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CraigD

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Post and discuss interesting articles & videos about science and technology.

You don't need to be an expert - just interested in the wonders of modern science, technology, and the history of these fields.

Please keep it rational, and post articles from reputable sources.
Try not to editorialise headlines and keep the copy to just a paragraph with a link to the original source. When quoting excerpts from articles, I think the best method is to italicise the copy, and include a link to the source.

Have some fun with your comments and discussions... just keep the sources legitimate.

Other threads:
The Break Room has a number of other popular threads, so there is no need to post material here that is better suited to these other threads:

- Covid19-Coronavirus updates and news
- Conspiracy Thread Free For All
- The *religious* discussion thread


Please enjoy!
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
It's just another global warming denier.
That would be the consequence of global warming. The Gulf Stream stops, and it would bring extreme cold to Europe and parts of North America, along with other extreme climate changes, because that would be also a global issue like disrupting seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world.
 
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That would be the consequence of global warming. The Gulf Stream stops, and it would bring extreme cold to Europe and parts of North America, along with other extreme climate changes, because that would be also a global issue like disrupting seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world.

Rather than explaining how global warming is causing global cooling, maybe you should just admit that you don't know what you are talking about.
 
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That would be the consequence of global warming. The Gulf Stream stops, and it would bring extreme cold to Europe and parts of North America, along with other extreme climate changes, because that would be also a global issue like disrupting seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world.

Abstract

Disrupting North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) ventilation is a key concern in climate projections. We use (sub)centennially resolved bottom water δ13C records that span the interglacials of the last 0.5 million years to assess the frequency of and the climatic backgrounds capable of triggering large NADW reductions. Episodes of reduced NADW in the deep Atlantic, similar in magnitude to glacial events, have been relatively common and occasionally long-lasting features of interglacials. NADW reductions were triggered across the range of recent interglacial climate backgrounds, which demonstrates that catastrophic freshwater outburst floods were not a prerequisite for large perturbations. Our results argue that large NADW disruptions are more easily achieved than previously appreciated and that they occurred in past climate conditions similar to those we may soon face.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6485/1485

Circulation can decline and rebound, rather than simply declining, or worse, shutting down completely. But Ninnemann notes that human systems of agriculture, trade, and settlement were not designed to cope with such fluctuations. “We have built everything we have in this relatively stable climate period during the past 10,000 years,” Hinnemann explains. “But the geologic record shows us this may be an exception, rather than the rule.”

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...-atlantic-current-chaos-it-could-happen-again
 
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Rather than explaining how global warming is causing global cooling, maybe you should just admit that you don't know what you are talking about.

Explain to us why Sutruk doesn't know what he's talking about.
 
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To say the global warming is causing global cooling is ridiculous all by itself.

But, I will let Nobel Prize Chemist Kary Mullis explain it to you.

"Politicians don't know anything about scientific things.
They just want to look like they do.
Somebody has to advise them.
Who are those advisors?
It's an important question because those people—who are
always having to come up with eminent disasters
that can be prevented by governmental projects—are
manipulating you. They are parasites with degrees..."
 
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Rather than explaining how global warming is causing global cooling, maybe you should just admit that you don't know what you are talking about.
Due to how the Gulf Stream works, the melting of the North Pole due to the global warming can change the salinity of this Stream, stopping it.

Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Europe and parts of North America are around +10C celsius more than it should be.

The Gulf Stream goes from the Gulf of Mexico to the UK, then it goes up to the North and comes down to the South again, but now with much more cold water, so when it goes down, it does't interrupt the Gulf Stream, as the North Stream goes deeper on the Athlantic sea.

But if millions of gallons of fresh water melt down from the North Pole, the salinity of the Athlantic can change (as it has already happened some thousands of years ago) and the North Stream will interrupt the Gulf Stream, causing a decrease of around -10C celsius in Europe and parts of North America temperature.

PS: Global warming will not cause Global cooling. Just a heavy cooling in some places, like Europe and parts of North America.
But this heavy cooling of around -10C celsius will have a great impact.
This event will cause also a great change in the Global climate, as I said, for example disrupting seasonal monsoons that provide water to much of the world.
 
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World’s climate scientists to issue stark warning over global heating threat

The fires, floods and extreme weather seen around the world in recent months are just a foretaste of what can be expected if global heating takes hold, scientists say, as the world’s leading authority on climate change prepares to warn of an imminent and dire risk to the global climate system.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will on Monday publish a landmark report, the most comprehensive assessment yet, less than three months before vital UN talks that will determine the future course of life on Earth.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ssue-stark-warning-over-global-heating-threat
 
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Quite the reversal of fortune: Port a potties in a luxury resort.

The California tourist town that’s running out of water: ‘It’s a shock’


On many mornings, the village of Mendocino vanishes into a thick white fog that covers its seaside cliffs, redwood trees and quaint Victorian houses.

Carved into California’s northern coast, the historic hamlet’s rugged beaches, scenic hikes, charming bed-and-breakfasts and boutique galleries draw in 1.8m visitors each year.

“Of course it does. This place is just so beautiful. It’s so lush and moist here,” said Julian Lopez, the executive chef at Mendocino’s Café Beaujolais. “So when you learn about all the water problems, it really comes as a shock.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/07/california-drought-water-mendocino-tourism
 
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To say the global warming is causing global cooling is ridiculous all by itself.

But, I will let Nobel Prize Chemist Kary Mullis explain it to you.

"Politicians don't know anything about scientific things.
They just want to look like they do.
Somebody has to advise them.
Who are those advisors?
It's an important question because those people—who are
always having to come up with eminent disasters
that can be prevented by governmental projects—are
manipulating you. They are parasites with degrees..."

You've answered the question perfectly... illogically.


EDIT:

It was however a quote that piqued my interest, so I did a bit of research to find the complete quote and context.

The quote was from Kary Mullis' book 'Dancing Naked in the Mind Field', Chapter 11: What Happened to Scientific Method?

The full quote is:

"Who are these people who make comfortable salaries arranging scientific symposia and stories for the media? They aren’t politicians. Politicians don’t know anything about scientific things. They just want to look like they do. Somebody has to advise them. Who are those advisors? It’s an important question because those people–who are always having to come up with the imminent disasters that can be prevented by governmental projects, sponsored by informed and well meaning politicians-are manipulating you. They are parasites with degrees in economics or sociology who couldn’t get a good job in the legitimate advertising industry. They are responsible for a lot of the things that you accept year after year as your problems. The problems they imagine for you are as imaginary as the commercials during Seinfeld about some Australian outback macho guy, with a Hollywood model by his side, driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle, with pathetic halfwits in pursuit due to a misunderstanding about the relative merits of the vehicles".

The context is in relation to James Buchanan's idea that came to be known as Public Choice Theory.

Public Choice Theory focuses on people's decision making process within the political realm.
Buchanan maintains that a person's first instinct is to make their decisions based upon their own self-interest, which varied from previous models where government officials acted in constituents' best interest.

From what I can find, Mullis goes on to suggest that some of the environmental crisis we were bombarded with in the 80's and 90's were deceptions driven by bureaucrats and interest groups who want something from the system.

Unfortunately I can not find the complete chapter, but given this was written over twenty years ago, I wonder what Mullis would have to say about the climate science and political motivations behind it now?
 
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'Nowhere to run': UN report says global warming nears limits

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-global-paris-limit.html

Earth's climate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a "code red for humanity."

"It's just guaranteed that it's going to get worse," said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."

The 3,000-plus-page report from 234 scientists said warming is already accelerating sea level rise and worsening extremes such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms. Tropical cyclones are getting stronger and wetter, while Arctic sea ice is dwindling in the summer and permafrost is thawing. All of these trends will get worse, the report said.

As the planet warms, places will get hit more not just by extreme weather but by multiple climate disasters at once, the report said. That's like what's now happening in the Western U.S., where heat waves, drought and wildfires compound the damage, Mearns said. Extreme heat is also driving massive fires in Greece and Turkey.

Some harm from climate change—dwindling ice sheets, rising sea levels and changes in the oceans as they lose oxygen and become more acidic—is "irreversible for centuries to millennia," the report said.
 
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I must admit that I was still somewhat sceptical about the severity of global warming models a few ago, but the evidence is mounting and the scientific consensus is almost universal.

Even if the modelling is over stated, it certainly cannot hurt to curb the practices that are clearly damaging our environment.
 
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‘It wasn’t built to eat broccoli’: Australia’s largest ‘dragon’ unveiled

A pterosaur fossil found in the outback a decade ago, the largest known flying reptile on the continent, has finally been identified as a new species and is being compared to a dragon.

4500.jpg



With an estimated seven-metre wing span, 40 razor-sharp teeth, a circular crest below its jaw and no living relatives, a new species of pterosaur discovered in outback Queensland is being touted as the closest thing Australia ever had to a mythical dragon.

The creature, thought to have lived 105m years ago, is the largest known flying reptile on the Australian continent and has been described for the first time in an article published on Monday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

3911.jpg


Read on...

https://www.theguardian.com/science...t-broccoli-australias-largest-dragon-unveiled
 
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Elon Musk is thrilled as SpaceX's Starship becomes world's tallest rocket — and he's not alone

ohRzmq5r4emMJL8JHcKQBi-1216-80.jpg


SpaceX's Starship has officially become the world's tallest rocket — and Elon Musk is over the moon.

On Friday (Aug. 6), for the first time, SpaceX stacked its Starship spacecraft on top of its Super Heavy rocket. At around 395 feet (120 meters) tall, the stacked spacecraft is the tallest in the world. (If you take the launch stand into account, it's even taller, at about 475 feet, or 145 m, high).

The Starship spacecraft that was stacked on Friday is the company's SN20 prototype, and it was secured to a Super Heavy prototype known as Booster 4. The stacking is part of the preparation for an orbital test flight that the company has planned for the vehicle.

https://www.space.com/elon-musk-thrilled-spacex-starship-worlds-tallest-rocket
 
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The climatologist who put climate science ‘on the offensive’

Friederike Otto has tailored her research to beat back doubt about the link between extreme events and climate change.

When this summer's heat wave in the western U.S. and Canada obliterated records by several degrees, the world’s media was seized by a burning question: Was this climate change?

A vanishingly small number of scientists have the skills and know-how to respond in detail and quickly enough for journalists on deadline.

One of them is German climatologist Friederike Otto. Along with her colleagues at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) service, she is using what's called attribution science to help answer the question of whether climate change made a heat wave, hurricane or drought more likely.

“It's extremely powerful to communicate just what climate change means, here and now. To really bring climate change home,” Otto said in a phone call

https://www.politico.eu/article/fri...n-climate-science-heat-waves-floods-droughts/
 
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Snakes, spiders, they're all over Sydney.

I also got attacked by a bloody magpie last week - I usually befriend them with food and they are fine, but it's nesting season and this particular one has been attacking anyone who walks under its nest the last couple of weeks.

I posted the above articles last year about magpies and swooping habits to protect their nests.

Unfortunately a five-month-old baby child died on Sunday when her mother tripped trying to avoid a swooping magpie.

Swooping magpie behind tragic fatal accident seized by Brisbane City Council after baby dies

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor has revealed what’s been done with the swooping magpie behind an “unthinkable” tragic accident between a mother and her baby.

https://www.news.com.au/national/qu...s/news-story/b4ac133a7bf8e0d2f5635855f57890d1
 
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Blood, brains and burgers: The future is lab-grown everything

"Science fiction has long floated the idea of a device that can produce any kind of object one can imagine. Star Trek called it a replicator, while other writers have referred to it as a Santa Claus Machine.

We may be centuries away from a single machine that can conjure up whatever we demand at a moment’s notice, but we are not far off creating a variety of things we desire in laboratory conditions."

https://newatlas.com/technology/lab...ail&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b67edd28c9-90628689

Add to this ideas/directions like '3D printed everything' and you have ......?
 
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Add to this ideas/directions like '3D printed everything' and you have ......?

Toilet paper for everyone in lockdown!

3tlbdl.jpg
 
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Welcome to the ‘plastisphere’: the synthetic ecosystem evolving at sea

Plastic bottles dominate waste in the ocean, with an estimated 1m of them reaching the sea every minute. The biggest culprit is polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) bottles.

Last month, a study found two bacteria capable of breaking down Pet – or, as the headlines put it, “eating plastic”. Known as Thioclava sp. BHET1 and Bacillus sp. BHET2, the bacteria were isolated in a laboratory – but they were discovered in the ocean.

The bacteria are the latest example of new organisms that appear to be growing in a unique environment: the vast amounts of plastic at sea.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...phere-the-synthetic-ecosystem-evolving-at-sea
 
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How BioNTech created a new delta-focused COVID vaccine in just a few weeks

The beauty of mRNA vaccines is their ability to be quickly updated. Though the vaccine makers are confident in their original vaccines, as COVID-19 continues to change, the vaccines can change, too.

As the super-contagious delta variant began to spread widely, scientists at BioNTech, the Germany-based company that partnered with Pfizer to make the first approved COVID-19 vaccine, went into the lab to quickly create a new version of the vaccine that specifically targeted the variant.

Because the company uses mRNA technology—a type of vaccine that uses the genetic code for a key protein in the virus to teach the body to make that protein and learn how to fight it off—editing the vaccine involves a relatively simple change in the code. “The vaccine we are using now has the original spike protein, and the only thing we basically need to do is cut out this part and take the spike protein of the delta variant,” says Özlem Türeci, co-founder and chief medical officer of BioNTech.
 
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Clues to healthy aging found in the gut bacteria of centenarians

In general the researchers detected a number of bacterial species specifically enriched in the centenarian group compared to the two controls. The bacteria found in higher levels in the centenarians were known to play a major role in the production of secondary bile acids.

Bile acids are vital elements for effective digestion and metabolism. Primary bile acids are synthesized in the liver while secondary bile acids are generated by bacteria in our gut.

The main finding from this new research is the hypothesis that these centenarians potentially remain relatively healthy into extreme old age by maintaining a diverse microbiome modulated by high volumes of these secondary bile acids. The study particularly focused on one secondary bile acid called isoalloLCA.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbei...ail&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-bb20e01326-90628689
 
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We can run but we cannot hide.

Pores for thought: how sweat reveals our every secret, from what we’ve eaten to whether we’re on drugs


When I deposited my index fingerprint on a laboratory slide so that Simona Francese could analyse it, I felt as if I was giving her the password to my body’s secrets. Most forensic scientists examine a fingerprint’s pattern but Francese, a forensic scientist from Sheffield Hallam University, analyses the chemicals left behind in those whirls and swirls. Her aim is to develop techniques that will allow her to extract identifying information about people at a crime scene from the sweaty residues they leave behind.

Fingerprints are inked with sweat, a body fluid that holds revealing information about our health and our vices. Our sweat glands source perspiration from the watery parts of blood, and any chemicals flowing around your circulatory system can, in principle, leak out of your sweat pores.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...from-what-weve-eaten-to-whether-were-on-drugs
 
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Some 'soft' science:

The Dutch secret to boosting joy every day

Research shows that adopting a voorpret mindset can actually improve our happiness

Consider adding things in the future on your calendar or master to-do list—however far in advance they may be. Don’t feel silly about it! One study showed that even just thinking about watching a favorite movie raised participants’ endorphin levels by 27%.
 
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‘Your outfit is killing the planet’: the company putting a label on fashion’s climate impact

“Your outfit is killing the planet.” That’s the messagefootwear and clothing company Allbirds is using to raise consumer awareness about the fashion industry’s link to the climate crisis. Figures are debated, but an estimated 10% of annual global carbon emissions originate from the fashion industry.

Since its 2016 launch, Allbirds has been vocal about its aim to produce fashion with a smaller carbon footprint. Each item of clothing displays a carbon emissions score to let customers know the climate impact of their purchase. The company has pledged to halve its products’ carbon footprints by 2025, and cut them to virtually zero by 2030.

Founded by Tim Brown, a former New Zealand footballer, and Joey Zwillinger, a biotech engineer and expert on renewable fabrics, Allbirds’ first shoe was made from biodegradable merino wool. The company went on to make shoes out of tree fibers such as eucalyptus and uses recycled bottles for shoe laces and castor beans for insoles.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ny-putting-a-label-on-fashions-climate-impact
 
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‘Ten years ago this was science fiction’: the rise of weedkilling robots

In the corner of an Ohio field, a laser-armed robot inches through a sea of onions, zapping weeds as it goes.

This field doesn’t belong to a dystopian future but to Shay Myers, a third-generation farmer whose TikTok posts about farming life often go viral.

He began using two robots last year to weed his 12-hectare (30-acre) crop. The robots – which are nearly three metres long, weigh 4,300kg (9,500lb), and resemble a small car – clamber slowly across a field, scanning beneath them for weeds which they then target with laser bursts.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ling-robots-farming-pesticide-use-sustainable
 
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