Stephan: Thanks to Kevin Kelley.
When it comes to climate change, some look at the facts presented and see a coming catastrophe, others see a hoax. This difference in interpretation, social scientists say, has more to do with each individual’s existing outlook than the facts.
Over the past few months, polls show that fewer Americans say they believe humans are making the planet dangerously warmer, despite a raft of scientific reports that say otherwise.
This puzzles many climate scientists – but not some social scientists, whose research suggests that facts may not be as important as one’s beliefs.
Take, for example, a recent debate about climate change on West Virginia public radio.
Coal company CEO Don Blankenship and environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr. debate
‘It’s a hoax,’ said coal company CEO Don Blankenship, ‘because clearly anyone that says that they know what the temperature of the Earth is going to be in 2020 or 2030 needs to be put in an asylum because they don’t.’
On the other side of the debate was environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr.
‘Ninety-eight percent of the research climatologists in the world say that global warming is real, that its impacts are going to be catastrophic,’ he argued. ‘There are 2 percent who disagree with that. I have a […]
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PAUL RINCON, Science Reporter - BBC News (U.K.)
Stephan: This research has been published in the latest DZero study on the pre-print server arXiv.org; the results were reported by Symmetry magazine.
There may be multiple versions of the elusive ‘God particle’ – or Higgs boson – according to a new study.
Finding the Higgs is the primary aim of the 6bn pounds ($10bn) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment near Geneva.
But recent results from the LHC’s US rival suggest physicists could be hunting five particles, not one.
The data may point to new laws of physics beyond the current accepted theory – known as the Standard Model.
The Higgs boson’s nickname comes from its importance to the Standard Model; it is the sub-atomic particle which explains why all other particles have mass.
However, despite decades trying, no one, so far, has detected it.
The idea of multiple Higgs bosons is supported by results gathered by the DZero experiment at the Tevatron particle accelerator, operated by Fermilab in Illinois, US.
Continue reading the main story
The Standard Model fits just about every test we’ve thrown at it. To fit in a new effect in one particular place is not easy
Dr Adam MartinFermilab
DZero is designed to shed light on why the world around us is composed of normal matter and not its shadowy opposite: anti-matter.
Researchers working on the experiment observed collisions of protons and anti-protons in […]
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MARIA CHENG, - The Associated Press
Stephan: If you take blood pressure medications as I do take this to you physician and ask questions, I plan to.
LONDON — Some of the world’s most popular blood pressure pills may slightly increase your risk of getting cancer, but doctors say it’s too soon to ditch the drugs, according to new research.
In an analysis of five previous studies following about 60,000 patients, experts found a link between people taking medicines known as angiotensin-receptor blockers, or ARBs, and cancer. The drugs are taken by millions of people worldwide for conditions like high blood pressure, heart problems and diabetic kidney disease.
In the analysis, researchers found that people who took the drugs had about a 1 percent higher risk of getting cancer than people who weren’t on the drugs. This included a whole range of cancers - prostate, breast and a noticable spike in lung cancer.
About 85 percent of those people were on telmisartan, sold as Micardis, made by Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. There was no difference in the rate of cancer deaths in people on the drugs compared to those not on them.
The study was published Monday in the medical journal, Lancet Oncology. No funding was provided for the study, but Dr. Ilke Sipahi, the study’s lead author, has received past payments from drug makers Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca PLC and Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals […]
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JAMES RISEN, - The New York Times
Stephan: Will Afghanistan become another corrupt Islamic country with violently conservative fundamentalists purveying something the rest of the world needs, and an elite who make themselves obscenely rich in the process? Wouldn't that be the final evil irony of this war.
Thanks to Anya Kucharev.
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits – including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium – are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium,’ a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberrys.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of […]
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Stephan:
Here’s a bright idea for the planet. A Hong Kong-based company has introduced what it bills as the world’s only solar-powered light bulb with the hope of reaching millions of people with little or no access to electricity.
The Nokero N100 solar LED light bulb is meant to replace kerosene lamps as a lighting source in the developing world. The company says 1.6 billion people still lack sufficient access to electricity, and many burn fossil fuels for light, which can be dangerous and expensive.
The N100 solar bulb is about the size of a standard incandescent bulb and has four small solar panels in its rainproof plastic housing. Five LEDs and a replaceable NiMH battery inside provide up to four hours of light when the device is fully charged. People hang it outside during the day and then turn it on at night.
Weather, seasons, and latitude can affect charging times. Nokero asserts that one day of charging in the sun can provide about two hours of light, though charging near the equator can provide more. So on a cloudy winter day in northern latitudes, the bulb would probably not be able to replace a kerosene lamp, but on a clear summer day […]
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