The most recent mtDNA study we stumbled across, is from our perspective the final nail in the coffin of the Out-of-Africa theory. Once, twice and a third time over, separate genetic studies of Homo sapien sapiens, dingoes and now song birds, stand united in ascribing the same place of origin: Australia.
The genetic facts in these equations are incontestable, the distinctive and unique nature of the mitochondrial DNA of both the dingo and Mungo Man (WLH 3) cannot be matched to any like species on this planet.
[…]
The insurmountable problem these genetic studies creates is obvious, if both Australian dingo and human are unique, the question that demands to be answered relates to how can it be that there is common belief that Original Australians came from Africa and the ancestor of the dingo lived in Southern India? What is puzzling is that despite the imposing evidence to the contrary, every text, university and lecturer will earnestly claim that the Out-of-Africa theory is an unquestionable fact. Equally, from the same department their books assure us that all dogs, canines and wolves share the same ancestry, but that is not true in the dingoes’ case. All of this smells like bad science and lazy thinking, but it gets worse, there are birds in the air to reconsider and reposition.
Y2Kyoto: The Big Rink They Call “Gitche Gumee”
Ice Visible on Lake Superior Weeks Ahead of Schedule
The Sound Of Settled Science
The Sound Of Settled Science
A changing view on SFAs and dairy:
Almost all national dietary guidelines recommend a reduction in [saturated fats] as a key intervention to reduce incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This has been translated into advice to reduce the intake of the major sources of SFAs, that is, dairy produce, meat products, and eggs. However, recent meta-analyses of both observational studies and randomized controlled trials not only have raised doubts about the scientific substantiation for this advice but have actually undermined it. It has become clear that there is a need for a completely different approach, with advice that is based on foods rather than on nutrients.
The Sound Of Settled Screening
But screening for cancers themselves don’t seem to be helping patients make smart decisions, according to Melissa Beck at the Wall Street Journal. Expanding screenings seems to be picking up on more and more tiny, slow growing cancers rather than aggressive ones. As in the colon cancer screenings studies, the most virulent cancers still escape the expanded screening profiles. “We’re not finding enough of the really lethal cancers, and we’re finding too many of the slow-moving ones that probably don’t need to be found,” says Laura Esserman, a breast-cancer surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco.
The Sound Of Settled Science
A debate among scientists over climate change and conflict has turned ugly. At issue is the question of whether the hotter temperatures and chaotic weather produced by climate change are causing higher rates of violence. A new analysis refutes earlier research that found a link, and the two lead researchers are exchanging some pointed remarks.
The Sound Of Settled Science
Nicholas Lewis and I have just published a study in Climate Dynamics that shows the best estimate for transient climate response is 1.33 degrees Celsius with a likely range of 1.05-1.80 degrees Celsius. Using an observation-based energy-balance approach, our calculations used the same data for the effects on the Earth’s energy balance of changes in greenhouse gases, aerosols and other drivers of climate change given by the IPCC’s latest report.
We also estimated what the long-term warming from a doubling of carbon-dioxide concentrations would be, once the deep ocean had warmed up. Our estimates of sensitivity, both over a 70-year time-frame and long term, are far lower than the average values of sensitivity determined from global climate models that are used for warming projections. Also our ranges are narrower, with far lower upper limits than reported by the IPCC’s latest report. Even our upper limits lie below the average values of climate models.
Our paper is not an outlier.
Y2Kyoto: The Big Rink They Call “Gitche Gumee”
Via WUWT: Lakes Superior and Lake Michigan are currently six degrees colder than last year. If the water continues to remain colder than normal, it could have an impact on Michigan’s winter in several ways.
The Sound Of Settled Science
The frequency of major hurricanes in the US is at a record low
http://t.co/5BHmyrIOzg pic.twitter.com/JiXq1EPvfY
— Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) October 1, 2014
“The reality is that honeybee populations are not declining. “
Why the fuss over bees? Is the U.S. in the midst of a bee-pocalypse? The science says no. Bee populations in the U.S. and Europe remain at healthy levels for reproduction and the critical pollination of food crops and trees. But during much of the past decade we have seen higher-than-average overwinter bee-colony losses in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as cases of bees abruptly abandoning their hives, a phenomenon known as “colony collapse disorder.”
Citing this disorder, antipesticide activists and some voluble beekeepers want to ban the most widely used pesticides in modern agriculture–neonicotinoids (“neonics” for short)–that account for 20% of pesticide sales world-wide. This would have disastrous effects on modern farming and food prices.
h/t Kevin B
Y2Kyoto: Planetary Fever Update
“Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly – Current. The blue areas are cold for the time of year.”
The Sound Of Settled Science
Naturally occurring changes in winds, not human-caused climate change, are responsible for most of the warming on land and in the sea along the West Coast of North America over the last century, a study has found.
The analysis challenges assumptions that the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been a significant driver of the increase in temperatures observed over many decades in the ocean and along the coastline from Alaska to California.
And still they managed to run to Trenberth for a comment.
The Sound Of Settled Science
So how did we end up mistaking a wicked mess for a tame problem? The main problem has been putting the policy cart in front of the scientific horse. The 1992 UNFCCC treaty was signed before the balance of evidence suggested even a discernible human influence on global climate, which was assessed by the IPCC Second Assessment Report in 1995. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol was implemented before we had any confidence that most of the warming was caused by humans.
Y2Kyoto: Planetary Fever Update
h/t Terry
The Sound Of Settled Science
A paper published today in Advances in Space Research finds the current solar cycle has “an unprecedented solar minimum long duration 2006-2009 that led to a prolonged galactic cosmic ray (GCR) recovery to the highest level observed in the instrumental era.” The authors believe a long-term decrease in solar activity is underway to a Dalton-like Grand Minimum in the middle of the 21st century.
Don’t Eat The Canned Food!
@CAGWSkeptic As reported on the @CBCNews the Franklin ship was found due to thicker than normal ice forcing the searchers further south. lol
— Allen Lasko (@arlasko) September 10, 2014
More here.
Y2Kyoto: I’ll Miss The Gitche Gumee Salt Flats
WUWT: Current data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows that for the first time in 14 years, all five Great Lakes are at or above average water levels. Lake Michigan/Huron is up 18″ in the last year.
What Would We Do Without Peer Review?
The British Journal of Psychiatry has retracted a June 2013 paper by Malafosse and his colleagues on the genetics of bipolar disorder in children because Malafosse allegedly fabricated key data in the study.
The article, “Childhood maltreatment and methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 in bipolar disorder,” purported to find that people with bipolar disorder who had experienced more, and more severe, abuse early in life were more likely to show epigenetic changes.
Deniers, take heart! There’s a warrant for his arrest.
The Sound Of Settled Science
The Cook et al. (2013) 97% paper included a bunch of psychology studies, marketing papers, and surveys of the general public as scientific endorsement of anthropogenic climate change.
Let’s go ahead and walk through that sentence again. The Cook et al 97% paper included a bunch of psychology studies, marketing papers, and surveys of the general public as scientific endorsement of anthropogenic climate change.
This one’s a stunner.
h/t Douglas
The Sound Of Settled Science
Take Katherine Flegal, a statistician at the US Centres for Disease Control. Last year, she and her colleagues published a systematic review of 97 studies in The Journal of the American Medical Association and concluded that mild obesity produced no extra mortality risk and being merely overweight resulted in a small reduction in mortality risk.
Despite being supported with a ream of data, the study was savaged by the public health lobby.