Earth ChangesS


Fish

Fearless Fish Forget Their Phobias

Imagine if your fear of spiders, heights or flying could be cured with a simple injection. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions suggests that one day this could be a reality.

The cerebellum, an area of the brain thought to be involved with the development of our fears, was studied in goldfish by researchers at the University of Hiroshima in Japan. Using classical conditioning, Masayuki Yoshida and Ruriko Hirano taught their fish to become afraid of a light flashed in their eyes. By administering a low voltage electric shock every time a light was shone, the fish were taught to associate the light with being shocked, which slowed their hearts -- the typical fish reaction to a fright.

Yoshida explains, "As you would expect, the goldfish we used in our study soon became afraid of the flash of light because, whether or not we actually gave them a shock, they had quickly learned to expect one. Fear was demonstrated by their heart beats decreasing, in a similar way to how our heart rate increases when someone gives us a fright."

Bad Guys

Uncontacted Tribes Threatened by "Thousands of Explosions"

Nahua
© SurvivalA Nahua man shortly after first contact in 1984. More than 50% of the Nahua died following contact.
A pioneer scientific study has revealed how some of the world's last uncontacted tribes are threatened by 'the detonation of thousands of seismic explosives' on their land.

The study says that seventeen large areas in the Peruvian Amazon where oil and gas companies can work include land inhabited by uncontacted Indians.

The potential impacts on the tribes and their land are 'severe and extensive', says the study. These impacts include: 'hundreds of heliports', 'the cutting of hundreds of kilometres of seismic lines', 'the detonation of thousands of seismic explosives', oil spills and leaks, new roads, and the 'unique potential of advancing the agricultural, cattle and logging frontiers', all of which could be disastrous for the tribes 'whose lack of resistance or immunity make them extremely vulnerable to illnesses brought by outsiders.'

Footprints

Flashback 35 Inconvenient Truths - The errors in Al Gore's movie

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© Unknown
A spokesman for Al Gore has issued a questionable response to the news that in October 2007 the High Court in London had identified nine "errors" in his movie An Inconvenient Truth. The judge had stated that, if the UK Government had not agreed to send to every secondary school in England a corrected guidance note making clear the mainstream scientific position on these nine "errors", he would have made a finding that the Government's distribution of the film and the first draft of the guidance note earlier in 2007 to all English secondary schools had been an unlawful contravention of an Act of Parliament prohibiting the political indoctrination of children.

Al Gore's spokesman and "environment advisor," Ms. Kalee Kreider, begins by saying that the film presented "thousands and thousands of facts." It did not: just 2,000 "facts" in 93 minutes would have been one fact every three seconds. The film contained only a few dozen points, most of which will be seen to have been substantially inaccurate. The judge concentrated only on nine points which even the UK Government, to which Gore is a climate-change advisor, had to admit did not represent mainstream scientific opinion.

Ms. Kreider then states, incorrectly, that the judge himself had never used the term "errors." In fact, the judge used the term "errors," in inverted commas, throughout his judgment.

Next, Ms. Kreider makes some unjustifiable ad hominem attacks on Mr. Stewart Dimmock, the lorry driver, school governor and father of two school-age children who was the plaintiff in the case. This memorandum, however, will eschew any ad hominem response, and will concentrate exclusively on the 35 scientific inaccuracies and exaggerations in Gore's movie.

Ms. Kreider then says, "The process of creating a 90-minute documentary from the original peer-reviewed science for an audience of moviegoers in the U.S. and around the world is complex." However, the single web-page entitled "The Science" on the movie's official website contains only two references to articles in the peer-reviewed scientific journals. There is also a reference to a document of the IPCC, but its documents are not independently peer-reviewed in the usual understanding of the term.

Bizarro Earth

Three killed in quake collapse in northern Haiti: UN

Port-au-Prince - A small earthquake struck northern Haiti, collapsing an apartment building and killing at least three people, a UN spokesman said.

Residents said the tremor struck Haiti's second-largest city of Cap-Haitien shortly after midnight yesterday, collapsing the four-story building. Some nearby structures were damaged by the collapse but no other quake effects were reported.

Bizarro Earth

Iceland volcano eruption triggers fears for glacier

A volcano that has been dormant for almost 200 years has erupted in Iceland

Authorities evacuated hundreds of people after a volcano erupted beside a glacier in southern Iceland, Iceland's civil protection agency said on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The eruption occurred beside the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth largest in Iceland. Authorities initially said the eruption was below the glacier, triggering fears that it could lead to flooding from glacier melt, but scientists conducting an aerial survey in daylight located the eruption and said it did not occur below ice.

Sherlock

Climategate - Lord Oxburgh to head new University of East Anglia inquiry

Former chair of the science and technology select committee will lead a panel to reassess the scientific papers produced by the Climatic Research Unit

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© Eamonn McCabeLord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee.
The University of East Anglia has asked Lord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee, to head a new inquiry into the results produced by the climate scientists at the centre of a media storm.

Oxburgh will lead a panel of scientists that will reassess the scientific papers produced by experts at the university's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The work of the CRU has been subject to intense scrutiny since thousands of emails from its scientists were released online in November.

Oxburgh said: "The shadow hanging over climate change and science more generally at present makes it a matter of urgency that we get on with this assessment. We will undertake this work and report as soon as possible."

The university has already set up a separate inquiry into the way the CRU scientists behaved, led by Sir Muir Russell. The new investigation will look at the results they published in scientific journals.

Comment: So this is a peer review of the way the UEA scientists did climate change peer review. It will be extraordinary if this review ends up anything other than a giant whitewash, but we can hope that the panel members value integrity over grants.


Magnify

Wind contributing to Arctic sea ice loss, study finds

New research does not question climate change is also melting ice in the Arctic, but finds wind patterns explain steep decline.

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© HO/AFP/Getty ImagesArctic sea ice as seen from NASA satellites.
Much of the record breaking loss of ice in the Arctic ocean in recent years is down to the region's swirling winds and is not a direct result of global warming, a new study reveals.

Ice blown out of the region by Arctic winds can explain around one-third of the steep downward trend in sea ice extent in the region since 1979, the scientists say.

The study does not question that global warming is also melting ice in the Arctic, but it could raise doubts about high-profile claims that the region has passed a climate "tipping point" that could see ice loss sharply accelerate in coming years.

The new findings also help to explain the massive loss of Arctic ice seen in the summers of 2007-08, which prompted suggestions that the summertime Arctic Ocean could be ice-free within a decade. About half of the variation in maximum ice loss each September is down to changes in wind patterns, the study says.

Comment: More and more evidence mounts up demonstrating the exaggerations and the lies we have been fed about global warming.


Bulb

Canada: The lowly honeybee deserves a lot more attention

Five years after the mysterious mass deaths of honeybees began, bees keep dying, yet in many ways the mystery seems as deep as ever.

Why can't we solve this, in a country with Canada's scientific resources?

Bees are important to anyone who wants food on the table. It's easy to forget this. Once, wild bees pollinated flowers and fruit trees across the continent. But the Europeans brought honeybees, and these have taken over the job.

Bizarro Earth

Australia: Severe hailstorm batters Perth

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© WAtoday
The biggest storm to hit Perth in 50 years has caused massive destruction across the city.

Within a couple of hours of the storm passing through, more than 150,000 homes were without power, residents flooded Fire and Emergency Services helplines desperate for assistance, roads were underwater and traffic in some areas was at a standstill.

Almost 100 sets of traffic lights were out and planes were stranded at both Perth airports.

The State Emergency Service has had reports of structural damage to several major hospitals and aged care facilities, and these cases were the priority.

A landslide through Kings Park down to Mounts Bay Road has buried and crushed two cars, with police unable to confirm whether there were any occupants inside. The cars were in parking bays, so police are hopeful nobody was inside.

Igloo

US: More Snow Falling In Oklahoma, Arkansas. Spring Blizzard

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© APA robin perches on plowed snow and ice Saturday, March 20, 2010, in Lawrence, Kansas
More snow was falling Sunday as part of a powerful storm blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first weekend of spring.

The National Weather Service said there was moderate to heavy snow across northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, with some places reporting 8 to 12 inches of snow. The snow and rain was expected to end later Sunday.

Authorities have attributed at least four deaths in four states to the weather. Police in Arlington, Texas, said ice on an interstate caused an accident Sunday involving five vehicles and two 18-wheelers. One of the 18-wheelers fell on another vehicle, killing one person.