WASHINGTON — Human evolution has been moving at breakneck speed in the past several thousand years, far from plodding along as some scientists had thought, researchers said on Monday. In fact, people today are genetically more different from people living 5,000 years ago than those humans were different from the Neanderthals who vanished 30,000 years ago, according to anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin. The genetic changes have related to numerous different human characteristics, the researchers said. Many of the recent genetic changes reflect differences in the human diet brought on by agriculture, as well as resistance to epidemic diseases that became mass killers following the growth of human civilizations, the researchers said. For example, Africans have new genes providing resistance to malaria. In Europeans, there is a gene that makes them better able to digest milk as adults. In Asians, there is a gene that makes ear wax more dry. The changes have been driven by the colossal growth in the human population — from a few million to 6.5 billion in the past 10,000 years — with people moving into new environments to which they needed to adapt, added Henry Harpending, […]
At least since 2003, and especially after hurricane Katrina hit, the White House has broadly attempted to control which climate scientists could speak with reporters, as well as editing scientists’ congressional testimony on climate science and key legal opinions, according to a new report by a House committee. ‘The Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policy makers and the public about the dangers of global warming,’ said the report, which is the result of a 16-month probe by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. ‘The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues.’ To some observers, the House investigation, which drew on 27,000 documents gathered from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the US Department of Commerce, is notable as the most comprehensive assessment so far of alleged manipulation of climate science by this White House. It includes previously unknown elements – such as a 2003 incident in which it says top presidential environment adviser James Connaughton personally helped edit the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft legal opinion that denied the agency had authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. […]
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Sacramento on Wednesday upheld a California law regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, another in a string of legal defeats for the auto industry this year. The ruling, by Judge Anthony W. Ishii of United States District Court, affirms a 2002 California law that would effectively force automakers to raise the average fuel economy of fleets by about 30 percent by 2016. A bill pending in Congress demands a 40 percent mileage increase by 2020. The auto companies challenged the California law, which 15 other states say they intend to adopt, saying that it is technically and financially impossible to meet. They also argued that regulation of vehicle mileage is the responsibility of the federal government, not the states. ‘We can all agree that higher fuel economy is important, but the issue here was about federal fuel economy law,’ said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. ‘Under federal law, only the federal government can set fuel economy standards for all 50 states.’ Mr. McCurdy noted that the industry had agreed to a pending Congressional mandate to achieve a 35-mile-per-gallon fleetwide average by 2020. Judge […]
BALI: Governments wrangled over the shape of future climate change negotiations on Thursday after the US rejected demands to consider ambitious gas emissions caps in any deal at UN talks aimed at staving off global warming. As the two-week conference entered its final days, environmental groups and US senators accused Washington of trying to scupper efforts to come up with a bold agreement on future negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. The United States is rejecting demands by the European Union and developing nations that the ‘Bali roadmap’ mention guidelines for future cuts for emissions of global warming gases by between 25 per cent and 40 per cent by 2020. Other sticking points include demands by developing countries they be given assurances of financial assistance and access to expensive technology to help them transition to cleaner economies. ‘At this critical time, we can’t afford to have the (US) administration muddying the waters and blocking reasonable targets from being established,’ said US Sen. John Kerry in a statement. ‘The United States needs instead to make it clear we are prepared to lead again.’ Delegates and observers said the tenor of the […]
He was a small black boy. About nine years of age. I was the same age give or take a year, and we had both been brought to the train station. I can no longer remember where, but somewhere in the deep south. It could have been Florida or, maybe, Georgia. Nor do I know, if I ever knew, what part of the year it was, although it was very hot, and the caged metal fans that stood sweeping the room moved air so hot it hurt to have it blow on my skin. I was with the black woman who took care of me, a doctor’s son. Her name is lost to me now, and no one living can tell it to me. He was with his grandmother. I watched him walk across the tiles of the station, as I sat in one of the worn wooden pews that lined the vaulted waiting room. There were two drinking fountains jutting from the wall. One said ‘Whites Only.’ I was a compulsive reader of signs, proud of my ability to do so. Like many signs though I am […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
