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Best Science Books 2015: Science News’ favorite books of 2015 [Confessions of a Science Librarian]

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

And here we are in 2015!

As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.

Today’s list is Science News’ favorite books of 2015.

  • The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf
  • The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives by Stephen Buchmann
  • The Diet Myth: Why the Secret to Health and Weight Loss is Already in Your Gut by Tim Spector
  • Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled On by Hawking Became Loved by Marcia Bartusiak
  • How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro
  • The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction by Pat Shipman
  • The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby’s First Year by Alice Green Callahan
  • Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig by Mark Essig
  • Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh
  • Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World by Brooke Borel
  • Rust: The Longest War by Jonathan Waldman
  • Scientific Babel: How Science Was Done Before and After Global English by Michael D. Gordin
  • A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design by Frank Wilczek

And check out my previous 2015 lists here!

Many of the lists I use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.

(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1ZlDjHI

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

And here we are in 2015!

As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.

Today’s list is Science News’ favorite books of 2015.

  • The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf
  • The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives by Stephen Buchmann
  • The Diet Myth: Why the Secret to Health and Weight Loss is Already in Your Gut by Tim Spector
  • Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled On by Hawking Became Loved by Marcia Bartusiak
  • How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro
  • The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction by Pat Shipman
  • The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby’s First Year by Alice Green Callahan
  • Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig by Mark Essig
  • Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh
  • Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World by Brooke Borel
  • Rust: The Longest War by Jonathan Waldman
  • Scientific Babel: How Science Was Done Before and After Global English by Michael D. Gordin
  • A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design by Frank Wilczek

And check out my previous 2015 lists here!

Many of the lists I use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.

(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)



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Antarctic Journey [World's Fair]

Hello,

World’s Fair has been dormant for some time now. Sincere apologies to those who had been following it. We are reactivating it in conjunction with a project called “Antarctica: Persistence of Vision”. The project is part of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writer’s Program: a science outreach program designed to combine art and science as a way to highlight and promote the beauty and value of Antarctica and the scientific research going on there. At the moment, Dr. Trish Suchy and I, both from Louisiana State University, are waiting in a hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand for a flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

So far we’ve been delayed by 3 days for weather. Flights to Antarctica do not go unless almost everything is perfect for the entire trip – and are known to “boomerang”, which means to turn back mid-flight if the weather in Antarctica changes during the 8 hour flight from New Zealand. Collaborators on our project from the University of Wisconsin were boomeranged two days ago, but are now in Antarctica.

“Antarctica: Persistence of Vision” is a project that is attempting to show the arc of exploration and scientific research from the past to the present in Antarctica. Scott, Shackleton and many of the other “Heroic Age” explorers performed a significant amount of research on their expeditions. They also typically had professional photographers included in the expeditions, one of the most famous being Herbert Ponting who photographed Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition. We (Trish and I) are going to be re-enacting some of the most iconic of these photographs using modern researchers and modern settings. Where there might be a sled in a Heroic Age photo, there will be a snowmobile in ours. The modern lab at McMurdo, called Crary Lab, will be the site for re-enacting photos of scientists who did research in the originally established base camps and huts in the area. We’ll also be extending our photo-re-enactments into a newer technical form called video portraiture. Artists like Bill Viola and Robert Wilson (Voom Portraits) have used video portraiture extensively. Basically one films an extreme slow motion video loop, so that what looks like a photograph at first glance is seen to be moving upon further inspection. One can play with many factors in the video portraits including how static or dynamic they are. They are typically accompanied by a soundscape, usually music.

At the moment, we are simply waiting for a flight in Christchurch. Our originally scheduled flight has been postponed about 6 times over the past 72 hours due to weather in Antarctica. Each time we get a delay phone call it can be for anywhere between 2 hrs and 24 hrs. During our wait we’ve met a number of people from the USAP (US Antarctic Program), along with a number of subcontractors going to the Ice for various jobs, and a few of the other grantees as well. These seem to be the 3 main population groups: USAP (including both higher level administrative positions through to managerial and support staff), subcontractors (working on a variety of projects, and not all commercial subcontractors, these include groups like the Air National Guard (ANG) who run the flights), and grantees (people doing federally funded science and science-outreach projects).

Each time we get delayed it increases our sense of detachment and feeling of being in suspended animation. Not quite in the “outside” world but not quite in Antarctica yet either.

There are 3 weather conditions in Antarctica: Conditions 1, 2 and 3. Condition 3 is all clear, low wind and “relatively” okay temperatures (actual definition: wind less than 48 knots and temperature warmer than -75F). Condition 2 is called when any one of the following is true: wind speed 48-55 knots, temperature -75 to -100F, or visibility less than ¼ mile. Planes don’t fly in Condition 2, and that is apparently what has been happening there for the past 3 days. Condition 1 is a serious storm, when any condition 2 wind or temperature criterion is exceeded or visibility goes to less than 100 feet. No one is allowed to leave the station in Condition 1 without approval from the Station Manager, and even travel within the station can be restricted. It seems like the definitions are backwards (that 1 should be “best” weather and 3 should be worst, but interestingly they are defined in the 3, 2, 1 direction instead). Once McMurdo gets some consistent Condition 3 weather again, we’ll be able to start our 8 hour flight from New Zealand. Stay tuned for further updates and photos.



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1nbSHW1

Hello,

World’s Fair has been dormant for some time now. Sincere apologies to those who had been following it. We are reactivating it in conjunction with a project called “Antarctica: Persistence of Vision”. The project is part of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writer’s Program: a science outreach program designed to combine art and science as a way to highlight and promote the beauty and value of Antarctica and the scientific research going on there. At the moment, Dr. Trish Suchy and I, both from Louisiana State University, are waiting in a hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand for a flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

So far we’ve been delayed by 3 days for weather. Flights to Antarctica do not go unless almost everything is perfect for the entire trip – and are known to “boomerang”, which means to turn back mid-flight if the weather in Antarctica changes during the 8 hour flight from New Zealand. Collaborators on our project from the University of Wisconsin were boomeranged two days ago, but are now in Antarctica.

“Antarctica: Persistence of Vision” is a project that is attempting to show the arc of exploration and scientific research from the past to the present in Antarctica. Scott, Shackleton and many of the other “Heroic Age” explorers performed a significant amount of research on their expeditions. They also typically had professional photographers included in the expeditions, one of the most famous being Herbert Ponting who photographed Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition. We (Trish and I) are going to be re-enacting some of the most iconic of these photographs using modern researchers and modern settings. Where there might be a sled in a Heroic Age photo, there will be a snowmobile in ours. The modern lab at McMurdo, called Crary Lab, will be the site for re-enacting photos of scientists who did research in the originally established base camps and huts in the area. We’ll also be extending our photo-re-enactments into a newer technical form called video portraiture. Artists like Bill Viola and Robert Wilson (Voom Portraits) have used video portraiture extensively. Basically one films an extreme slow motion video loop, so that what looks like a photograph at first glance is seen to be moving upon further inspection. One can play with many factors in the video portraits including how static or dynamic they are. They are typically accompanied by a soundscape, usually music.

At the moment, we are simply waiting for a flight in Christchurch. Our originally scheduled flight has been postponed about 6 times over the past 72 hours due to weather in Antarctica. Each time we get a delay phone call it can be for anywhere between 2 hrs and 24 hrs. During our wait we’ve met a number of people from the USAP (US Antarctic Program), along with a number of subcontractors going to the Ice for various jobs, and a few of the other grantees as well. These seem to be the 3 main population groups: USAP (including both higher level administrative positions through to managerial and support staff), subcontractors (working on a variety of projects, and not all commercial subcontractors, these include groups like the Air National Guard (ANG) who run the flights), and grantees (people doing federally funded science and science-outreach projects).

Each time we get delayed it increases our sense of detachment and feeling of being in suspended animation. Not quite in the “outside” world but not quite in Antarctica yet either.

There are 3 weather conditions in Antarctica: Conditions 1, 2 and 3. Condition 3 is all clear, low wind and “relatively” okay temperatures (actual definition: wind less than 48 knots and temperature warmer than -75F). Condition 2 is called when any one of the following is true: wind speed 48-55 knots, temperature -75 to -100F, or visibility less than ¼ mile. Planes don’t fly in Condition 2, and that is apparently what has been happening there for the past 3 days. Condition 1 is a serious storm, when any condition 2 wind or temperature criterion is exceeded or visibility goes to less than 100 feet. No one is allowed to leave the station in Condition 1 without approval from the Station Manager, and even travel within the station can be restricted. It seems like the definitions are backwards (that 1 should be “best” weather and 3 should be worst, but interestingly they are defined in the 3, 2, 1 direction instead). Once McMurdo gets some consistent Condition 3 weather again, we’ll be able to start our 8 hour flight from New Zealand. Stay tuned for further updates and photos.



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SpaceX to try again for sea landing

The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket descends toward a SpaceX seagoing barge during an April, 2015, landing attempt in the Atlantic. The rocket came down on target, but then toppled. SpaceX plans to try again in the Pacific on January 17. Image via SpaceX.

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket descends toward a seagoing barge during an April, 2015, landing attempt in the Atlantic. Close, but no cigar that day. Image via SpaceX.

Last month, during a satellite-deployment mission, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket and – minutes later – brought the first stage of the rocket back to Earth for a successful upright landing in Florida. Prior to that feat, SpaceX had been trying unsuccessfully to land its rocket upright at sea. Later this month, SpaceX will try again for an upright sea landing.

NBC News confirmed a report tweeted Friday (January 8, 2016) by space journalist Charles Lurio that SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9 on its barge in the Pacific Ocean during the Jason 3 mission launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on January 17. See Lurio’s tweet below:

Upright landings of rocket first stages aren’t easy, but mastering them – and thereby being able to refurbish and reuse the rocket – is needed to bring down the cost of space travel.

Here’s what happened last April, the last time SpaceX tried a sea landing for its rocket. As you can see from the video below, the rocket descended on target toward the barge, then toppled in a fireball.

Elon Musk said later that the rocket tipped from what he called excess lateral velocity, basically meaning just the speed of the descent.

Now SpaceX will try again. Alan Boyle at Geekwire wrote:

A static-fire engine test is scheduled on Monday [January 11], and the first opportunity for launch comes at 10:42 a.m. PT January 17.

A backup launch window is available the following day…

[If it succeeds, it’ll be] the first successful at-sea retro rocket landing in history, and the first West Coast rocket recovery.

By the way, the Jason 3 mission is sea-focused also. NOAA, NASA, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) designed the Jason 3 satellite to study ocean surface waves, weather and climate.

The video below shows the successful upright landing in Florida on December 21, 2016. I could watch it all day …

And here’s a neat tweet from SpaceX founder Elon Musk, showing the December 21 launch and landing.

Bottom line: Best of luck to the team at SpaceX for the Jason 3 launch on January 17, 2016, and another Falcon 9 upright sea landing attempt!

Read more: Awesome Falcon 9 landing in Florida



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1N1h4ub
The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket descends toward a SpaceX seagoing barge during an April, 2015, landing attempt in the Atlantic. The rocket came down on target, but then toppled. SpaceX plans to try again in the Pacific on January 17. Image via SpaceX.

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket descends toward a seagoing barge during an April, 2015, landing attempt in the Atlantic. Close, but no cigar that day. Image via SpaceX.

Last month, during a satellite-deployment mission, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket and – minutes later – brought the first stage of the rocket back to Earth for a successful upright landing in Florida. Prior to that feat, SpaceX had been trying unsuccessfully to land its rocket upright at sea. Later this month, SpaceX will try again for an upright sea landing.

NBC News confirmed a report tweeted Friday (January 8, 2016) by space journalist Charles Lurio that SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9 on its barge in the Pacific Ocean during the Jason 3 mission launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on January 17. See Lurio’s tweet below:

Upright landings of rocket first stages aren’t easy, but mastering them – and thereby being able to refurbish and reuse the rocket – is needed to bring down the cost of space travel.

Here’s what happened last April, the last time SpaceX tried a sea landing for its rocket. As you can see from the video below, the rocket descended on target toward the barge, then toppled in a fireball.

Elon Musk said later that the rocket tipped from what he called excess lateral velocity, basically meaning just the speed of the descent.

Now SpaceX will try again. Alan Boyle at Geekwire wrote:

A static-fire engine test is scheduled on Monday [January 11], and the first opportunity for launch comes at 10:42 a.m. PT January 17.

A backup launch window is available the following day…

[If it succeeds, it’ll be] the first successful at-sea retro rocket landing in history, and the first West Coast rocket recovery.

By the way, the Jason 3 mission is sea-focused also. NOAA, NASA, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) designed the Jason 3 satellite to study ocean surface waves, weather and climate.

The video below shows the successful upright landing in Florida on December 21, 2016. I could watch it all day …

And here’s a neat tweet from SpaceX founder Elon Musk, showing the December 21 launch and landing.

Bottom line: Best of luck to the team at SpaceX for the Jason 3 launch on January 17, 2016, and another Falcon 9 upright sea landing attempt!

Read more: Awesome Falcon 9 landing in Florida



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2016 SkS Weekly Digest #2

SkS Highlights... El Niño Impacts... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS in the News... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Why is the largest Earth science conference still sponsored by Exxon? by Ploy Achakulwisut, Ben Scandella & Britta Voss (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian) generated the highest number of comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. 

Latest data shows cooling Sun, warming Earth by Mark R and 95% consensus of expert economists: cut carbon pollution by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian) each attracted the second highest number of comments. 

El Niño Impacts

Briefing United Nations Member States today on the widely varied and devastating impacts of the current El Niño weather phenomenon – which for months has sparked massive floods in some countries while leaving others, often in the same region, bone dry – the top UN relief official urged the international community to act now to help millions of people facing food insecurity.

“We are here to re-sound the alarm; to spur a collective response to the humanitarian suffering caused by changes in weather patterns linked to El Niño and to take action now to mitigate its effects,” said Stephen O'Brien, the UN Under-Secretary-General for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who added: “If we act now, we will save lives and livelihoods and prevent an even more serious humanitarian emergency from taking hold.”

He said that in some regions, millions of people are already facing food insecurity caused by droughts related to El Niño. “In other parts of the world, we have a short window of opportunity now to prepare for what we know will happen within months. In both cases, we must act together and we must act quickly,” he stressed.

El Niño has put world in 'uncharted territory,' UN relief chief says, urging action now to mitigate impacts, UN News Centre, Jan 7, 2016

Toon of the Week

 2016 Toon 2

Hat tip to I Heart Climate Scientists

Source: Ragged old year brought hope on climate change and same-sex marriage by David Hoarsey, Los Angeles Times, Dec 31, 2015

Quote of the Week

"We often use the geological record to help us test or expand our understanding of climate change, for example, determining the sensitivity of Earth’s temperature to higher CO2 levels," Pancost* said.

"But testing the risks associated with the pace of modern environmental change is proving problematic, due to a lack of similar rapid changes in the geological past. Consequently, these risks, in this case to the marine ecosystems on which so many of us depend, remain associated with profound uncertainty," he added. "Decreasing CO2 emissions, as recently agreed in Paris, will be necessary to avoid these risks."

*Professor Rich Pancost,  Director of Bristol University’s Cabot Institute

Environmental Change Rate Unprecedented, Study Says  by James Crugnale, The Weather Channel, Jan 7, 2016

He Said What?

When asked by Annika Barth, a New Hampshire resident and freshman at American University, if he would support a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on all that Exxon knew about climate change, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio referred to the investigation as “nothing but a left-wing effort to demonize industries in America.” 

Marco Rubio Calls Exxon Scandal ‘Nothing But a Left-Wing Effort to Demonize Industry’, EcoWatch Jan 8, 2016

SkS in the News

Dr. Jeff Masters plugs SkS starting at 25:00:

[...] We partnered with a group called SkepticalScience.com. They are a very excellent volunteer organisation that's gone through and collected a lot of the myths about climate change. You know the "it's not happening", "that the globe is cooling" and so on and so forth. And they've analysed all those myths and given responses to each of them. So, they've come up with a really excellent sort of social media presence to go and get at the nitty gritty of you know scientists think, what the naysayers say, and how the two can be reconciled, if indeed they can be.[...]

HashtagVOA: #NorthPole #ElNino #Storm Frank, Voice of America (VOA), Jan 6, 2016 

SkS Spotlights

The Cabot Institute, the University of Bristol’s first flagship cross-disciplinary research institute, conducts world-leading research on the challenges arising from how we live with, depend on and affect our planet. It is rooted in a recognition of social and environmental challenges but inspired by the spirit of exploration personified by John Cabot (Zuan Caboto) and the City of Bristol.

The institute main themes focus on the six major issues at the centre of the human-planetary relationship: 

Coming Soon on SkS

  • Surface Temperature or Satellite Brightness? (Kevin C)
  • NASA study fixes error in low contrarian climate sensitivity estimates (Gavin)
  • The Quest for CCS (Andy S)
  • Guest Post (John Abraham)
  • If Done Correctly, Refuting Climate Myths can be an Effective Educational Strategy (Scott Mandia)
  • 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #3 (John Hartz)
  • 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #3 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

 2016 Poster 2

SkS Week in Review

97 Hours of Consensus: Scott Dening

97 Hours: Scott Denning 

 

Scott Denning's bio page

Quote derived with author's permission from:

"But our expectations of future warming are not based on extrapolation of recent trends. Rather, we expect climate to be warmer in the future than in the past because we know that greenhouse gases absorb and then re-emit thermal radiation. As people around the world burn more and more  fossil fuels, concentrations of greenhouse gases increase, so that solar energy accumulates under the extra absorbing gas. Scientists expect accumulating heat to cause warming temperatures because we know that when we add heat to things, they change their temperatures."

 



from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/1RuzxYk

SkS Highlights... El Niño Impacts... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS in the News... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Why is the largest Earth science conference still sponsored by Exxon? by Ploy Achakulwisut, Ben Scandella & Britta Voss (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian) generated the highest number of comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. 

Latest data shows cooling Sun, warming Earth by Mark R and 95% consensus of expert economists: cut carbon pollution by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian) each attracted the second highest number of comments. 

El Niño Impacts

Briefing United Nations Member States today on the widely varied and devastating impacts of the current El Niño weather phenomenon – which for months has sparked massive floods in some countries while leaving others, often in the same region, bone dry – the top UN relief official urged the international community to act now to help millions of people facing food insecurity.

“We are here to re-sound the alarm; to spur a collective response to the humanitarian suffering caused by changes in weather patterns linked to El Niño and to take action now to mitigate its effects,” said Stephen O'Brien, the UN Under-Secretary-General for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who added: “If we act now, we will save lives and livelihoods and prevent an even more serious humanitarian emergency from taking hold.”

He said that in some regions, millions of people are already facing food insecurity caused by droughts related to El Niño. “In other parts of the world, we have a short window of opportunity now to prepare for what we know will happen within months. In both cases, we must act together and we must act quickly,” he stressed.

El Niño has put world in 'uncharted territory,' UN relief chief says, urging action now to mitigate impacts, UN News Centre, Jan 7, 2016

Toon of the Week

 2016 Toon 2

Hat tip to I Heart Climate Scientists

Source: Ragged old year brought hope on climate change and same-sex marriage by David Hoarsey, Los Angeles Times, Dec 31, 2015

Quote of the Week

"We often use the geological record to help us test or expand our understanding of climate change, for example, determining the sensitivity of Earth’s temperature to higher CO2 levels," Pancost* said.

"But testing the risks associated with the pace of modern environmental change is proving problematic, due to a lack of similar rapid changes in the geological past. Consequently, these risks, in this case to the marine ecosystems on which so many of us depend, remain associated with profound uncertainty," he added. "Decreasing CO2 emissions, as recently agreed in Paris, will be necessary to avoid these risks."

*Professor Rich Pancost,  Director of Bristol University’s Cabot Institute

Environmental Change Rate Unprecedented, Study Says  by James Crugnale, The Weather Channel, Jan 7, 2016

He Said What?

When asked by Annika Barth, a New Hampshire resident and freshman at American University, if he would support a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on all that Exxon knew about climate change, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio referred to the investigation as “nothing but a left-wing effort to demonize industries in America.” 

Marco Rubio Calls Exxon Scandal ‘Nothing But a Left-Wing Effort to Demonize Industry’, EcoWatch Jan 8, 2016

SkS in the News

Dr. Jeff Masters plugs SkS starting at 25:00:

[...] We partnered with a group called SkepticalScience.com. They are a very excellent volunteer organisation that's gone through and collected a lot of the myths about climate change. You know the "it's not happening", "that the globe is cooling" and so on and so forth. And they've analysed all those myths and given responses to each of them. So, they've come up with a really excellent sort of social media presence to go and get at the nitty gritty of you know scientists think, what the naysayers say, and how the two can be reconciled, if indeed they can be.[...]

HashtagVOA: #NorthPole #ElNino #Storm Frank, Voice of America (VOA), Jan 6, 2016 

SkS Spotlights

The Cabot Institute, the University of Bristol’s first flagship cross-disciplinary research institute, conducts world-leading research on the challenges arising from how we live with, depend on and affect our planet. It is rooted in a recognition of social and environmental challenges but inspired by the spirit of exploration personified by John Cabot (Zuan Caboto) and the City of Bristol.

The institute main themes focus on the six major issues at the centre of the human-planetary relationship: 

Coming Soon on SkS

  • Surface Temperature or Satellite Brightness? (Kevin C)
  • NASA study fixes error in low contrarian climate sensitivity estimates (Gavin)
  • The Quest for CCS (Andy S)
  • Guest Post (John Abraham)
  • If Done Correctly, Refuting Climate Myths can be an Effective Educational Strategy (Scott Mandia)
  • 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #3 (John Hartz)
  • 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #3 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

 2016 Poster 2

SkS Week in Review

97 Hours of Consensus: Scott Dening

97 Hours: Scott Denning 

 

Scott Denning's bio page

Quote derived with author's permission from:

"But our expectations of future warming are not based on extrapolation of recent trends. Rather, we expect climate to be warmer in the future than in the past because we know that greenhouse gases absorb and then re-emit thermal radiation. As people around the world burn more and more  fossil fuels, concentrations of greenhouse gases increase, so that solar energy accumulates under the extra absorbing gas. Scientists expect accumulating heat to cause warming temperatures because we know that when we add heat to things, they change their temperatures."

 



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130/366: Bubble Battle [Uncertain Principles]

I try not to have this be Cute Kid Photo of the Day, but really, when these are the subjects, how can I avoid it?

SteelyKid blowing a bubble toward The Pip, at MiSci.

SteelyKid blowing a bubble toward The Pip, at MiSci.

This is from yesterday’s morning excursion to MiSci, where they have added a soap bubble area. This, of course, led to the kids battling with each other by blowing huge bubbles across the table and each popping the other’s bubbles. Here’s the early stage of a bubble offensive by SteelyKid, shortly to be popped by The Pip.

Another highlight of the visit was the “put yourself inside a bubble” thing, which is a perennial favorite of The Pip’s:

The Pip inside a soap bubble.

The Pip inside a soap bubble.

They also had wooden construction blocks— SteelyKid spent a long time building a hexagonal tower with these– and a holiday train display. It’s a reliably entertaining way to kill an hour or two with the kids, and that’s pure gold from a parent’s perspective…



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1RtSSst

I try not to have this be Cute Kid Photo of the Day, but really, when these are the subjects, how can I avoid it?

SteelyKid blowing a bubble toward The Pip, at MiSci.

SteelyKid blowing a bubble toward The Pip, at MiSci.

This is from yesterday’s morning excursion to MiSci, where they have added a soap bubble area. This, of course, led to the kids battling with each other by blowing huge bubbles across the table and each popping the other’s bubbles. Here’s the early stage of a bubble offensive by SteelyKid, shortly to be popped by The Pip.

Another highlight of the visit was the “put yourself inside a bubble” thing, which is a perennial favorite of The Pip’s:

The Pip inside a soap bubble.

The Pip inside a soap bubble.

They also had wooden construction blocks— SteelyKid spent a long time building a hexagonal tower with these– and a holiday train display. It’s a reliably entertaining way to kill an hour or two with the kids, and that’s pure gold from a parent’s perspective…



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Light pillars and aurora over Montana

More light pillars later that same night - January 3, 2016 - by John Ashley.

Light pillars above a gas station in Columbia Falls, Montana by John Ashley, January 3, 2016. He used a Nikon D750 to capture this image. Visit johnashleyfineart.com

John Ashley in northwestern Montana caught a beautiful display of light pillars (above) – after capturing an aurora earlier that night (below) – on January 3, 2016. He wrote:

Two very different pillars of light showed up to bookend my comet chasing trip during the wee hours this morning. Before Comet Catalina appeared, the northern lights rose over Glacier National Park and reflected nicely in the icy North Fork River, at a balmy minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit [-15 Celsius]. The aurora was visible for less than an hour, faint enough that I could not detect any color with my old eyes. Camera picked up yellow and magenta but none of our most common color, green.

On my 04:30 a.m. drive home, I just had to pull over and photograph the light pillars over a local gas station.

From the Atmospheric Optics website:

Columns of light apparently beaming directly upwards from unshielded (and wastefully polluting) lights are sometimes visible during very cold weather. Plate shaped ice crystals, normally only present in high clouds, float in the air close to the ground and their horizontal facets reflect light back downwards. The pillars are not physically over the lights or anywhere else in space for that matter ~ like all halos they are purely the collected light beams from all the millions of crystals which just happen to be reflecting light towards your eyes or camera.

Perhaps even more commonly than light pillars from artificial lights, people also see sun pillars. Read more and see photos of light pillars and sun pillars here.

Aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, by John Ashley. January 3, 2016.

Aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, by John Ashley. Visit johnashleyfineart.com

Bottom line: Light pillars over Columbia Falls, Montana, and an aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, on January 3, 2016.



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More light pillars later that same night - January 3, 2016 - by John Ashley.

Light pillars above a gas station in Columbia Falls, Montana by John Ashley, January 3, 2016. He used a Nikon D750 to capture this image. Visit johnashleyfineart.com

John Ashley in northwestern Montana caught a beautiful display of light pillars (above) – after capturing an aurora earlier that night (below) – on January 3, 2016. He wrote:

Two very different pillars of light showed up to bookend my comet chasing trip during the wee hours this morning. Before Comet Catalina appeared, the northern lights rose over Glacier National Park and reflected nicely in the icy North Fork River, at a balmy minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit [-15 Celsius]. The aurora was visible for less than an hour, faint enough that I could not detect any color with my old eyes. Camera picked up yellow and magenta but none of our most common color, green.

On my 04:30 a.m. drive home, I just had to pull over and photograph the light pillars over a local gas station.

From the Atmospheric Optics website:

Columns of light apparently beaming directly upwards from unshielded (and wastefully polluting) lights are sometimes visible during very cold weather. Plate shaped ice crystals, normally only present in high clouds, float in the air close to the ground and their horizontal facets reflect light back downwards. The pillars are not physically over the lights or anywhere else in space for that matter ~ like all halos they are purely the collected light beams from all the millions of crystals which just happen to be reflecting light towards your eyes or camera.

Perhaps even more commonly than light pillars from artificial lights, people also see sun pillars. Read more and see photos of light pillars and sun pillars here.

Aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, by John Ashley. January 3, 2016.

Aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, by John Ashley. Visit johnashleyfineart.com

Bottom line: Light pillars over Columbia Falls, Montana, and an aurora over Glacier National Park, Montana, on January 3, 2016.



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Faint, fuzzy star cluster near Sirius

Tonight, look for the sky’s brightest star, Sirius, and the faint star cluster near it. Sirius is easy to see because it’s so bright and because the three prominent Belt stars in the constellation Orion – three stars in a short, straight row – always point to it. A reader wrote:

I went to study the constellation Orion, but first I had to see the star Sirius. There was a glimmer below Sirius, and upon looking, it seemed to be a very nice comet. Has anyone else seen this? I am a newby … and would like someone to verify if they see this. I am quite up and excited.

There is a comet in the sky now (Comet Lovejoy), but that fuzzy spot near Sirius isn’t a comet. It’s the lovely star cluster called Messier 41 or M41. This cluster lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius. So the identification as a comet was wrong, but it is a reasonable mistake. The nuclei of comets look like fuzzy patches, much like M41 in a small telescope.

View larger. | The bright star is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. The star cluster M41 can be seen as a fuzzy object below right of Sirius. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Stacy Oliver Bryant. Thank you Stacy!

The confusion with a comet and this cluster is not a new one. In the late 1700s, Charles Messier gave this object the number 41 on his list of “objects to avoid.” He was a comet hunter who wanted others to realize that this object, which looks like a comet, really isn’t.

Giovanni Batista Hodierna is said to have discovered M41 sometime before 1654, but it may have been known to individuals with particularly good vision throughout human history. The cluster – whose true diameter in space covers about 25 light-years – contains about 100 stars including several red giants.

Like most open star clusters of this type, it is relatively young – probably between 190 and 240 million years old. By contrast, our sun is thought to be four-and-a-half billion years old.

At mid-northern latitudes, Sirius and M41 stay out till roughly 3 to 4 a.m. local time.

So enjoy Orion, the star Sirius and M41 on these cold winter evenings. There are over 100 of the so-called Messier objects or M-objects known today. Today’s amateur astronomers consider them among the most prized objects to be viewed through binoculars and small telescopes. Here’s a list of M-objects. Advanced amateurs can observe them all and can earn a Messier certificate from the Astronomical League.

Bottom line: No matter where you are on Earth, look for the sky’s brightest star, Sirius, in the month of January. If your sky is dark enough, notice the faint fuzzy object near the bright star Sirius. This object is called M41, and it’s a distant cluster of stars.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today!



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1HZVs1x

Tonight, look for the sky’s brightest star, Sirius, and the faint star cluster near it. Sirius is easy to see because it’s so bright and because the three prominent Belt stars in the constellation Orion – three stars in a short, straight row – always point to it. A reader wrote:

I went to study the constellation Orion, but first I had to see the star Sirius. There was a glimmer below Sirius, and upon looking, it seemed to be a very nice comet. Has anyone else seen this? I am a newby … and would like someone to verify if they see this. I am quite up and excited.

There is a comet in the sky now (Comet Lovejoy), but that fuzzy spot near Sirius isn’t a comet. It’s the lovely star cluster called Messier 41 or M41. This cluster lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius. So the identification as a comet was wrong, but it is a reasonable mistake. The nuclei of comets look like fuzzy patches, much like M41 in a small telescope.

View larger. | The bright star is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. The star cluster M41 can be seen as a fuzzy object below right of Sirius. Photo by EarthSky Facebook friend Stacy Oliver Bryant. Thank you Stacy!

The confusion with a comet and this cluster is not a new one. In the late 1700s, Charles Messier gave this object the number 41 on his list of “objects to avoid.” He was a comet hunter who wanted others to realize that this object, which looks like a comet, really isn’t.

Giovanni Batista Hodierna is said to have discovered M41 sometime before 1654, but it may have been known to individuals with particularly good vision throughout human history. The cluster – whose true diameter in space covers about 25 light-years – contains about 100 stars including several red giants.

Like most open star clusters of this type, it is relatively young – probably between 190 and 240 million years old. By contrast, our sun is thought to be four-and-a-half billion years old.

At mid-northern latitudes, Sirius and M41 stay out till roughly 3 to 4 a.m. local time.

So enjoy Orion, the star Sirius and M41 on these cold winter evenings. There are over 100 of the so-called Messier objects or M-objects known today. Today’s amateur astronomers consider them among the most prized objects to be viewed through binoculars and small telescopes. Here’s a list of M-objects. Advanced amateurs can observe them all and can earn a Messier certificate from the Astronomical League.

Bottom line: No matter where you are on Earth, look for the sky’s brightest star, Sirius, in the month of January. If your sky is dark enough, notice the faint fuzzy object near the bright star Sirius. This object is called M41, and it’s a distant cluster of stars.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today!



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