A few things that caught my eye this past week.
In the news
US scientist sentenced to prison for fake HIV vaccine research [link]
This is a good analysis: Extremes of 2014 in review | Guest post at ClimateLabBook by @FMassonnet:[link]
Scientists struggle to understand South Asian heat waves [link]
BBC article on Science paper describing the serious outcome of different emissions scenarios for the ocean: [link]
New papers (mostly paleoclimate)
Paper finds ‘pronounced influence of solar activity on global climatic processes’ [link]
New paper explains how atmospheric pressure and density in upper atmosphere varies over solar cycles [link] …
Rapid Arctic Ocean acidification threatens creatures within ten years – study [link]
Northern Greenland warmer 1000 years ago, warmer in the 1920s too [link]
New paper finds another non-hockey-stick in China [link]
Indian monsoon rainfall has dropped since the ’50s, but climate change should increase it. What’s going on? [link]
New paper finds Arctic water temperatures were a remarkable 6C warmer during Holocene Climate Optimum ~9800 years ago [link] …
New paper finds the largest lake on Earth abruptly became a desert over only few hundred years! (Over 1000 years ago) [link]
New paper: Severe dry period in Dead Sea region related to the Homeric Grand Solar Minimum 2800 years ago [link] …
New paper: Drought in N China linked to natural ENSO & Asian Monsoon (both linked to solar activity by other papers) [link]
Aboveground carbon loss in natural and managed tropical forests from 2000 to 2012 (open access) [link]
Claim: “Some forestlands cool climate better without trees” [link] …
New paper finds increased CO2 or methane will have ‘essentially no effect’ upon global temp. or climate [link] …
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Periodically there is a meeting of Nobel Laureates. Not surprising, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this.
36 Nobel Laureates have signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change [link] I can’t find who the signatories actually are (but I suspect that ‘Nobel Laureate’ Michael Mann was not invited to this meeting]. Additional details and context are provided [here].
Of particular note in this context, Ivar Giaver gave a talk Global Warming Revisited. A pod cast is available [here], but the quality of the recording is very spotty. Some comments i spotted on twitter:
People are still debating over Giaver intervention on climate change over lunch
1st question at Steven Chu’s discussion: climate change. Then Giaever walks in. Chu v politely says he’s completely wrong.
About science
The null ritual, the tragic statistical flaw at the heart of science [link] …
The Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online [link]
Dan Kahan: Ambivalence about “messaging” [link]
U.S. – Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 [link]
The importance of meta-analysis and systematic review: How research legacy can be maximized via adequate reporting [link]
Warmist fear of debate is crippling: “activist arguments are never sharpened by encountering the opposition” [link]
Filed under: Week in review