There’s been a subtle touch of autumn in the air across North America this week, though if you live in the Southern Plains, it doesn’t feel like it. Temperatures approaching 90F will keep the flannel shirts in storage for a while longer. While the tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific has been going strong, the Atlantic has been well-behaved. Let’s hope that trend continues.
An abbreviated post this week due to several projects with looming deadlines…such is the life of a freelance writer.
For your consideration, here are this week’s links…
GENERAL SCIENCE/SCIENCE EDUCATION
Have you tested your science literacy lately? Here’s a good quiz from the Pew Research Center.
Why every college student, regardless of major, needs to take science courses.
Evaluating science stories can be a daunting task for even the most discriminating reader. Here’s the best essay on this challenging task I’ve read to date.
TECHNOLOGY
“What Americans think about NSA surveillance, national security and privacy.” Appropriately enough, American citizens are deeply concerned over blatant privacy and civil liberties violations.
CITIZEN SCIENCE
An excellent read on the value of citizen science and its participants.
ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE
Mars continues to fascinate us…and we’d only just begun to understand and explore amazing sights like these.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The importance of clean indoor air is one of the most underrated environmental science issues.
For decades, public health officials have known that outdoor air quality is linked to substantial health problems. New research renews the fact that it can kill you.
The impact of marine debris is immense as this information from NOAA explicitly shows.
The western USA states aren’t the only areas on our planet that are reeling from the effects of an ongoing drought.
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
Why do we trust the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) regarding climate change? This excellent video explains it all.
It’s only September and 2015 is already shaping up to be an even warmer year globally than 2014.
The ice melt occurring on Antarctica is taking place at an alarming rate and could effect coastal cities much sooner than previously anticipated.
How much rain would it take to put a dent in California’s ongoing drought?
Predicting tornadoes months or seasons in advance is nice in theory, but riddled with misinterpretation potential that mainstream non-science media, laypersons, storm chasers, and “mediarologist” hype-sters would have a field day with.
THE QUIXOTIC
Major League strike-out: Putting weather decisions in the hands of umpires is also a major league FUBAR just waiting to happen. Talk about the hen guarding the hen house…egads!
And that’s a wrap for this post!
Cheers!
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