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Climate Science

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  • Species are going extinct, but how quickly?

    Species are going extinct at an alarming rate, and shrinking habitats are an important factor. Everyone agrees on that. But scientists don't agree about exactly how quickly species are disappearing and how they can craft mathematical models to predict that rate. A new study in Nature claims that the mathematical formula that the scientific community […]

    Sarah Laskow Science

  • A violent climate is the new normal, say scientists

    "Extreme weather" may soon just be called "weather." Thanks to climate change, floods and storms and droughts and Snowpocalypses and the like will soon be standard office procedure, according to scientists and civic planners brought together by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Nobody was willing to say that any specific recent instances of severe weather […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Is climate sanity the kiss of death for Republican presidential candidates?

    Beware the kiss of death.Even after backing away from his previous support for cap-and-trade programs, Jon Huntsman is getting slammed by the right wing. His treasonous crime? Daring to suggest that climate scientists might be right. Not that they are right, mind you, and not that we should do anything in response to their warnings, […]

    Lisa Hymas Science

  • Prof. Socolow’s bizarre climate comments and the pessimism of Serious People

    The blogosphere is all abuzz about recent comments from Princeton professor Robert Socolow, who along with fellow scholar Stephen Pacala developed the famous “wedges” approach to tackling climate change. (A wedge of nuclear, a wedge of solar, a wedge of efficiency, etc., and slowly you get that emissions curve down. That’s the basic idea anyway.) […]

    David Roberts Science

  • Could climate disruptions lead to an increase in GIANT SNAKES?

    Here's another reason to combat climate change: Severe weather events can flush out terrifying giant snakes. This photo — which gives me ALL THE WILLIES. ALL OF THEM — was taken in Louisiana near the Morganza spillway, a flood control structure that was just employed to relieve pressure on the levee system after recent floods. […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • United Kingdom adopts ambitious climate change target

    Cross-posted from the World Resources Institute. The post was written by Jennifer Morgan, director of WRI’s Climate and Energy Program. Today, the government of the United Kingdom took a significant step to shift to a low-carbon economy, providing clear signals to investors that the U.K. wants to host large-scale clean energy projects moving forward. The […]

    World Resources Institute Science

  • More evidence cell phones kill bees

    There's a new study fingering cell phones as the culprit behind mysteriously dwindling bee populations. That's been one of the theories floating around for years — others include viruses, global warming, insecticide, and en masse return to the planet Melissa Majora — but new research out of Switzerland provides solid evidence that cell phone signals […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • USA Today: Climate science deniers are now like birthers

    USA Today huffed and it puffed and it blew the house down.Photo: Peter J RobertsIn a must-read editorial, USA Today compared climate science deniers to “the ‘birthers’ who continue to challenge President Obama’s American citizenship — a vocal minority that refuses to accept overwhelming evidence.” Snap! Or whatever sound is made when a house of […]

    Joseph Romm Science

  • Anti-climate change study is copied off someone else’s crummy paper

    Note to climate change deniers: If you're going to lean heavily on a particular paper, make sure it's not copied out of Wikipedia. The journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis has retracted a 2008 report by statistician Edward Wegman, which claimed the climate change consensus is an artifact of overly-intimate collaboration between scientists — essentially, peer […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Why Germany had to phase out nuclear to build its renewables

    Lots of American journalists (including this one!) have gone on and on about renewables and nuclear power in Germany without having a first-hand appreciation of the situation, or even any German language ability. This has led us all to misapprehend some pretty basic facts about why the Germans decided to phase out their existing nuclear […]

    Christopher Mims Science