science

Milestone achieved – Now we put the Paris Agreement into effect

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Back in December 2015 as many as 174 nations signed what is now known as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but that is simply ink on paper and is quite frankly meaningless in that it did not commit anybody to do anything. The far more important aspect is that it marked a beginning of a … Read more

2016 Nobel Prize – Chemistry – Tiny Machines win

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And so today it is on to the third of the big three Nobel Prizes. The announcement of a Nobel award is always a surprise. If you ever hear about a claim that somebody was once nominated for a Nobel prize but did not actually win, then unless it was a nomination that is fifty … Read more

2016 Nobel Prize – Physiology or Medicine

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Starting today, with the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the 2016 award announcements have commenced. Each day this week they announce a different one and so the schedule is as follows … Mon 2nd Oct – Physiology or Medicine Tues 3rd Oct – Physics Wed 4th Oct – Chemistry Thur 5th Oct – Normally this is … Read more

World Passes 400 PPM Threshold permanently

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September 2016 now marks the point at which the carbon dioxide levels failed to drop below the 400 parts per million (ppm) measurement for the first time ever. The Mauna Loa Observatory has been the official recorder of the the levels of carbon dioxide because they are located far out in the Pacific on Hawaii far from the … Read more

What Does Climate History reveal about our future?

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A new and quite impressive paper has been published in Nature that lays out about two million years of climate history. What has happened in the past is a rather obviously valuable tool because it also enables us to understand the future we face. Prior to this specific paper only small windows of specific periods … Read more