theoretical explanations of how things work. Knowledge in science is gained through research. The methods of scientific research include the generation of hypotheses about how natural phenomena work, and experimentation that tests these hypotheses under controlled conditions. The outcome or product of this empirical scientific process is the formulation of theory that describes human understanding of physical processes and facilitates prediction.
About 6 months ago, I wrote up a summary of how paleoclimatologists determine the temperature of the past, focusing primarily on oxygen isotopes Paleoclimatology Primer. It was relatively well received, so I figured I would continue the lessons on paleoclimatology. Today we will focus on the problems/opportunities inherent to the oxygen isotope system, and a few other systems that help us get a stronger handle on the climate of the past. I highly recommend you go back and read that post first, as this post builds upon what we learned 6 months ago.
As a warning, almost all of the links I have provided here require a paid subscription (with a few exceptions), but almost all of the links are from major journals (Science, Nature, Geology, etc.) and your local library is likely to have a subscription. The abstracts of each paper are always free though.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully flew past Comet Tempel 1 last night, and NASA has begun releasing images of the flyby.
I'm sure that many of you watched two of Jeopardy's greatest living human players go up against Watson last night. So far, there's been a lot of differing opinions on it. Some are awed by the ability of a computer to go up against humans, in their own language, and hold its own. Others shrug and say "Get back to me when it can do something useful".
For those of you that aren't in awe, you probably should be. And those of you that are in awe, may be in awe for the wrong reasons.
Follow me after the jump, and I'll explain why.
"It's the closest thing you'll find in real life to Kafka's Metamorphosis."
No words could describe the ailment that affected Mr. Harry Eastlack any more precisely or eloquently. In a world oft filled with robotic phrases devoid of any context, this touch of prose is welcomed. The language of science is not often conducive to emotion, and as such a disconnect exists between those who research disease from those who have it. To tell your friend you know someone afflicted with " Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva " is to conceal its harsh reality. For it takes not a scientist, but instead a poet, to truly capture the gravity of FOP.
In this escapist diary, I consider the standing stones of northwestern Europe, particularly in Britain and Ireland. The most famous example of these monuments is Stonehenge, in Wiltshire. Wikipedia has a fine article on Stonehedge. I'd like to emphasize some of the things about this structure which are not commonly understood.
From a distance the structure appears to be simply a crude circle of stones, with some perched precariously on top of the others. In fact, the entire work is one of extraordinary craftsmanship. At a distance, the monument seems insignificant, but at close range, the great size of the upright stones becomes apparent.
The monument was not built all at once, but rather over the course of approximately 900 years. it went through several forms, and most curiously some of the earliest works were among the most sophisticated.
One of the best Valentine's Day hookups is scheduled for later today - around 9:30p PST. And despite both parties' efforts to locate their rendezvous well away from curious onlookers, it will be photographed and beamed to anyone who, well, likes to watch. And it will be SPECTACULAR!
I refer, of course, to Justin Bieber and Lady... no, no no! I refer to the Stardust/NEXT spacecraft's close approach to comet Tempel 1.
More after the jump...
Chances are that if you live in the United States or Canada, you've been under a tornado watch or tornado warning at some point. When you hear this on the news, hundreds of questions may swirl through your head:
-How does a tornado develop? -What is the difference between a tornado watch or tornado warning? -What do I do during a tornado? -Is Ceiling Cat mad at me?
Well, keep reading and you'll learn faster than John Boehner can scream HELL NO YOU CAN'T!
July 4, 1054 Kaifeng, China. (Song Dynastic period)
In the 1st year of the period Chih-ho (1054), the 5th moon, the day chi-chu2018ou (July 4th) (a u201cguest staru201d) appeared approximately several inches south-east of Tu2018ien-kuan(z Tauri)... The Director of the Astronomical Bureau, the esteemed Yang Wei-te, received reports this day of the appearance of a 'guest star' in the constellation Taurus proximate to u03b6 Tauri. The politically minded astronomer decides to wait on a more propitious moment to bring the news to the emperor and his court. He is keenly aware that 'guest stars' and comets are generally harbingers of bad fortune.
The Director of the Astronomical Bureau, the esteemed Yang Wei-te, received reports this day of the appearance of a 'guest star' in the constellation Taurus proximate to u03b6 Tauri. The politically minded astronomer decides to wait on a more propitious moment to bring the news to the emperor and his court. He is keenly aware that 'guest stars' and comets are generally harbingers of bad fortune.
The Amazon rainforests suffered a devastating drought last year. This was the second one-in-100 year drought since 2005 for the rainforests. News of the drought was left unreported by The New York Times and most other American media corporations, but ignoring it will not make its troubling global impact disappear.
Researchers from the U.K. and Brazil analyzed a decade of satellite-derived rainfall data to compare the two droughts and have just published their findings on the 2010 Amazon Drought in Science this week. They found that the 2010 drought was worse than the 2005 drought and predict the dying trees will release significantly more CO2 into the atmosphere than did the dying trees five years earlier.
The massive tree deaths are prompting fears that the Amazon is at its 'climate tipping point', The Guardian reports. Meaning the dying Amazon will flip from being a carbon sink to a major carbon source, emitting CO2 as its trees die from drought, then rot or catch fire and burn. "Such a feedback loop could cause runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences."
Last night, we had a once in a lifetime event, the first total lunar eclipse during a solstice since 1683. Unfortunately, 2/3 of the article about it on CNN is about the astrological significance of said event.
This drives me nuts. I felt the need to post the very simple math that debunks astrology once and forever (the same math that has been put forward for generations now) just so someone else can use it when yelling at people who believe in astrology. And since commenters over at CNN often times seem barely literate, I thought I would post it at a community of free thinking people.
If you want the mathematical ammunition, follow me over the fold.
You may have seen my almost nightly comments where I post a video from the series called Sixty Symbols on the Overnight News Digest. I thought you might enjoy these videos with some additional explication and exploration. There are a whole passel of them so getting through them all will take some time. I wonder, as I begin this random walk, where it will take me and what exciting and cool things I might learn and share.
There is a good diary currently in the rec list today about global warming (Intro to Basic Science of Global Warming). I noticed among the comments was a request for a primer in paleoclimate work. When the poster said that he would leave such posts for more experienced people, I realized I wouldn't be stepping on any toes by stepping in. As it turns out, I posted just such a primer on my facebook page solely for my family a few months back, but I see no reason that I can't share it with the community at large. I have a number of these that I put together for my family so they could understand what I do. If there is interest maybe I will get around to posting the rest.