Science 2.0

It's great for alternative energy groups to tout how much more solar and wind there is than 10 years ago, and how if some cosmic curve of installations continues indefinitely, fossil fuels and nuclear power will go extinct - but in the real world, where California has to jettison emissions standards and Germany has to go under the control of Russia to prevent blackouts, a world where everyone pays a fortune to get rationed energy is bleak.

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A tipping point in climate computer estimates is a threshold where large and perhaps irreversible changes occur. Some estimates are silly, 20 foot ocean rises, etc., but without data from recent times it is hard to make models more reliable. There was a period of high warming nearly 1,100 years ago and in 10,000 B.C. we were still in an ice age, but with only accurate temperature readings for the last 40 years, and formal observation at all only done for the last 150 years, the only way for climate models of the future to be calibrated is to 'predict the past.'

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A research team is working to better define how the finger interacts with a device to create technology that goes beyond sensing and reacting to touch - they want the ability to mimic the feeling of physical objects.

Like virtual shopping experience that would let the user feel the texture of materials before purchasing them. And that's actually better for us in many ways.

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In a horrendous accident, a cinematographer has died and a director has been injured after Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun while filming in New Mexico.

When shooting a film with guns, there are many choices to make: each prop needs to be appropriate for the character, and appropriate for the scene. There is also the choice of whether you will use replica weapons, real weapons, or a mix.

But most importantly, everyone on set needs to know how to work alongside guns.

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From time to time we get larger solar storms. One of the last major ones was the one in March 1989 geomagnetic storm which caused a nine hour power cut in Quebec. That happened because they weren’t prepared for it. Modern power supplies are hardened against this, making such events much less likely.

There were earlier studies suggesting widespread damage to transformers which could cause months to years to repair, widespread power supply problems that would take a long time to resolve, and trillions of dollars of damage, so a large economic impact.

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This is for people who worry that the Democrats in the USA will never come to agreement on their climate policies. It’s tough work for them, because they have to get agreement of 50 senators, even one abstention and they will lose the vote.

IMHO this is also a strength- the bill is getting intense scrutiny. Everyone’s concerns need to be listened to. Joe Manchin seems genuine and he represents centrist politicians in the USA - a bill is more likely to work if he is behind it too.

But we are getting stories claiming that COP26 will fail if this bill doesn’t include strong climate change action - that’s just not true. The other countries would continue with strong climate action even if the USA was still under Trump and not in the Paris agreement.

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How to motivate your self, and others to act on climate change, biodiversity or anything else - tips from psychology

This talk may help you if you are thinking about how to motivate both yourself and others, and also governments, to act on climate change, biodiversity loss or indeed anything. The way you might do it instinctively, to focus on all the negatives that need to be fixed, is actually not the best approach. Psychologists call this negative framing.

Psychology says, in order to create engagement, we should present, on balance, three positive or supportive framings for each climate threat we mention.

Epsen Stokes, 8:49 into this video.

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I’ve written in the past about the tendency of some researchers to compensate for weak study design or small sample size by over-hyping their research findings, particularly with the news media.

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In the wake of the pandemic crisis, many services had to go online or change to the home office. Classes, conferences, and meetings moved to the internet, with laptops and mobile devices. If co-workers can meet online, why can't you see your doctor in the same way?


Telecommunication technology is more accessible than ever. Undoubtedly, healthcare technology must keep pace with it. There are limitations to this system, though. Still, it can be a very effective tool for preventive healthcare. Read more about telemedicine's advancements in this article.

Main Applications

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In 2009, Dr.

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Katie Couric recently revealed that she cut some comments by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said in an interview that she thought kneeling during the national anthem was wrong, because she ‘wanted to protect’ her. Couric said she felt racial justice was a ‘blind spot’ for RBG so she was doing her a favor.

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In 1864, Charles Darwin gave a microscope (designed by Charles Gould for the firm Cary) to his 14-year-old son Leonard. Leonard died in 1943 but it stayed in the family - and now it is going up for auction; the only one ever offered to the public.

Other microscopes he owned are still at Charles Darwin’s family home, Down House, and the Whipple Museum.

Of this one, Darwin once wrote in a letter to his eldest son, ‘Lenny was dissecting under my microscope and he turned round very gravely and said “don’t you think, papa, that I shall be very glad of this all my future life”.’

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Recent survey results by SciDev.Net/CABI reveal that the majority of science journalists (633 respondents from 77 countries) believe that the field is not consolidating the way some other mainstream/legacy journalism specialties are.

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Proving the universe seems like a gargantuan task, but we might have a chance to do so with exascale computers.

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This past Thursday I held a public lecture, together with my long-time friend Ivan Bianchi, on the topic of Art and Artificial Intelligence. The event was organized by the "Galileo Festival" in Padova, for the Week of Innovation.
Ivan is a professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Padova. We have known each other since we were two year olds, as our mothers were friends. We took very different career paths but we both ended up in academic and research jobs in Padova, and we have been able to take part together in several events where art and science are at the focus. Giving a lecture together is twice as fun!

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For most of this century, anyone in London has been photographed and filmed an average of 300 times each day. Their reasoning to start such intrusive scrutiny was that England, Wales, and Scotland led the developed world in crime, and a tourist attraction like London needed extra monitoring.

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Today’s global energy inequities are staggering.

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Like organic food, alternative energy such as solar and wind are fine placebos for wealthy people - as long as things are good. When there is a shortage, we find out how poorly such alternatives work, the same way that during the early stages of the pandemic the cleaning supply aisles in stores had plenty of green alternatives while the public bought up all the Clorox, Purell, and Lysol.

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Ivermectin is an over 30-year-old wonder drug that treats life- and sight-threatening parasitic infections. Its lasting influence on global health has been so profound that two of the key researchers in its discovery and development won the Nobel Prize in 2015.

I’ve been an infectious disease pharmacist for over 25 years. I’ve also managed patients who delayed proper treatment for their severe COVID-19 infections because they thought ivermectin could cure them.

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For a candidate who insisted his opponent was colluding with Russians, it looks odd for President Biden to undo an environmental check Trump had placed on Russia - and will lead to unchecked CO2 emissions. 

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