Whalefall

Earth system analysis for sustainability

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:18:36 -0500

Earth system analysis for sustainability

Hacked E-mails and “Journalistic Tribalism”

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:28:29 -0500

Hacked E-mails and “Journalistic Tribalism”

"There was no detectable difference in the total value of coins ingested, or ratio of coins to other..."

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:54:18 -0500

“There was no detectable difference in the total value of coins ingested, or ratio of coins to other objects swallowed, before or after a massive stock market crash.”

- Ingested foreign bodies and societal wealth: three year observational study of swallowed coins — Firth et al. 339: b5066 — BMJ

A Climate Scientist's Take on Climategate, Swifthack, or Whatever this Cluster#$&! in a Teapot is Called

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:56:37 -0500

In the immediate aftermath of the “Climategate” emails, many mainstream journalists — including some science writers who ought to have known better — blew the story. They didn’t understand what the messages referred to, or the culture of science. They treated as a “scandal” something that was mostly irrelevant. (The exception to this is Phil Jones’ destruction-of-email orders. That was wrong and probably illegal. But it says very little about climate science.)

I asked Ken Caldeira, a Carnegie Institution for Science climatographer, for comments on the emails. My story didn’t come together, but his response was great, and I’m reprinting it here in full. (For more on the emails, listen to this Dianne Rehm show.) Here’s what Caldeira said:

I certainly do not have time to read all of the email, but I have followed up the chain on a few choice quotes:

1. The “trick” to hide the decline.
2. The “travesty” at not being able to explain the decline.
3. Ben Santer wanting to punch somebody.

In all of these cases, it sounds bad when quoted out of context, but if you set the quotes in context, they are entirely reasonable, although often poorly worded.

In the case of the so-called trick, the problem was apparently that the tree ring data show other influences besides temperature so when temperature is considered to be the only factor affecting tree rings there is an apparent unrealistic decline in tree ring temperatures after 1960. The “trick” was apparently to plot the instrumental record on the same chart as the tree ring record, so people could see the observations — there was no attempt to fool people about what the actual record said. They were trying to communicate more clearly.

In popular press accounts, reputable reporters quoted this “trick” phrase out of context and made it seem like scientists were trying to hide a real signal from the public, when in fact the “trick” was to show the instrumental temperature record so that people would not get misled by an overly simplistic reading of the tree ring record.

In the case of the so-called travesty, the “travesty” was that we did not understand all of the drivers of short term climate change, but there was no doubt raised about fundamental climate theory or the reality of global warming.

In popular press accounts, the “travesty” was portrayed as some self-doubt about the reality of human-induced warming, when nothing could be further from the truth.

The “punch” line was Ben Santer’s way of saying “I am very angry at the way these unscrupulous climate skeptics are harassing you and I am ready to come to your aid in your time of need.” Anybody who knows Ben knows that this was rhetorical, and that Ben is not actually going to be punching anybody at a professional meeting. This was a private expression of anger and support, not an actual threat of violence.

Yet, in popular press accounts, Ben Santer, mild-mannered scientist, is made out to be some kind of schoolyard bully.

Meanwhile, Pat Michaels and his ilk repeat these quotes out of context to any journalist ready to listen. Pat Michaels and his cronies are apparently happy to use any technique they think they can get away with to harrass and discredit hard working and responsible climate scientists.

I can say there is one thing in the email exchange that was disturbing, and that was the suggestion to quietly delete emails to avoid harassing Freedom-of-Information requests. If they thought the requests were inappropriate legally, they should have fought the requests through legal channels. If they thought the requests were legal, but worth protesting on civil libertarian grounds, they should have engaged in open civil disobedience and deleted the emails openly and forthrightly. There is no place for such secretiveness in scientific matters.

That said, I think this an lapse of good judgment among people who generally adhere to the highest standards of honor.

I think the story should have been about how Pat Michaels and his cronies use every means at their disposal, from FOI requests to hacked computer systems, in their attempt to discredit hard working climate scientists. Unable to win the argument on the facts, they resort to assassinating the character of hard-working scientists. And the popular press were all to ready to sink to the level of Pat Michaels and act as his megaphone, trumpeting far and wide selected phrases from stolen emails.

I think this has been a low-water mark for climate journalism … Every major story that I have read has furthered the agenda of Pat Michaels and his cronies. Not one story that I have read has turned the tables and asked Pat Michaels why he needs to attack the messenger rather than address the message.

The trick that we should be talking about is how Pat Michaels and his cohorts got the popular press to focus on out-of-context phrases by solid scientists rather than their own pattern of harassment and theft. The travesty we should be talking about is how our best science journalists were so gullible they fell for this trick.

Spice flow: the new street drug pharmacology

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:36:11 -0500

Spice flow: the new street drug pharmacology

From “A Lost European Culture is Pulled From...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:28:03 -0500

From “A Lost European Culture is Pulled From Obscurity”

Beefy Hormones: New Routes Of Exposure

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:42:06 -0500

Beefy Hormones: New Routes Of Exposure

Michael Mann updates the world on the latest climate science and responds to the illegally hacked emails

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:42:06 -0500

Michael Mann updates the world on the latest climate science and responds to the illegally hacked emails

"These results allow us to propose that the olfactory sense may play a role in experience based..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:04:37 -0500

“These results allow us to propose that the olfactory sense may play a role in experience based migration in adult catbirds. While the olfactory sense has been shown to play a role in the homing of pigeons and other birds, this is the first time it has been implicated in migratory orientation.”

- “Testing the role of sensory systems in the migratory heading of a songbird,” Journal of Experimental Biology

"Although largely unknown because it is so inconspicuous, acoustic communication using low intensity..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:02:38 -0500

“Although largely unknown because it is so inconspicuous, acoustic communication using low intensity ultrasound appears to be widespread among hearing moths.”

- “Moths are not silent, but whisper ultrasonic courtship songs,” Journal of Experimental Biology

650 Million Years In 80 Seconds

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:35:36 -0500

650 Million Years In 80 Seconds

White Oak in NW Portland (via arthuralex)

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:09:34 -0500

White Oak in NW Portland (via arthuralex)

“Here’s an image of the Spruce, standing alone on a...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:52:36 -0500

“Here’s an image of the Spruce, standing alone on a plateau in a Swedish park near the Norwegian border. The shrubby-looking growth near the ground represents most of the tree’s age — in fact the stem (or trunk) that we recognize as tree-like is actually a product of climate change — the tree has grown taller as the mountain top has grown warmer.”

The Oldest Living Things in the World: WHAT DOES A 9,500 CLONAL SPRUCE LOOK LIKE?

"Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were nearly 40% higher than those in 1990...."

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:20:47 -0500

“Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were nearly 40% higher than those in 1990. Even if global emission rates are stabilized at present–day levels, just 20 more years of emissions would give a 25% probability that warming exceeds 2C. Even with zero emissions after 2030. Every year of delayed action increase the chances of exceeding 2C warming.”

- The Copenhagen Diagnosis

Econophysicist Predicts Rogue Financial Waves

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:06:03 -0500

Econophysicist Predicts Rogue Financial Waves

Will Whole Foods’ new mobile slaughterhouses squeeze small farmers?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:07:44 -0500

Will Whole Foods’ new mobile slaughterhouses squeeze small farmers?

Domestic farm animals are devouring the world's fish stocks

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:11:08 -0500

Domestic farm animals are devouring the world's fish stocks

The global swine flu vaccine shortage

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:59:20 -0500

The global swine flu vaccine shortage

WEIRD

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:12:21 -0500

“Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world’s top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers—often implicitly—assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these “standard subjects” are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the species—frequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, self-concepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans.”

From here.

Jane Goodall; photographer unknown.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:35:00 -0500

Jane Goodall; photographer unknown.