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Environmental News

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by tochatihu, Oct 22, 2015.

  1. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    There may not be 'big-data' analysts hanging around here with free time on their hands, but at least you should be aware of this opportunity:

    Enter the UN’s Data for Climate Action Challenge and save the world | Ars Technica

    Recommended, important topic :), science writing pretty good:

    Plants Might Have Saved Earth From Permanent Ice Age | WIRED

    Research on that other thing plants do besides making reduced carbon that later (mostly) decomposes. Their roots increase surface area of 'rocks' and supply acids that further mess with rocks. When plants are 'doing their best' (at high CO2) such rock damaging (which removes CO2 from atmosphere) is also maxed.

    A dramatic media account of future microbial resistance to medicines:
    Peer Into the Post-Apocalyptic Future of Antimicrobial Resistance | WIRED
    Or its scientific unpinnings:
    Home | AMR Review

    For your reading. Save them for when you are feeling just too happy and optimistic.

    Aqua, one of the 'look-down' satellites, can measure ammonia even though it was not anticipated to be able to do so. Nice trick.

    NASA Satellite Identifies Global Ammonia 'Hotspots'

    The publication by Warner et al. in Geophysical Research Letters is not paywalled. Rare for that journal :) Y'all might enjoy taking a look.

    In other news, PriusChat decides to charge members USD$ 0.05 for each 'like' given.


    Not.
     
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  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Take the honor and flee. <grins>.

    Bob Wilson
     
  3. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Make it a dollar then. I'll still 'like' mojo when he raises a teachable issue and you can't stop me :D

    Secret for BobW getting likes is to tell us more about that dang airplane. C'mon, stick it in the air! All those floaters g onn a look like 'traffic' :eek:
     
  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Thinking about a new plan.

    Bob Wilson
     
  5. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Costs associated with increasing vehicle fuel efficiency:
    Efficiency technology and cost assessment for U.S. 2025–2030 light-duty vehicles | International Council on Clean Transportation

    Along with another perspective:
    Scott Pruitt: We're protecting jobs and the environment

    If you took an entomology course, you made an insect collection. That's the rule. But these folks are in a class by themselves:

    Couple donates bug collection worth $10m, a goldmine for researchers | Environment | The Guardian

    Not quite sure what to make of the article's claim of minimum per-insect value of $5... Maybe it will inspire some folks to start their own?

    Useless personal trivia: I cannot smell cyanide. Missing some gene perhaps. I did not know this until preparing my 'kill jar' in class. We were supposed to add potassium cyanide to an hygroscopic chemical until we could smell it, then stop. I added, added, added until the students near me said "when are you going to stop?" :eek:

    Possibly useful trivia: It is illegal to take dead insects out of some countries without appropriate paperwork. So if you go collecting abroad in search of a $300 rare specimen, might be trouble.
     
  6. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    well, I have been quite unable to teach him anything (except maybe how to put me on his ignore list?), and you seem far better than me at teaching others, so I won't try to stop you from trying. With him or with us.
     
  7. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    I'm guessing the value includes the mounting and case.

    In a tenuously related note, I can't smell stink bugs.
     
  8. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  9. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  10. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Don't 'like' bad-news posts. It just encourages more of them :eek:

    I started this with an intentional bias towards good news, but ya gotta play the cards as dealt.
     
  11. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    On a personal note, yesterday, I stopped at a light and the minivan in the left lane, up wind, was gassing me. I adjusted the windows to minimize the influx. Then today, I was following some car and the exhaust fumes stank and reminded me that Alabama has no emissions (or even safety) inspections.

    I used to be thankful that Sunday morning, a lot of people who should know better were not out and about causing mischief. But I also realized they were 'getting the word' . . . direction on how to replace empiricism with something else.

    Sorry to be a buzz kill,
    Bob Wilson
     
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  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  13. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I'd rather have an ugly truth than a sweet smelling lie.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  14. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    in part, this is the reason she-who-must-be-obeyed ordered the bioweapon defense filtration on her new car, despite the upgraded cost .
    .
     
  15. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  16. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Too late for me. I learned empiricism from my Dad and the basics of math, physics and chemistry in high school and the library.

    Bob Wilson
     
  18. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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  19. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    The UK will spend money for controlling several tropical diseases. Good. Some are very icky, all have more or less successful treatments. Many victims can pay little for treatment.

    100 years ago with treatments lacking, one could think about this with a philosophical "oh well". But treatments are no longer lacking, so one either does something constructive or thinks about something else.
     
  20. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Only partially fitting description of 'environmental' but it is 'new'. This book published March 1:



    Quite a lot of text is presented as online preview. More than for many other books. Probably enough for you to decide of the author is saying something accurate, valuable, and not already known to you.

    My addition (actually perhaps Tom Nichols says so somewhere) is that it's OK to 'make fun of' experts. However there may be risks in making fun of people who don't know things - their feelings might get hurt.