Sunday, February 24, 2013
February 7, 2013 - Are you scientifically literate?
February 6, 2013 - weather data
Instrumental termperature record
Measuring climate change without a thermometer
History of the National Weather Service
Weather Data:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cmb-faq/temperature-monitoring.html http://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubdoc/CR/iswscr2011-02.pdfAbstract
The Climate Database Modernization Program’s (CDMP) Forts and Volunteer Observer Database Project has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. daily cooperative network observations available prior to 1893. Currently, data from 395 stations have been captured from the original scanned images. The stations are primarily located east of the Mississippi River, but coverage extends to all 48 contiguous U.S. states and Alaska. A rigorous quality control process is used to ensure that the keyed data matches the original form. This process involves careful collection of the metadata from the form, double-keying of the data, and a series of automated quality control tests. Values flagged by these tests are typically verified manually and corrections are applied as needed, although in some cases errors are automatically corrected.
An analysis of the quality control process for 40 stations shows that on average, about 31 percent of the flags verify the information, 52 percent can be corrected, and 17 percent are deemed uncorrectable. The correctable errors typically result from unclear forms, mis-keyed data, and errors in the metadata for the image. Due to changes in observation practices since the nineteenth century, care must be taken in using the data for analysis. Despite these caveats, the nineteenth century weather dataset is being used in an increasing number of climate studies.
"...we are changing global chemistry. CO2 affects soil and sea pH. We are acidifying our oceans. The food chain of the seas starts with very small creatures called zoanthids which in turn feed corals and filter feeders. These are calcium carbonate based life forms, they depend on a stable, relatively high pH to maintain and build shells. Corals provide habitat for fish and other animals that feed half a billion people worldwide. Add to this mix all shell fish which feed many more and you are talking about something much more serious. Not only will agriculture and soil based food production be seriously affected, but sea food and related products will be too. It doesn’t take much CO2 to dissolve calcium carbonate shells and kill or reduce shellfish and in turn, fish ecosystems. Already this is being observed in places known for shellfish like Puget Sound, where in some places clam and oyster ‘seedlings’ have very high mortality due to dissolving shells due to CO2 driven low pH." http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/02/winter-warming-accelerated-since-1970/#comment-658968
Airplane contrails and temperature
February 5, 2013 - Your Wild Life
Your Wild Life Exploring the biodiversity that lives on us, in us and around us
The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today by Rob Dunn
Friday, February 22, 2013
February 4, 2013 - Woolly Bear Caterpillar
February 3, 2013 - Oak Trees Listen to the Weather
Oak Trees Listen to the Weather
February 2, 2013 - The Creeping Garden
February 1, 2013 - Alya Red: A Computational Heart
Alya Red: A Computational Heart
Thursday, February 21, 2013
January 31, 2013 - 10 weirdest animal discoveries of 2012
The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries of 2012
January 30, 2013 - when life goes cloudy
When Life Goes Cloudy From the abyssal depths to the tropical shallows, the ocean teems with myriad creatures. On land, too, organisms occupy every conceivable niche, from deep in the bowels of the earth to the tops of the highest mountains. The air is different.
January 29, 2013 - SnowCrystals.com
SnowCrystals.com This site is all about snow crystals and snowflakes -- what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created, quite literally, out of thin air.
January 28, 2013 - the soldiers who glowed in the dark
Why Some Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark
January 27, 2013 - bear tagging
January 26, 2013 - cold, and living things...
IN THE GARDEN: Dormant but Not Forgotten
January 25, 2013 - city waste heat altering weather
Waste Heat From Cities May Be Altering Weather Patterns
January 22, 2013 - Awaiting a New Darwin
January 24, 2013 - dog and human evolution
Ancient Dogs' Ability To Stomach Starchy Diet Aided Their Domestication, DNA Study Suggests
January 23, 2013 - the end of cats
The End of Cats: An Interview With the New Zealand Economist Calling to Eliminate All Kitties
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
January 21, 2013 - The Lost Wolves of New England
The Lost Wolves of New England
Friday, February 15, 2013
January 20, 2013 - Alfred Russel Wallace Letters Put Online In Nod To Co-Discoverer Of Evolution By Natural Selection
Alfred Russel Wallace The other guy who "invented" evolution.
January 19, 2013 - how to identify poison ivy
How to Identify Poison Ivy You can get a dose of poison ivy at Fresh Pond Reservation any time of year.
2013 Sony World Photography Awards
Thursday, February 14, 2013
January 18, 2013 - evolution and AIDS
evolution and AIDS Darwin's Ghosts Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. But this letter was different. It accused him of failing to acknowledge his predecessors, of taking credit for a theory that had already been discovered by others. Darwin realized that he had made an error in omitting from Origin of Species any mention of his intellectual forebears. Yet when he tried to trace all of the natural philosophers who had laid the groundwork for his theory, he found that history had already forgotten many of them.
Friday, February 01, 2013
January 17, 2013 - the tree of life
January 16, 2013 - Moon landing hoax
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