Greg Laden is a biological anthropologist and science communicator. His research has covered North American prehistoric and historic archaeology and African archaeology and human ecology. He is an OpenSource and OpenAccess advocate. Greg's wife, Amanda, is a High School biology teacher, his daughter Julia is a world traveler and his son Huxley is 2.
It occurs to me that many of you may not know this because you don't live in the Twin Cities or are not Facebook Friends of the Mayor of Minneapolis, but the guy is very funny and creative and produces a lot of poetry, especially this time of year.
In Minneapolis, there is an arcane system of…
This makes total sense. Physics was unable to deliver us our flying cars or jet packs. But what were we going to do with them anyway? Well, go to the bookstore, of course! Alas, in the absence of advanced space age technology we are forced to drive, or even walk, to the bookstore.
But not any…
Somebody tipped over a bag full of a white powdery substance. Most of what fell out splayed across the dirty wooden table, but about a cup poured onto the dirt floor of the open-air Baraza at our research site in a remote part of the Congo’s Ituri Forest. Embarrassed about tipping onto the ground…
Nature editor and author Henry Gee has produced his Christmas list in which he describes his three wishes as an editor at a scientific journal; he enumerates the scientific discoveries that sit at the top of his professional "bucket list."
Henry Gee. Not a Leprechaun.
I started to write a…
Every now and then, more often than you might expect, I mention something in lecture (usually in a classroom in front of students) and a small number of individuals express incredulity that the thing exists. Pygmies are one of those terms that garners disbelief. Many people assume they are made…
LOL cat:
I apologize for the fact that this turns out to be an ad. Terminate at 1:40 to avoid that part, but it is relatively harmless, and the product being advertised does a great job at solving one of the most pressing First World Problems suffered by cat owners.
Did you know that a fox's tail is called a "brush"?
There are 12 species of fox, but 37 different dogish animals are called fox. But somewhere along the line we figured out what true fox is, and there are only 12 of them. These are member of the genus "Vulpes." Vulpes is Latin for ... wait for it…
An Update on #ClimateThanks.
Heather Libby has a nice piece on Climate Thanks here. The Denialists have started to spam the hashtag with their insipid, unoriginal drek. Tallbloke, whom I do indeed consider to be a criminal (as are the rest of them) carrying out crimes against humanity (he sued me…
Published on Nov 21, 2013
The IPCC has produced a video on its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The first part on the Working Group I contribution to AR5 is now available. The other parts will be released with the successive approvals of the other two Working Group contributions and the Synthesis…
This just in:
New Oil Change International interactive graphic shows growing fossil fuel reserves in contrast to shrinking global carbon budget
WASHINGTON, DC – New analysis by Oil Change International shows that global fossil fuel reserves continue to expand while the Intergovernmental Panel on…
Here is a letter from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication:
Dear Friends,
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication has much to be thankful for, including wonderful support from our friends and colleagues. That is why this Thanksgiving, we’re giving #ClimateThanks. Together with…
One Hiroshima, Two Hiroshimas, Three Hirosimas, Four
On August 6th, 1945, the United States military detonated what was to date the largest and most terrible bomb ever created by humanity in the city of Hiroshima Japan. Since that time, the word "Hiroshima" has come to mean awesome power. In fact,…
Catching Fire is apparently a very popular book and/or movie that everyone is very excited about. But Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human is a different a book about some interesting research I was involved in about the origin of our genus, Homo.
You can pick up a copy of our paper on this…
I'm sure that several years ago a bunch of out of work "oceanographers" like the people here got board and started faking various "fish" that only they ever saw in the wild and only they ever photographed and that lived in the "deep" ocean where nobody could verify their existence. I assume this…
“Simply assuming that this is an interesting controversy that we should check in on occasionally is not correct. The survival of human civilization is at risk. The news media should be making this existential crisis the No. 1 topic they cover.”
That was Vice President Al Gore being quoted in a New…
There is a storm (this one) moving across the southern part of the United States that forecasters predict will turn north over the Atlantic and menace the east coast somewhere between Northern New England and Washington DC or Virginia, possibly much of that area. The storm may develop, forecasters…
If you are in, going to, or coming from New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or as far south as Maryland/Virginia/DC area, on or around Thanksgiving, you better keep track of Boreas, a storm heading in that general direction that long-range forecasts suggest might be a snow-dumping…
The Harry Potter Stamp
The US Postal Service has issued stamps depicting people who are not American many times. The US Postal Service has issues stamps with people who are not real. So far, though, no wizards have been venerated in this place of honor to my knowledge. This makes me wonder why the…
Update on Haiyan/Yolanda Death Toll
The final figures are not likely in but the numbers have stabilized and we can now probably put a number to the human toll of this storm that will not change dramatically in the future, at least in terms of orders of magnitude. The current “official” death toll…
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has been ably run by Genie Scott since back in the days, well, the days when she started the damn thing up, if I recall correctly. But Genie retires at the end of this year.
Ann Reid will take over as NCSE Executive Director on January 2nd, 2014.…
Storm surges are amazing. I've never seen one happen but I've seen the aftermath. A video has surfaced of a storm surge hitting Hernani in Eastern Samar, shot from the second floor of a house that was a few hundred meters from the coast.
A storm surge is a mound of water caused by the wind of a…
I would like to propose a lottery.
Cost of ticket: $10.00
Prize: The winner's choice of an American-made electric car or hybrid car off of an approved list.
The cars would be provided at discount from them manufacturer. The manufacturer benefits from the publicity (free-ish advertising) and from…
There is an unprecidented high risk of significant tornado activity in your area TODAY and/or TONIGHT.
Check with the Storm Prediction Center at the NWS for the latest.
There will almost certainly be severe thunderstorms in the Mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and up into Michigan today and…
Added:
The depression has spun up to form a tropical storm. It will probaqbly remain a storm as it works its way up the Atlantic Ocean avoiding land (though it seems to be aimed ultimately at Greenland). The storm is named Melissa.
Details here.
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We have had a record breakingly…
TEPCO was going to start removing the fuel rods from the less-damaged reactor building Numnber 4 over the next few days. Today, it was announced that damage to the fuel rod assemblies, some or most of which predated the tsunami and earthquake, this could not be done. There is now uncertainty as to…
That nefarious leech of an organization, the Heartland Institute, the one that put up the billboards implying that people who think climate change is important are mad bombers, has done something really offensive, again. They made a fake packet of information with fake stuff about climate change…
