Monthly Archives: February 2010

Dave Boaz of Cato: Overwhelming number of "libertarian voters, about 70%, vote Republican"

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David Boaz, Vice-President of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Washington, DC, recently wrote an article in National Review, "Libertarian is not a Four-letter Word." The article was in response to an analysis of the ideological make-up of the electorate from famed pollsters John Zogby and Zeljka Buturovic.

Among the response, Boaz agreed that the vast majority of libertarian-minded voters identify with the Republican Party. Though, they wavered somewhat in 1992 with Ross Perot, and again in 2004, and 2006.

From NR The Corner:

yes, we’ve found that the 14-15 percent of libertarian voters we identify usually vote about 70 percent Republican. But not always. In 1992 half that libertarian Republican group jumped ship and voted for Ross Perot. In 2004 George W. Bush got only 59 percent of the libertarian vote, and in 2006 libertarians gave only about 54 percent of their votes to Republican congressional candidates.

The good news for the GOP, Boaz finds they've largely returned to the Republican fold. Continuing:

Facing a prospective Obama-Reid-Pelosi government during an economic crisis, they came back to the Republican fold in 2008.

New poll Texas race for Governor: Perry up, Medina "declines" after Truther remarks

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New Poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP), released last night:

Debra Medina is fading in the Texas Republican race for Governor, and it continues to look like the contest is headed for a runoff where Rick Perry will be a strong favorite over Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Perry leads with 40% to 31% for Hutchison and 20% for Medina. Compared to PPP's look at the race two weeks ago Perry has gained a point, Hutchison has gone up three, and Medina's standing has declined by four.

Fair or not the issue of whether Medina is a 'truther'- someone who thinks the federal government was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks- seems to be hurting her. 21% of primary voters think she subscribes to that theory while another 29% are unsure.

The poll shows 9% undecided. Unless Perry wins a 50% majority, he will head to a run-off election six weeks later with Hutchison.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

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In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Butch hatches a plan to escape a posse and avoid culpability for the duo's past crimes by joining the Army.  The plan did not work for Butch and Sundance, but a similar scheme seems to have worked for Mathew Meineke:

A man who helped arrange a drug deal that brought a large amount of cocaine into Maine is being allowed to return to the Army - and do a second combat tour in Afghanistan.

Mathew Meineke faced the prospect of five years in prison because of the drug deal in 2006. Afterward, the Colorado native cleaned up his life, enlisted in the Army, and served in Afghanistan as a forward observer for his infantry unit from July 2008 to June 2009. While in Afghanistan, he was indicted.

This month, Meineke got a rare break. Defense lawyer Tim Zerillo asked federal prosecutors to consider dropping the charges, and they agreed to do that.

“All he wants to do is to be able to serve his country,’’ Zerillo told the Portland Press Herald. “His highest and best use is not in a federal prison, it’s in Afghanistan protecting us and everyone else.’’

Butch and Sundance would be proud.

NASA talks global warming | Bad Astronomy

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The Earth is warming up. That’s a fact. Denialists will deny (and no doubt will amp up the noise in the comments below) but the truth is the Earth has warmed on average over a degree Fahrenheit in the past century or so, and the past decade, 2000 – 2009, was the warmest on record.

nasa_awarmingworld

NASA is not taking this lightly. Our space agency has a fleet of satellites in orbit which examine the Earth, taking its temperature and measuring the effects of this global rise in heat. They have a website called A Warming World, which does a really good job discussing the reality of global warming, and debunking some of the bigger claims of the denialists.

A video they put online discusses things like how changing solar input might affect the Earth, how much of this energy from the Sun is reflected, and how much is trapped. It’s done simply, elegantly, and with excellent graphics that show just how the Earth is warming up.

They’ve also put online a devastating series of images depicting what’s happening on our warming world. Here’s one of the Bering Glacier, taken by Landsat 7 in 2002:

nasa_beringglacier

In the past century, rising temperatures have caused this glacier’s terminus to retreat 12 km (7+ miles), and the ice has thinned by several hundred meters. They have many other images there as well showing what’s going on.

If I were to say what the biggest problem we have with all this, it’s that, ironically, while the warming is happening rapidly on a geological timescale, and too rapidly for us to wait much longer to take action, the changes are happening too slowly to shake people out of their complacence. I’m certainly not wishing the effects were accelerated! But it’s far too easy for political maneuvering and loud noise-making to distract people from a very real and very serious issue.

I have a lot of confidence in humans. We’re smart, and even better, we’re clever. There are solutions to global warming, and a lot of them are engineering and technology-driven — I think we can advance technology greatly while actually fighting the climate change. But we also have to change our behavior, and part of that is facing reality and accepting that this really is happening, and that we have to get off our fat cans and do something about it.

The noise machine will rattle cages and distract and sling mud and do a grave disservice to everyone. But I’ll be here to fight them along with thousands and thousands of other scientists. And you know what? I have a hope: if we must battle over this for the next hundred years, we’ll have a nice, cool world in which to do it.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center


Virtual Book Party on Thursday–Win Copies of Unscientific America | The Intersection

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unscientific-america-smallMy laziness notwithstanding, I will not be outdone by this timely post of Carl’s. Participants in this virtual book party, sponsored by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, may stand the chance to win a copy of Carl’s The Tangled Bank–but I have just confirmed that 3-5 publisher’s copies of Unscientific America will also be on offer.

Let’s quote Carl on all the event details, so I don’t have to try to write them up better than he does:

What’s a virtual book party you ask? In this case, fellow Discover blogger Chris Mooney and I will each give a 15 minute talk about our new books. From the slipper-and-pajama’d comfort of your home or office (if you wear slippers and pajamas at the office), you can listen to us speak and behold our slide presentations in real time. After we’re through, there will be time for a virtual conversation between you and us. The event (which will last about an hour) is hosted by the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Carl speaks first, then me. And my slide show won’t have the usual bells and whistles. But, sign up now, I hear they are going fast….


Center Directors No Longer Report to Scolese

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Bolden Overhauls NASA Organization, Space News

"NASA field center directors and mission directorate chiefs will report directly to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden under organizational changes Bolden announced Feb. 23 in a memo to senior agency officials. The heads of NASA's 10 regional field centers and four headquarters-based mission directorates currently report to NASA Associate Administrator Chris Scolese, the agency's third-highest-ranking official. That reporting structure was put in place by Bolden's predecessor, Mike Griffin."

NASA Chief Bolden reorganizes his space agency (includes memo excerpts with other changes), Orlando Sentinel

"Associate Administrator: The Associate Administrator will continue to be responsible for integrating the technical and programmatic elements ofthe Agency. However, Center Directors and Mission Directorate Associate Administrators will report directly to the Administrator rather than through the Associate Administrator. No other changes are being made in the Office of the Administrator."

Boston Globe, Nature, New York Times Editorial Boards Among Others Welcoming New NASA Plan

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In the three weeks since President Obama’s plan for NASA was released on February 1st, a bipartisan group including governors, former legislators, astronauts, and former NASA senior managers has endorsed the new NASA plan, which has also been endorsed by over half a dozen editorial boards:

Op-eds:
• Gov. Bill Richardson, “Commercial Spaceflight: Creating 21st Century Jobs,” Huffington Post, 2/23
• Newt Gingrich & Bob Walker, “Obama’s Brave Reboot for NASA,” Washington Times, 2/12
• James Cameron, “The Right Way Forward on Space Exploration,” Washington Post, 2/5
• Esther Dyson, “Prepare for Liftoff,” Foreign Policy, 2/8
• Buzz Aldrin, “President Obama’s JFK Moment,” Huffington Post, 2/3
• Scott Hubbard, “A Better Way to Go Where No One Has Gone Before,” San Francisco Chronicle, 2/24
• Peter Diamandis, “The Case for Private Space,” Wall Street Journal, 2/13

Editorials:
• Editorial board, Boston Globe, “While NASA Needs to Evolve, the Universe Still Beckons,” 2/15
• Editorial board, The Economist, “NASA’s New Mission: Space to Thrive,” 2/3
• Editorial board, Nature, “Divide and Conquer,” 2/11
• Editorial board, New York Times, “A New Space Program,” 2/8
• Editorial board, Philadelphia Inquirer, Worthy Enterprise,” 2/9
• Editorial board, Chicago Tribune, “President Obama Boldly Goes on A Different Course in Exploration,” 2/9
• Editorial board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “NASA’s Relaunch: Obama’s Budget Brings Change for the Better,” 2/6

Note: inclusion of an op-ed or editorial in this list does not imply an endorsement of its entire content by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

Temperature Trackers Watch Our Watery World Wax and Wane

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Satellite image of El Niño
This image depicting the current El Niño condition in the Pacific Ocean was created with data collected by the U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 satellite during a 10-day period centered on Jan. 30, 2010. Image credit: NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team
› Larger image
Climatologists have long known that human-produced greenhouse gases have been the dominant drivers of Earth's observed warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution. But other factors also affect our planet's temperature. Of these, the ocean plays a dominant role. Its effects helped nudge global temperatures slightly higher in 2009, and, according to NASA scientists, could well contribute to making 2010 the warmest year on record.

Covering 71 percent of our planet's surface, the ocean acts as a global thermostat, storing energy from the sun, keeping Earth's temperature changes moderate and keeping climate change gradual. In fact, the ocean can store as much heat in its top three meters (10 feet) as the entire atmosphere does.

"The vast amount of heat stored in the ocean regulates Earth's temperature, much as a flywheel regulates the speed of an engine," said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The ocean has a long history of capturing and giving up heat generated by both human activities and natural cycles; it is the thermal memory of the climate system."

Heat and moisture from the ocean are constantly exchanged with Earth's atmosphere in a process that drives our weather and climate. Scientists at NASA and elsewhere use a variety of direct and satellite-based measurements to study the interactions between the ocean and atmosphere.

"These interactions result in large-scale global climate effects, the largest of which is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation," explained Josh Willis, a JPL oceanographer and climate scientist. This climate pattern appears in the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every four to 12 years and has a powerful impact on the ocean and the atmosphere. It can disrupt global weather and influence hurricanes, droughts and floods. It can also raise or lower global temperatures by up to 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

The oscillation pattern is made up of linked atmospheric and oceanic components. The atmospheric component is called the Southern Oscillation, a pattern of reversing surface air pressure that see-saws between the eastern and western tropical Pacific. The ocean's response to this atmospheric shift is known as either "El Niño" or "La Niña" (Spanish for "the little boy" and "the little girl," respectively).

Where the wind blows

During El Niño, the normally strong easterly trade winds in the tropical eastern Pacific weaken, allowing warm water to shift toward the Americas and occupy the entire tropical Pacific. Heavy rains tied to this warm water move into the central and eastern Pacific. El Niño can cause drought in Indonesia and Australia and disrupt the path of the atmospheric jet streams over North and South America, changing winter climate.

Large El Niños, such as the most powerful El Niño of the past century in 1997 to 1998, tend to force Earth's average temperatures temporarily higher for up to a year or more. Large areas of the Pacific can be one to two degrees Celsius (around two to four degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, and the average temperature of the ocean surface tends to increase. The current El Niño began last October and is expected to continue into mid-2010. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York estimate that if this pattern persists, 2010 may well go down as the warmest year on record.

El Niño's cold counterpart is La Niña. During La Niña, trade winds are stronger than normal, and cold water that usually sits along the coast of South America gets pushed to the mid-equatorial region of the Pacific. La Niñas are typically associated with less moisture in the air and less rain along the coasts of the Americas, and they tend to cause average global surface temperatures to drop. The last La Niña from 2007 to 2009 helped make 2008 the coolest year of the last decade. The end of that La Niña last year and subsequent transition into an El Niño helped contribute to last year's return to near-record global temperatures.

All the ocean's a stage

Both El Niño and La Niña play out on a larger stage that operates on decade-long timescales. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or PDO for short, describes a long-term pattern of change in the Pacific Ocean that alternates between cool and warm periods about every five to 20 years. The PDO can intensify the impacts of La Niña or diminish the impacts of El Niño. In its "cool, negative phase," warm water, which causes higher-than-normal sea-surface heights (because warmer water expands and takes up more space), forms a horseshoe pattern that connects the north, west and south Pacific with cool water in the middle. In its "warm, positive phase," these warm and cool regions are reversed, and warm water forms in the middle of the horseshoe.

Such phase shifts of the PDO result in widespread changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures and have significant global climate implications. During the 1950s and 1960s, the PDO was strongly negative, or cool, and global temperatures seemed to level off. During most of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the Pacific was locked in a strong positive, or warm, PDO phase and there were many El Niños. We are currently in the early stages of a cool PDO phase that began around 2006. Cool, negative phases tend to dampen the effects of El Niños.

Willis said the PDO, El Niño and La Niña can strongly affect global warming due to increased greenhouse gases. "These natural climate phenomena can sometimes hide global warming caused by human activities, or they can have the opposite effect of accentuating it," he explained.

Wild ride

"These natural signals -- El Niños, La Niñas and PDOs -- can modulate the global record for a decade or two, giving us a wild ride with major climate and societal impacts," said Patzert. "They can have a powerful short-term influence on global temperatures in any particular year or decade. This can make it appear as if global warming has leveled off or become global cooling. But when you look at the long-term trend over the past 130 years, our world is definitely getting warmer. And that's the human-produced greenhouse gas signal."

Patzert said the recent climate record is like making a drive from the coast to the mountains. "As you rise slowly to higher and higher elevations, occasionally you hit a major speed bump, such as the 1997 to 1998 El Niño, and temperatures spike; or you hit potholes, such as cooler phases of the PDO, and temperatures dip," he said. "In the end, though, we still tend toward the top of the mountain, and the trend upwards is clear. We are driving ourselves into a warmer world."


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Engineer Chris Randall Honored With ‘Trailblazer’ Award for Mentoring Students in Fields Crucial to NASA Missions

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Marshall Space Flight Center aerospace engineer Chris Randall was honored Feb. 18 for his career achievements, including mentoring minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- fields crucial to NASA missions.

Randall, a Chicago native, received the "Trailblazer" award at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards ceremony in Baltimore.

Randall supports the design and development of various propulsion system components for launch vehicles. In addition to his engineering duties, he works with the Marshall Center's Office of Academic Affairs as a mentor and recruiting assistant. A graduate of Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, he helps students there with senior engineering design projects, and emphasizes the importance of technology-driven careers.

"I think it's important to spread the word to young minority students interested in technical fields of study that there are so many terrific opportunities -- including what we do here at Marshall," Randall said. "Students need positive role models who will help them get exposure to and learn about careers in science, technology, engineering and math."

Randall also is a participant in the NASA leadership development program called NASA’s Foundations of Influence, Relationships, Success and Teamwork program, or "FIRST."

He became a co-op at the Marshall Center in 2005, and joined the center full-time after he graduated from college in 2006. Randall has worked on life support systems for the International Space Station, component design and development for the Ares I rocket and supported the space shuttle program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

He was nominated for the "Trailblazer" award by his supervisor, Kevin Ward.

"Chris has demonstrated extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm in efforts to motivate, encourage and inspire students to pursue technical careers," Ward said. "He has done this while serving as an excellent employee in the challenging field of aerospace engineering. Chris truly is a trailblazer -- creating paths for others."

The Black Engineer of the Year Awards are presented annually during the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Global Competitiveness Conference. Since 1986, the conference has recognized the outstanding achievements of black professionals in companies across America.

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Cassini Finds Plethora of Plumes, Hotspots at Enceladus

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Pockets of heat on Enceladus
In this unique mosaic image combining high-resolution data from the imaging science subsystem and composite infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft, pockets of heat appear along one of the mysterious fractures in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. › Full image and caption
› See related images

Newly released images from last November's swoop over Saturn's icy moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal a forest of new jets spraying from prominent fractures crossing the south polar region and yield the most detailed temperature map to date of one fracture.

The new images from the imaging science subsystem and the composite infrared spectrometer teams also include the best 3-D image ever obtained of a "tiger stripe," a fissure that sprays icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds. There are also views of regions not well-mapped previously on Enceladus, including a southern area with crudely circular tectonic patterns.

The images and additional information are online at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

"Enceladus continues to astound," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "With each Cassini flyby, we learn more about its extreme activity and what makes this strange moon tick."

For Cassini's visible-light cameras, the Nov. 21, 2009 flyby provided the last look at Enceladus' south polar surface before that region of the moon goes into 15 years of darkness, and includes the most detailed look yet at the jets.

Scientists planned to use this flyby to look for new or smaller jets not visible in previous images. In one mosaic, scientists count more than 30 individual geysers, including more than 20 that had not been seen before. At least one jet spouting prominently in previous images now appears less powerful.

"This last flyby confirms what we suspected," said Carolyn Porco, imaging team lead based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "The vigor of individual jets can vary with time, and many jets, large and small, erupt all along the tiger stripes."

A new map that combines heat data with visible-light images shows a 40-kilometer (25-mile) segment of the longest tiger stripe, known as Baghdad Sulcus. The map illustrates the correlation, at the highest resolution yet seen, between the geologically youthful surface fractures and the anomalously warm temperatures that have been recorded in the south polar region. The broad swaths of heat previously detected by the infrared spectrometer appear to be confined to a narrow, intense region no more than a kilometer (half a mile) wide along the fracture.

In these measurements, peak temperatures along Baghdad Sulcus exceed 180 Kelvin (minus 135 degrees Fahrenheit), and may be higher than 200 Kelvin (minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit). These warm temperatures probably result from heating of the fracture flanks by the warm, upwelling water vapor that propels the ice-particle jets seen by Cassini's cameras. Cassini scientists will be testing this idea by investigating how well the hot spots correspond with the jet sources.

"The fractures are chilly by Earth standards, but they're a cozy oasis compared to the numbing 50 Kelvin (-370 Fahrenheit) of their surroundings," said John Spencer, a composite infrared spectrometer team member based at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "The huge amount of heat pouring out of the tiger stripe fractures may be enough to melt the ice underground. Results like this make Enceladus one of the most exciting places we've found in the solar system."

Some of Cassini's scientists infer that the warmer the temperatures are at the surface, the greater the likelihood that jets erupt from liquid. "And if true, this makes Enceladus' organic-rich, liquid sub-surface environment the most accessible extraterrestrial watery zone known in the solar system," Porco said.

The Nov. 21 flyby was the eighth targeted encounter with Enceladus. It took the spacecraft to within about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) of the moon's surface, at around 82 degrees south latitude.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., where the instrument was built.

More details are also available at the imaging team's website http://ciclops.org and the composite infrared spectrometer team's website http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov.

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NASA Unveils New Space-Weather Science Tool

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When NASA’s satellite operators need accurate, real-time space-weather information, they turn to the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The CCMC’s newest and most advanced space-weather science tool is the Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) system.

The iSWA is a robust, integrated system provides information about space weather conditions past, present, and future and, unlike many other programs currently in use, has an interface that the user can customize to suit a unique set of data requirements.

"The iSWA space-weather data analysis system offers a unique level of customization and flexibility to maintain, modify, and add new tools and data products as they become available," says Marlo Maddox, iSWA system chief developer at NASA Goddard.

iSWA draws together information about conditions from the sun to the boundary of the sun’s influence, known as the heliosphere. The iSWA systems digests information from spacecraft including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), the joint European Space Agency and NASA mission Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).

Citizen scientists and science enthusiasts can also use the data, models, and tools of the iSWA system. Similar to the way in which armchair astronomers have used SOHO data to discover comets, enthusiasts will find the iSWA system a wonderful resource for increasing their familiarity with the concept of space weather.

“We are continuously evolving the iSWA system, and we hope that it will benefit not only NASA satellite operators, but also that it may also help space-weather forecasting at other agencies such as the Air Force Weather Agency and NOAA," says Michael Hesse, chief of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA Goddard.

Space-weather information tends to be scattered over various Web sites. NASA Goddard space physicist Antti Pulkkinen says the iSWA system represents “the most comprehensive single interface for general space-weather-related information,” providing data on past and current space-weather events. The system allows the user to configure or design custom displays of the information.

The system compiles data about conditions on the sun, in Earth's magnetosphere—the protective magnetic field that envelops our planet—and down to Earth's surface. It provides a user interface to provide NASA's satellite operators and with a real-time view of space weather. In addition to NASA, the iSWA system is used by the Air Force Weather agency.

Access to space-weather information that combines data from state-of-the-art space-weather models with concurrent observations of the space environment provides a powerful tool for users to obtain a personalized “quick look” at space-weather information, detailed insight into space-weather conditions, as well as tools for historical analysis of the space-weather’s impact.

Development of the iSWA system has been a joint activity between the Office of the Chief Engineer at NASA Headquarters and the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate and the Science and Exploration Directorate at NASA Goddard. The iSWA system is located at NASA Goddard.

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center is funded by the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and the National Science Foundation.

Related Link:

> iSWA space-weather forecasting tool web site
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Preparing for the Next Mission

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At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, work platforms are moved into position around space shuttle Endeavour in Orbiter Processing Facility-2, following its touchdown at the completion of the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 21.

Processing now begins for Endeavour's next flight, STS-134. The six-member STS-134 crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 3 and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station, as well as a variety of spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields. STS-134 will be the 35th shuttle mission to the station and the 133rd flight in the shuttle program. Launch is targeted for July 29.

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New Climate Change Concerns are Real

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Worry — who,  us?  Americans seem immune to action on issues of real concern, like climate change.  It seems like some people are more prone to believe the false things they hear (especially things about Obama and the scary things he might do) just because it’s almost more fun to worry about them.  It makes more sense to be concerned about things that are real and truly threaten us.  Maybe  the lack of concern about climate change (and the ongoing debate about it) is because people think claims about global warming are coming from the government — a government they don’t trust. But that’s not the case.  Climate change warnings are not coming from governments, they are coming from scientists, and that’s why we need to pay attention. Below are three stories (out of many) that we need to pay close attention to.

The first story of concern is new today, and about melting in the Antarctic peninsula.

Climate change melting southern Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has found that every ice front in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula—the coldest part—has been retreating overall for the past sixty years with the greatest changes visible since 1990.

“This research is part of a larger ongoing USGS project that is for the first time studying the entire Antarctic coastline in detail, and this is important because the Antarctic ice sheet contains 91 percent of Earth’s glacier ice,” said USGS scientist Jane Ferrigno. “The loss of ice shelves is evidence of the effects of global warming. We need to be alert and continually understand and observe how our climate system is changing.”

The melting of ice shelves won’t directly lead to sea level rise, since ice shelves already rest in the ocean. However, the loss of the shelves will allow melt from the terrestrial Antarctic ice sheet to reach the ocean and eventually raise sea levels threatening islands, low-lying areas, and coastal communities and cities. If all the land-based ice in Antarctica melted, researchers estimate that sea-levels would rise by over 213-240 feet (60-73 meters).

That’s a bit serious, to say the least!  See the graphic here to see where this peninsula is.

Evidence of climate change is all around us.  The second story of concern is about runaway climate change and how methane is contributing to it.  How much time do we have left before it’s too late to stop the methane leakage?  No one knows for sure, but the signs are not good as the permafrost melting is continuing and there are measurable increases in atmospheric methane.   Scientists say that methane is leaking to the point where we might see runaway methane, leading to runaway climate change sooner than previously thought.

Methane in the atmosphere: The recent rise

Many climate scientists think that frozen Arctic tundra. . .  is a ticking time bomb in terms of global warming, because it holds vast amounts of methane, an immensely potent greenhouse gas. Over [...]

Amazing Power — Bloom Energy and the Bloom Box

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Bloom Energy CEO, K.R. Sridhar

Last night 60 Minutes aired a story that was very exciting in its promise for clean energy.  It was  a story about the Bloom Box, an amazing energy source produced by Bloom Energy. The Bloom Box sounds like one of those magic perpetual motion machines you hear about, that are going to be a great provider of endless energy in the future — except this is real.  It’s a stand-alone plug-in power plant that is powerful enough to power businesses and homes, not just a single light bulb.

It’s possible that these fuel cell boxes could change energy usage all around the world.   Theoretically they would emit no CO2 unless they are powered in part by natural gas, which for some reason they need in some installations.  (They greatly increase the energy output from the amount of natural gas used.)   If  these boxes work as advertised, they could be the power plant of the future, — personal power plants that everyone has in their neighborhood, if not their homes.   The might replace the electrical grid and completely change the way energy is disseminated to regular people.  Imagine generating all the electricity you need from a box in your backyard.

Here is one of the videos from 60 Minutes.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Bloom Box is a set of fuel cells that run on oxygen. It was first developed for NASA, for a project to provide power and breathable air on Mars. When the Mars missions were scrapped, at least for now, the developer and CEO, K.R. Sridhar is taking the idea to the public and American business.

The Bloom Box is already being used by Google, eBay, and other large companies in California as a test power source.  It works, according to them.   (More videos  from 60 Minutes are here.) Since that story ran, the Wall Street Journal, always skeptical, has weighed in, along with other skeptics.

Besides the excitement of the technology, this could be just the thing that we need to replace fossil fuels, when used in conjunction with solar, geotheormal and wind power.  This could put renewable energy over the top into providing baseload power sooner, instead of later.  Here is why this is so important.  The AAAS  recently reported:

Governments ‘misjudging’ scale of CO2 emissions
21-Feb-2010 — Policymakers are markedly underestimating the changes needed to mitigate CO2 emission required to prevent dangerous climate change because they work in “silos.” Dr. Sebastian Carney, from the University of Manchester, discovered that the lack of communication between government departments, NGOs and other authorities has resulted in significant differences over who is responsible for what. He will describe his work at the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting.

Read more here.

Tomorrow, Bloom Energy makes its big public announcement.

[on Wednesday] . . . the company is scheduled to host “a special event” in Silicon Valley featuring presentations by luminaries including John Doerr, partner in the venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the key financial backer of [...]

Want to See Hot Tub Time Machine For Free Before It’s Released? [Movies]

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Would you like to see Hot Tub Time Machine for free, days before normal rubes can see it in theaters? If you're in NYC, you're in luck! We've got a fistful of tickets to a screening for our lovely readers.

The screening takes place next Tuesday the 2nd of March at 7:30pm. It's at the Times Square Regal E Walk at 247 W42nd St. We have 44 seats to give away, so we're offering 2 tickets each to the first 22 people who email contests@gizmodo.com with "I like free movies and I also like Gizmodo!" in the headline. Include your name in the body of the email. We will email you back if you get in fast enough. When you get to the theater, you'll be on the list with a +1 for a friend. Don't email us if there's a chance you can't make it. That would be a pretty dick move.

Cool? Cool. Get e-mailin'!


When It’s Okay to Pay For an App [Profdealzmodo]

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There are over 130,000 apps in the App Store. About 100,000 of those expect you to pay cash money for a download. Sometimes it's worth it! Often, it's not. Prof. Dealzmodo's here to help you tell the difference.

Oscar Wilde was right about cynics: they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. On your next trip to the App Store, don't be cynical. Be smart—even if it means spending a little money.

The App Store Effect Is Real. Use It.

Last fall, John pondered the App Store Effect, which holds that Apple's model results in price deflation so severe that it's unsustainable... in the long term. In the short term, though, it's your ticket to apps that cost far less than their analog (or web-only) counterparts. And sometimes, they'll include even more functionality.

Examples? Certainly! Here's a range of apps, from professional to gaming to reference to navigation, that'll save you anywhere from a few bucks to a few thousand:

It's probably most helpful to think of these in terms of the broad categories where you're most likely to find a cheaper app alternative.

Hobbyist: If it's an activity that at least a few thousand people enjoy, there's likely an app catering to it. GuitarToolkit's a perfect—if extreme—example. For $10, you get a library of over 500,000 chords, a chromatic tuner, and a metronome. Purchasing all those items individually gets expensive and, more importantly, bulky. An app? A fifth (or less) of the cost, all stored in your phone. Frequent traveler? Download HearPlanet's collection of over 250,000 audio guides instead of shelling out around $8 for one at each location. If you have a common passion, someone's developing for it.

Professional: BarMax costs as much as an App Store product is allowed to, but the law exam prep app is still $2,000 less than an in-classroom service like BarBri. In fact, shortly after BarMax was released, BarBri retooled its pricing structure to be more competitive. It wasn't a coincidence. And other professionals—including pilots and nurses—have a bevy of targeted apps to choose from as well.

Cannibalistic: Companies are so eager to be represented in the App Store that they'll undercut themselves to be players there. An online subscription to Zagat.com costs $25 per year. The Zagat to Go app costs just $10, and includes location services and an offline mode that the Zagat website doesn't. You can play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for $30 on the PSP, but it's only $10 on your iPhone. And Major League Baseball's MLB.com at Bat app lets you stream games for $1 a pop, while MLB.TV charges $99 for a yearly subscription. Sure, if you watch a hundred or more baseball games a year on your iPod Touch's tiny screen you'll want to go with the latter, but the pay as you go option is ideal for the casual fan with a vested interest in his eyesight.

Remember: with so many developers targeting the App Store, it's more than likely that there really is an app for that. But wait... what if there are several apps for that? How do you choose the right one?

App Overlap

Because the App Store is such a big ecosystem, it's inevitable that there are redundant applications. Some categories see more overlap than others, but in general it's common to find multiple apps that do the same thing. So where does the cost difference come from?

Functionality: The most basic—and most obvious—reason for an app to be more expensive is that it can flat-out do more. A casual Twitter user might be happy using Echofon for free, but if you need support for multiple accounts and the cleanest UI around, you're going to be happy coughing up three bucks for Tweetie 2. Make sure to read up on the full feature set of what you're buying. If you're about to pay for something with more firepower than you need, there's likely a free (or cheaper) version that'll suit your purposes. The paid app will still be there if you decide you need more functionality down the road.

Ad Support: Often, and particularly with casual games, the only difference between the free and paid versions of an app is whether you'll be saddled with advertisements as you use it. It really depends on your threshold: is it worth three dollars to play Words With Friends unfettered, or are you willing to endure the between-turn sales pitches that accompany Words With Friends Free? Each app integrates ads differently, so it's worth trying out the free version first. Too many banners cluttering your screen? You're only a click away from an upgrade.

Ripoffs: It might be helpful to think of the App Store as a giant, unruly bazaar, with thousands of vendors peddling their wares. There's some oversight when things get out of hand, but even the $999 "I Am Rich" app was downloaded eight times before it got shut down. Like in any sales environment, it's important to remember that what something costs usually has very little to do with what it's worth. Don't just go by the star system; read through the reviews to make sure that the app lives up to the developer's description.

Easier Said Than Done?

There's no question that a little research should go into whatever app you buy—starting with our Essential iPhone Apps Directory. Beyond that, here are a few common App Store categories with stand-out expensive, cheap, and free apps, along with our recommendations of when it's worth it to pay up:

Cooking

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: 20 Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver ($8)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: Martha's Everyday Food ($1)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Epicurious
Verdict: Download
Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart are powerful brands, but that's pretty much all you're paying for. Epicurious has thousands of recipes—including from famous chefs featured in Gourmet and Bon Appetit—a shopping list feature, and will suggest meals based on the ingredients you have handy. It's really the only cooking app you'll ever need.

File Storage

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: Air Sharing Pro ($10)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: Air Sharing ($3)
Verdict: Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Dropbox
Verdict: It Depends
While Air Sharing Pro includes printing and emailing, the regular version should get the job done for most people: you can transfer your files to your iPhone's flash memory via Wi-Fi for storage and transport. The trouble with the "free" option, Dropbox, is that it's not a standalone app. However, when you link it to your Dropbox account you can share and sync up to 2GB of files for free. It's good if you already have an account, but if you don't, you probably should skip it.

Messaging

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: BeejiveIM ($10)
Verdict: Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: AIM ($3)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Meebo
Verdict: Download
It might sound crazy to pay ten dollars for a messaging app, and for a lot of people it would be. But if messaging is your primary mode of communication, BeejiveIM's multi-account management, intuitive interface, and seamless push implementation are well worth it. For more casual IMers, it's hard to beat Meebo's multiprotocol support and push notifications. They even log your conversations on their servers. Another solid free option is Fring, which includes Skype support. What you don't want is to pay $3 for a messaging app like AIM, which only supports services on the AIM network and Facebook and is missing some features—like blocking contacts—found on the desktop version.

Navigation

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: Navigon MobileNavigator ($90)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: MotionX GPS Drive ($1)
Verdict: Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Waze
Verdict: Don't Download
Just to be clear: Navigon makes one of the best navigation apps out there. But MotionX GPS Drive is a very good navigation app at a tiny fraction of the cost. So before you spend $90 on a top-flight turn-by-turn system, spend a few weeks figuring out if MotionX is good enough for your purposes. Chances are it is. And if it's not? It was worth a dollar to find out. As for Waze, anyone who's ever dealt with a backseat driver should appreciate just how unreliable—and aggravating—crowdsourced navigation can be.

Personal Finance

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: PocketMoney ($5)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: MoneyBook ($3)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Mint.com
Verdict: Download
The first rule of money management: don't pay for something you can get for free. Apps like PocketMoney and MoneyBook aren't bad at what they do, they're just look a bit hypocritical with Mint.com Personal Finance around. Mint automatically syncs to your online accounts to help you keep track your budget and investments. It's the best personal finance app out there, and not just because it's free.

RSS Reader

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: NewsRack ($5)
Verdict: Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: Reeder ($3)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: NetNewsWire
Verdict: Download
You can get by with a free RSS reader, and NetNewsWire's a great option that syncs with Google Reader. Like the majority of free options, though, it can be a bit sluggish and prone to crashing, especially if you're loaded up on feeds. Among the paid apps, NewsRack (formerly Newsstand) shines for its reliability and speed. In-between options like Reeder? Well, if the developer's best troubleshooting suggestion is to limit the number of items you have to sync, you're not getting what you paid for.

Twitter

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppExpensive: Twitterrific ($5)
Verdict: Don't Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppCheaper: Tweetie 2 ($3)
Verdict: Download

When It's Okay to Pay For an AppFree: Echofon
Verdict: Download
Tweetie 2 is our favorite Twitter app : it's fast, intuitive, and loaded with features. I can understand if you'd rather not pay to use Twitter on your phone, and Echofon's a more than capable free alternative. But only a twit would pay $5 for Twitterrific when the class of the field is just $3.

The Value and the Cost

Remember that the App Effect is working for you, at least for now, and that we're in an age of unprecedented deals on app content and services. Try not even looking at the price at first. Start with the feature set, see what's comparable. If it's free? Great! But even if it's $10 or $20, it still might be a steal.

We've gotten to a point where it feels almost perverse to pay for an app. But think of it in a larger context: you're buying software. On your desktop, that used to—and often still does—command exorbitant sums. Even on mobile platforms, Windows Mobile and Blackberry apps used to cost 10 or 20 times the average App Store paid download. Comparatively, App store downloads are peanuts.

And remember, too, that by paying for apps that are actually worth the money, you end up supporting the developers that are delivering innovative content and services. That means a better app experience down the road for all of us. Even the cynics.