Can the party of Reagan accept the science of climate change?

Here is a thoughtful piece by Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican who represented New York's 24th District in Congress from 1983 to 2007. Boehlert notes: I can understand arguments over proposed policy approaches to climate change. I served in Congress for 24 years. I know these are legitimate areas for debate. What I find incomprehensible is the dogged determination by some to discredit distinguished scientists and their findings.

Worth a read for sure.

These guys put the "extreme" in "extremophile"

Whoa. Oregon state researchers have discovered a bacterial ecosystem in the Earth's deepest crust layer. And they think there may be some deeper still. Organisms, like these, that live in extreme environments once thought to be devoid of life are called "extremophiles."

Life is found in the deepest layer of the Earth's crust (New Scientist)

Image from Geological Survey of Ireland. "Imagine a Scotch egg...

Is any part of Earth untouched by humans?

Last week we discussed the idea (brought up by Wilson in Future of Life) that it could be argued that no place on Earth (at least the surface) is now truly "wilderness" or untouched by humans. In other words, it could be argued that the planet is now a human artifact and no longer natural.

This recent Economist article is reminiscent of that:

Time to call the sweep?

Soot gets everywhere. Even into the world’s highest mountains

THE Himalayas and the adjacent Tibetan plateau are sometimes referred to as the Earth’s third pole, because of the amount of ice they host. They are also known as Asia’s water tower. Their glaciers feed the continent’s largest rivers—and those, in turn, sustain some 1.5 billion people. Many studies suggest, though, that the Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking over the past few decades. This has usually been attributed to rising air temperatures, but climate researchers have now come to realise that tiny airborne particles of soot and dust are also to blame. Being dark, they absorb sunlight. And that warms their surroundings...

photo and text from Economist Article