Just how risky is alcohol?

alcohol

Now that the media storm has blown over it is time to bite the bullet and dig a small bit into the latest Lancet article on alcohol that came out on 23rd August. It has been generally believed that a glass or two, and no more is actually beneficial. For example a study into individuals … Read more

Getting Access to Paywalled Papers

paywall

One great frustration is that published studies sometimes appear in journals that are behind a paywall. If access to an article was a reasonable cost, then it would be no big deal. Unfortunately, unless you have access via an academic library account, it can often cost as much as $35 or more per article. What … Read more

Climate Change will dramatically alter ecosystems

ecologies

Today’s key message is this: Without dramatic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, most of the planet’s land-based ecosystems—from its forests and grasslands to the deserts and tundra—are at high risk of “major transformation” due to climate change. This comes from a newly published study by an international research team. Climate change warnings are often labelled as … Read more

What do Creationists and Conspiracy Theorists have in common?

conspiracy

What do people who believe in creationism and people who believe in conspiracy theories have in common? According to a new study the correlation is Teleological thinking. What the heck is that? OK, more on that in a second. First, let’s think briefly about why knowing about this matters. Understanding how we as humans can be … Read more

How do we know that Humans are responsible for Climate Change?

climate change

What is really causing Climate Change? If you follow any well-known climate scientists on twitter that you will perhaps observe that often people will pop up to explain that they are all wrong and that the real cause of Global Warming is … well basically anything except the actual cause – us. You can hear … Read more

Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record

missing sea ice off north greenland coast

The UK’s Guardian reports on something that has never been seen before this year. The sea ice north of Greenland normally does not break up even in the summer melt season. This year it has been different. They describe it as follows … This phenomenon – which has never been recorded before – has occurred … Read more