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Comment Re:Denial. (Score 1) 877

That graph shows a general trend for warming since 1979, the last dip in the graph can hardly be treated as heading into a cooling phase as it has only been sustained for a very short period of time. It is hard to draw meaningful conclusions from anything less than a decadal timescale, especially considering that the sun's output varies on an approximately 11 year cycle (Solar Variation).

Comment Re:Denial. (Score 1) 877

Just a quick one as I'm drunk and tired; but our most accurate climate models so far (as quantified by starting them in approx 1870, running them to the present, and comparing results with reality) show that in the absence of anthropogenic forcing (i.e. CO2, aerosol and methane input by humans), we should have in fact experienced cooling over the last decade or so. The fact that we have experienced warming is then even worse than it initially appears.

Also, I am sick of people trotting out 'correlation does not imply causation' argument all the time. Yes, it is true, but in this case there is a clear and proven causal link: increased greenhouse gas emissions enhances the greenhouse gas effect which leads to more radiative energy being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere.

Comment Some clarifications (Score 4, Informative) 1055

As someone working in this field, I would just like to make some clarifications. The term 'Climate Change' is better viewed as two separate questions: is climate change occurring, and if so, is it due to human influence? The first question is effectively settled; temperatures are increasing and extreme weather events are occurring more frequently. The second question is more complex, although the vast scientific consensus is that it is indeed due to human influence. In particular, the greenhouse effect has been conclusively proven. The slightly-informed seem to misinterpret scientific uncertainty (a very specific term referring to statistical probabilities) with a much more general 'scientists aren't sure if this is true or not'.

It is true that there is a long way to go in climate science. However, this is no reason not to teach it in schools. There are many unknowns in the science (as with any field of science); these should not be understated, but neither should they be overstated - it would not be helpful for teachers to spread yet more excessive doubt. Finally, it is of particular importance that climate science is taught in school - the consequences of climate change are likely to be extremely grave for mankind and will impact the next generation much more than this one.

Software

Submission + - Watching cities in 4D 1

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Computer scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Microsoft Research have developed 4D Cities, a software that shows the evolution of a city over time. New Scientist writes that you can see a city change in four dimensions. So far, the team has only modeled Downtown Atlanta by scanning historical photos. The software automatically sorts these snapshots into date order and then builds an animated 3D model that shows changes. This application will be useful for architects, historians or town planners. Now the researchers want to develop models for other cities. Read more for additional references and a 4D map of Downtown Atlanta."
Math

Submission + - Faster integer multiplication

origins writes: On the STOC 2007,thesis about faster integer multiplication was submitted. According to the thesis,multiplication can be calculated faster than ever. Schönhage&Strassen algorithm was known as fastest(O(n log n log log n)) but now Martin Fürer algorithm was((n log n 2^O(log* n)). improvement of multiplication algorithm after decades is quite interesting.
Martin Fürer's homepage
The thesis
GNOME

Submission + - Registration for GUADEC 2007 is open

balor writes: Registration for the GNOME Users and Developers Conference (GUADEC) is here. In its 8th consecutive year; GUADEC 2007 is being held at the UCE Birmingham Conservatoire, in Birmingham, England, from Sunday 15th July, until Saturday 21st of July 2007. GUADEC is organised by the GNOME community for anyone who is interested in Free Software development.

From the press release: "We will be celebrating our achievements of the past year, including two great releases, the launch of the GNOME Mobile and Embedded Initiative, and Dell's announcement that they will ship GNOME-based Ubuntu PCs in the near future", said Jeff Waugh, GNOME Foundation director and founder of the GNOME Mobile project. "I look forward to the energy, passion, and friendships that GUADEC strengthens every year. Join us in Birmingham for one of the world's best Free Software events".

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