SuperMegaMonkey: Science: September 2006 Archives

Science

NASA says that the temperatures are reaching the highest level in a million years. And that the last time the temps were this high, the sea level was about 80ft higher than it is today. Guess some of you are reconsidering your brilliant idea to get shore property, huh? Chumps.

Comparison of the current global temperature with estimates of historical temperatures - based on a study of ocean sediment - showed the current temperature was now within 1C of the maximum temperature of the past million years.
Dr James Hansen, who led the study, said further global warming of just 1C could lead to big changes to the planet.
"If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable," he said.
"But if further global warming reaches two or three degrees celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet [to] the one we know.
...
Warming was lower over sea than on land, but the research team said the temperature of the western Pacific had been increasing, and was becoming much warmer than the eastern Pacific. This increased difference could boost the likelihood of strong El Niño weather conditions such as those seen in 1983 and 1998, when many countries around the world experienced devastating floods and tornadoes.
Dr Hansen said that the increasing temperature could lead to the extinction of some species, which would find it increasingly difficult to find viable habitats.

The article concludes with some comments by Earthwatch, some environmental group. Nothing could better illustrate why these groups never find any purchase with the average person. The earth's temperatures are rising rapidly. It could result in devastating storms across the globe. Storms that will inevitably kill millions of people. Katrina was too long ago for people to still care about it, but recently enough that people still pretend to care about it. Plenty of opportunity to tug on heart strings here. What do they do instead?

The environment group Earthwatch today warned that a change in climate could make the difference between survival and extinction for endangered lemurs in Madagascar.

Sure, I care about endangered species and all that. I don't want the lemurs in Madagascar to become extinct. But if this is the plea you've composed to try to get the world on your side, even I would be hard pressed to say you weren't cracked in the head.

By min | September 26, 2006, 11:09 AM | Science | Link

Intersex Fish For Dinner....Yumm.....

Thanks to typer195 for the link:

Abnormally developed fish, possessing both male and female characteristics, have been discovered in the Potomac River in the District and in tributaries across the region, federal scientists say -- raising alarms that the river is tainted by pollution that drives hormone systems haywire.

Oh, ya think?

The fish, smallmouth and largemouth bass, are naturally males but for some reason are developing immature eggs inside their sex organs. Their discovery at such widely spread sites, including one just upstream from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, seems to show that the Potomac's problem with "intersex" fish extends far beyond the West Virginia stream where they were first found in 2003.

Millions of people get their tap water from the Potomac. You'd think this would cause a little more concern with the government, but no. Not even this can light a fire under their asses. That's why, 3 years later, they're still "studying" the problem, no closer to finding a cause.

But they're absolutely sure it's safe to drink your tap water.

"If they can't tell us what the problem is," said Ed Merrifield, executive director of a group called Potomac Riverkeeper, "then how can they tell us that they've taken it out of the water?"

Link

By min | September 6, 2006, 1:25 PM | Science | Comments (7)| Link

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