A new study has found that parasites carried by rats were probably not behind the outbreak of plague in Europe.
h/t nv53
The Sound Of Settled Science
A new study led by geologists at the University of Johannesburg found that compounds in the Hypatia stone are distinct from anything discovered in the solar system. The researchers therefore conclude that parts of the rock formed before the solar system, and if these compounds are not presolar, the prevailing idea that the solar system formed from a nebula of homogenous gas is called into question.
Bird Brains
Raptors, including the whistling kite, are intentionally spreading grass fires in northern Australia, the paper argues. The reason: to flush out prey and feast.
The Sound Of Settled Science
‘Economists Say’ is used to coat liberal policy positions with a veneer of scientific certitude.
h/t TLH
Y2Kyoto: End Of Snow
We Are All Treaty Immigrants
The discovery of two infants, ceremonially buried by a previously unknown population of ancient humans in Alaska around 11,500 years ago, offers stunning new clarity to the story of how humans came to inhabit the Americas, according to a new scientific paper.
By confirming the theory that Indigenous Americans are descended from Asians, the find also threatens to inflame a cultural controversy that has long troubled the study of human origins in the New World.
Published This Month In The Journal Of The Blindingly Obvious
These results indicate that higher economic status can offset lower physical attractiveness in men much more easily than in women. Neither raters’ BMI nor age influenced this effect for females rating male attractiveness. This difference explains many features of human mating behavior and may pose a barrier for male engagement in low-consumption lifestyles.
The Sound Of Agenda Science
The World Health Organization’s cancer agency says a common weedkiller is “probably carcinogenic.” The scientist leading that review knew of fresh data showing no cancer link – but he never mentioned it and the agency did not take it into account.
Read it all. Because you won’t hear about it elsewhere.
h/t nold
Cloud cover and the creation there of.
Last week WUWT laid out some breadcrumbs. Yesterday, we got back home.
The implications of the study suggests that the mechanism can have affected:
The climate changes observed during the 20th century
The coolings and warmings of around 2°C that have occurred repeatedly over the past 10,000 years, as the Sun’s activity and the cosmic ray influx have varied.
The much larger variations of up to 10°C occurring as the Sun and Earth travel through the Galaxy visiting regions with varying numbers of exploding stars.
This should be fun.
Anthony bounces the bait.
What Would We Do Without Experts?
By its fruit the tree is known, and the tree of expertise hasn’t been doing well lately. As Nassim Taleb recently observed: “With psychology papers replicating less than 40%, dietary advice reversing after 30 years of fatphobia, macroeconomic analysis working worse than astrology, the appointment of Bernanke who was less than clueless of the risks, and pharmaceutical trials replicating at best only 1/3 of the time, people are perfectly entitled to rely on their own ancestral instinct and listen to their grandmothers.”
We’ve noticed.
The Sound Of Settled Science
Females’ Eggs May Actively Select Certain Sperm: New evidence challenges the oldest law of genetics.
What Would We Do Without Peer Review?
There needs to be adequate due diligence, especially when selecting and approaching potential peer reviewers. This shouldn’t need to be said, but the fake peer review cases have thrown up many instances where this hasn’t occurred. I was shocked back in 2012 when the first cases came to light, and now that over 500 retractions due to fake reviews have been reported by Retraction Watch, I’m quite stunned.
h/t Rolf
The Sound Of Settled Science
This essay by Rupert Darwall explores the expressions of public certainty by climate scientists versus the private expressions of uncertainty, in context of a small Workshop on Climate organized by the American Physical Society (APS). I was privileged to participate in this workshop, which included three climate scientists who support the climate change consensus and three climate scientists who do not–all of whom were questioned by a panel of distinguished physicists. – Judith Curry
The Sound Of Settled Science
It’s a cult: Why the climate debate is paralyzing free thinkers and undermining democracy.
What Would We Do Without Studies?
Flies really do spread germs, a new study confirmed.
The Sound Of Settled Science
NASA; Behemoth Black Hole Found in an Unlikely Place
What Would We Do Without Research?
When you REALLY don't want to lose weight https://t.co/YNN2GRNgjB pic.twitter.com/hCJB13bR1E
— New Real Peer Review (@RealPeerReview) November 13, 2017
The Sound Of Settled Science
…new scientific truths often win the day not so much because opponents change their minds, but because they die off.
100% renewable electricity in Australia
100% renewable electricity in Australia