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Linking human evolution and climate change

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Physorg: The 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference runs Feb. 16 to 20 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in downtown Vancouver. Collard will give a talk called Environmental drivers of technological evolution in small-scale populations during a seminar called Climate Change and Human Evolution: Problems and Prospects. Collard's talk on Fri., Feb. 17 will kick off the seminar. Collard will argue, "we need to better understand the ways that climate and related environmental...

United Kingdom: Fears of severe drought recall the summer of 1976

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Guardian: For readers of a certain age, 1976 will bring back memories of Fernando by Abba being played on transistor radios, Manchester United being humbled by lowly Southampton in the FA Cup final, inflation raging over 20%, and a blistering summer heatwave that dried up reservoirs and rivers for the first time in living memory. With much of the country baked by temperatures of around 32C and not a drop of rain in sight, the Labour government led by Jim Callaghan began to panic, so much so that it considered...

Michael Mann: 'I've been subjected to a crescendo of attacks' – video

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Guardian: The scientist on being at the centre of 'climate wars' and becoming 'battle-hardened' by the daily attacks he and other scientists have received after the publication of his book The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars

EU edges towards carbon price support measures

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Business Green: EU politicians have reportedly agreed a compromise text that could see the bloc withhold carbon permits from auction in order to boost low prices. The text, which will be put forward for a vote later this month, does not specify how many permits will be held back from the next phase of the emissions trading scheme (ETS). But it does raise the prospect of the EU intervening in the market in order to tackle the mounting surplus, which many traders and businesses blame for prices dropping to record...

Scientist Michael Mann on life in the 'climate war' trenches

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Guardian: It is almost possible to dismiss Michael Mann's account of a vast conspiracy by the fossil fuel industry to harrass scientists and befuddle the public. His story of that campaign, and his own journey from naive computer geek to battle-hardened climate ninja, seems overwrought, maybe even paranoid. But now comes the unauthorised release of documents showing how a libertarian thinktank, the Heartland Institute, which has in the past been supported by Exxon, spent millions on lavish conferences attacking...

Climate change conversions are not all they might seem

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Telegraph: There's more joy, it seems, in the climate debate about one perceived sinner who repents than over 99 who are not thought to need to do so. So both sides are quick to exult in what they see as conversions. Two such are being paraded at the moment. Those warning against the dangers of climate change are delighted that they have been joined by the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, the country that (for obvious reasons) has done most over the years to try to obstruct international agreement on measures...

Heartland Institute leak shows climate change skeptics are playing the public

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Star-Ledger: An iceberg is seen in Disko Bay, Greenland above the arctic circle in this 2005 file photo. Scientists meeting in the area said global warming has an increasing effect on the Arctic region with glaciers shrinking, temperatures of the arctic waters warming, and permafrost softening and that nations must take action against global warming. The nation`s leading skeptics of climate change science were dealt a blow this week when hundreds of private internal documents - detailing donors, spending and...

Canada: VIDEO: Cameras used for sea lion survey

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BBC: Researchers have for the first time trained sea lions to take part in a scientific experiment to discover why their species is dying out. Scientists in Vancouver, Canada, strapped cameras and tracking equipment on to the creatures to see how they dive for food underwater. Professor Andrew Trites from the University of British Columbia explained the experiment.

UK to ink nuclear cooperation deal with France

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Business Green: David Cameron will today sign a landmark deal to strengthen nuclear power cooperation with France that could provide a major boost to the UK's proposed fleet of new reactors. The government claimed the agreement will lead to a raft of commercial deals, worth more than £500m, in the sector and generate 1,500 UK jobs as the country looks to build eight new plants by 2025 to replace aging fossil fuel stations. But Cameron said today's joint declaration could be "just the beginning" of a total...

Computer simulation models can predict tropical cyclone formation

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SciDev.Net: Advanced computer simulation models can predict cyclone formation in the north Indian Ocean a week in advance, an international conference heard. Peter Webster, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology's school of earth and atmospheric sciences, US, told a meet on Indian Ocean tropical cyclones and climate change, which began this week (14 February) in New Delhi, that such models used multiple computer simulations. Webster's team tested a European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting...

Coal-Power in China Makes Electric Vehicles More Polluting

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Environmental News Network: China produces electricity for its burgeoning economy with its ample coal reserves. A full 80 percent comes from coal-burning power plants, and new plants are being constructed all the time. The country's reliance on coal power, while causing very dirty pollution, also has an interesting side effect. It takes away the "greenness" of electric vehicles. A new study from a team of University of Tennessee researchers has found that the power generated to fuel electric cars produces much greater emissions...

Uganda Keeps Coffee-Output Target Amid Disease, Climate Change

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Bloomberg: Uganda, Africa’s biggest coffee exporter, is maintaining its target to boost production to 4.5 million bags by 2015 even as it faces challenges from rising temperatures and coffee-wilt disease, an industry body said. The East African nation plans to begin planting seven strains of robusta-variety trees that are resistant to coffee wilt, while climate change will partly be combated by irrigation programs, said Edmund Kananura Kyerere, quality and regulatory manager at the Uganda Coffee Development...

Climate-change naysayers drowning out scientific research, expert says

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Postmedia News: The president of one of the world's biggest scientific organizations says the research community is being outgunned by naysayers. She said she is "scared to death" by trends that show declining public acceptance of global warming and the growing influence of science skeptics, who have plenty of resources to spread their misinformation. "They are actually being effective," Nina Federoff, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said Thursday when asked about reports...

David Cameron in France to sign nuclear power deal

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Press Association: Britain and France are to sign a landmark agreement to co-operate on civil nuclear energy, paving the way for the construction of a new generation of power plants in the UK. Deals between British and French companies – worth more than £500m – will allow work to start on new facilities, creating more than 1,500 jobs. The prime minister, David Cameron, who is in Paris to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to seal the deal, said the agreements were "just the beginning" of investment the...