cmooney
Posts by this author
June 20, 2007
Throughout the spring and into summer, I've pointed out repeatedly that there has been a consensus, among seasonal hurricane forecasters, that there will be an active season this year in the Atlantic. 17 named storms was Bill Gray's number; NOAA said 13-17. Methodologically, both Gray and NOAA use…
June 19, 2007
Something that makes me very sad is going on over at Tara's blog, I'm afraid. A number of commenters, who seem to be largely scientists, are beating up mercilessly on science writers for various sins, largely misquotation (which wasn't even what Tara's post was originally about). The comments got…
June 19, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Last week the National Academies reported that stereotypes affect women's academic performance. Their report, Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering came out earlier this year concluding:Women are…
June 18, 2007
I will be appearing live on the Bill Press Show, the top rated progressive morning radio show, tomorrow morning at around 8:30 am ET. You can listen here. The subject is Storm World. Bill broadcasts right out of the Center for American Progress building, and after the show the Mooney-Nisbet talk on…
June 18, 2007
The longer form reviews of Storm World are starting to come out, even as the book is now shipping from Amazon (and presumably other sites). I'm excited that the first really meaty review has gone up today by Mike Mann at RealClimate.org. You can read it here.
The review is very positive but does…
June 18, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
I promised to provide the run down of what went on in DC during Capitol Hill Oceans Week (CHOW) 2007.. three days when the biggest players in the oceans game gathered to discuss current ocean and coastal issues. The usual suspects ranged from marine scientists to…
June 15, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Have you heard of OCEANS-21 (H.R. 21) The Oceans Conservation, Education, and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act?
Rep. Sam Farr introduced this Big Oceans Bill in January aka the 'ocean health' bill. With 50 cosponsors, it's building momentum in the House…
June 15, 2007
Well, folks: The Storm World talk in Grand Rapids went quite well--Ed Brayton was there, it was fantastic to meet him for the first time, and he's got a post up about my talk entitled "Hurricane Mooney." The oddness of giving a speech about hurricanes in Michigan was not lost upon me, but I had an…
June 14, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
While Chris is still in The Great Lakes State, I'm back with a recommendation for those in Cap City next week..
On Tuesday June 19 at 9:00, you have the opportunity to listen to Chris and Matt Nisbet present Speaking Science 2.0 at the Center for American Progress…
June 13, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Jerry Lewis is a Congressman representing the 41st District of California.Jerry Lewis is also a comedian from Newark, New Jersey.
I imagine it's confusing to share a name with someone famous. Even more unusual is the case of the Jerry Lewises because both fellows…
June 13, 2007
Over at the website Truthdig.org--which just won a Webby--I've done a piece about getting ready for this and future hurricane seasons entitled "The Readiness is All." I think we need a comprehensive national hurricane risk assessment project that takes account of the possible effects of climate…
June 12, 2007
Some of you may have expected or sensed that it was going to happen. But now, I can finally announce that it's official:
I have invited Sheril Kirshenbaum, who did such a spectacular job blogging here in my absence a few weeks back, to come on to blog here permanently. And she has accepted. "The…
June 12, 2007
I've done something a bit off the beaten path recently--teamed up with a scientist to write an editorial for a medical journal. My piece, with Beth Jordan, M.D., who is the scientific director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, just appeared in Contraception. Here is the gist…
June 11, 2007
I've ben a bit tied up and unable to blog yet today. Thankfully Sheril has taken up some of the slack. I'll have an entry later, but in the meantime, definitely check out this cool post by frequent Intersection commenter Fred Bortz. Bortz is drawing on a recent article in American Scientist by two…
June 11, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Since quoting Doug Adams, I've received some thoughtful emails from readers in northern and inland states asking whether they ought to be concerned about An Inconvenient Truth. Fair question. If sea level rise and warming temperatures appear to have little personal…
June 9, 2007
Princeton climate scientist Simon Donner has been blogging about Cyclone Gonu and the disturbing way in which the U.S. media seems to care more about oil prices than people killed by the storm. Of course, one might reply that at least our media actually covered this storm. By contrast, it more or…
June 9, 2007
Cyclone Gonu, having weakened down to a Category 1 equivalent storm, lashes Oman and Iran without making a full landfall on June 6, 2007. Image courtesy of NASA's Earth Observatory.
This historic storm is now estimated to have killed 70 people in Oman and Iran, and that number may continue to rise…
June 8, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Back soon with the review of Capitol Hill Oceans Week (CHOW), but in the mean time, a suggestion to keep you out of the heat..
At the moment, I'm still in the District where I happened upon Cosmic Collisions at the Air and Space Museum. A friend and I ducked into…
June 8, 2007
After giving the Mooney-Nisbet talk in New York on Monday, I had the pleasure of hanging out with a group of young scientists who had come to attend. To me that's a key point of our speaking tour: To create events, both intellectual and social, where young scientists can engage with new ideas about…
June 7, 2007
We're starting to get some sense of what Cyclone Gonu did to Oman. The early reports seem to suggest that there were effective evacuations and thus relatively few fatalities (around 25 with a similar number missing). However, the capital city of Oman was swamped by water, as this AP report details…
June 6, 2007
Storm World has now been reviewed by many of the early bird pubs catering to bookstores, libraries, and the publishing industry. Reviews have appeared in: Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and now finally Library Journal. I'm pleased to report that in its June 15 issue, this last publication…
June 6, 2007
The Mooney-Nisbet combo just returned from speaking in New York....and there have already been reactions to the latest talk from well-known science writer John Horgan (who was in the audience) as well as a write-up from Curtis Brainard of Columbia Journalism Review. In his article Brainard quotes…
June 6, 2007
Wikipedia now has a very informative entry on Cyclone Gonu, which has been by far the most surprising and frightening hurricane of 2007 thus far. Gonu's apparent records include:
1. Strongest storm ever recorded in the Arabian Sea (140 knot winds, making Gonu the first recorded Category 5 storm in…
June 5, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
..back in the District that is, for Capitol Hill Oceans Week (CHOW). And the city is just as hot and sticky as ever while folks now bustle about Metro Center around me. I'm sitting in the Cosi on G street, where long ago I discovered that I do indeed enjoy hummus.…
June 5, 2007
Cyclone Gonu, in the Arabian Sea, was our first Category 5 storm of the year yesterday. Now, as I write this, it is still a very strong storm and is about to set an ominous record. As Margie Keiper puts it over at the Weather Underground:
An unusual event is happening over the next 48 hours, as…
June 4, 2007
posted by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
Tell people you're a marine biologist and they usually react one of two ways.. 'I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little!' or 'You probably never hear this but, ever seen that episode of Seinfeld with George?' [Before I go on, for future reference, Yes,…
June 2, 2007
The Mooney-Nisbet combo act is heading to New York: We are doing a talk at the New York Academy of Sciences, sponsored by the Science Alliance, on Monday night. Click the icon for details. This should be our biggest event yet (we just got a nice mention from Darksyde over at Daily Kos), so if you'…
June 1, 2007
As if to announce today's June 1 date, Tropical Storm Barry just formed--unexpectedly--in the Gulf, and may now be intensifying over the infamous warm Loop Current. Neither Jeff Masters nor the official forecasters think Barry is going to become a hurricane before reaching Florida, however. The…
June 1, 2007
It never ceases to amaze me how research may be portrayed through the lens of pop culture. Although I often argue that the right 'spin' in a science story allows it to appeal to broader audiences, certain efforts only leave me dizzy. Here's an example..
The Research:
Dr. Benjamin Hayden at the…
June 1, 2007
PZ Myers has this to say about the YouTube video of our "Speaking Science 2.0" talk:
I tried to watch that video. I even made it to the 20 minute mark before I gave up. Please, oh please, I need some substance in order to keep me going through an hour-long lecture.
I'm going to try not to get…