2015

As 2015 comes to an end, I always love to review the top newly named species of the year. Here are the top 10 (in alphabetical order) as determined by an international taxonomist committee: LOVE the cartwheeling spider!! Source: State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).
The following is a list of posts on this blog that report new climate change research, usually but not always from the peer reviewed literature, or posts that are longer essays intended to give context to ongoing climate change research. The first few posts are from December 2014, which addresses the fact that “year end summaries” tend to be written during December, or even before, so December of any given year gets the shaft. December 2014 - How scientists unraveled the El Niño mystery December 2014 - New Research on Tree Rings as Indicators of Past Climate December 2014 - Global…
Homo naledi and the Chamber of Secrets ~ Psychology's Inner Demons ~ Chilesaurus: The One That Went Vegan ~ Neurons Alter DNA All Day, Every Day Popular science fans may recognize some of these colorful titles from the most recent publication of Discover Magazine's 100 Top Stories of 2015. We at Atheists Talk enjoy a good science-ing now and then, and this Sunday we're going to talk about some of the stories shared by Discover. It's going to be a science smorgasboard extravaganza! Join Brianne Bilyeu, August Berkshire and Maddy Love as they nerd out about the science of 2015. Listen to the…
South Carolina Floods I haven't said much about this partly because there is so much good coverage, but South Carolina's floods, still ongoing, are going to get on the list of worst weather events of 2015. Since these floods are amounting to a one in 1,000 year event, they are actually on the list of worst weather events since Vladimir the Great died, Cnut the Great invaded Enlgand (unrelated event), Eric Haakonsson outlaws berzerkers in Norway, and Olaf Haraldson declared himself King of Norway. And yes, that event was climate change enhanced in at least two ways, maybe three. With global…
That is a good question, and difficult to answer. If it turns out to be, it will be the warmest calendar year in the instrumental record, which goes back into the 19th century. Regardless of what El Nino (ENSO) does, 2015 will be a warm year. Why? Because everything is warm and getting warmer and even if 2015 is less warm than 2014, it will be warm. There is no other possibility. Even without the effects of El Nino, though, it is possible that 2015 will be warmer than 2014 because we see a lot of heat out there. If the present, relatively weak El Nino continues for a while, it will likely…
I am so excited about the Experimental Biology conference this year in Boston, MA! I have packed my bags, prepared my posters and am on my way to the airport. As usual there will be several seminars and poster sessions about various comparative physiology topics sponsored by the American Physiological Society that look really exciting. Can't wait! To learn more about the meeting, visit the American Physiological Society's website dedicated to the conference. #ExpBio