It's Okay To Be Smart

May 18

“You’re a wizard, Harry.”

“You’re a wizard, Harry.”

May 17

Let’s agree that we’re in agreement about the climate and move on

An international team of scientists recently surveyed almost 12,000 climate science research publications to gauge the consensus on manmade global warming among people who know lots about climate science. They did this because some people still like to pretend like there’s plenty of skepticism and doubt about what’s causing all this

What did they find? Well, of the 4,000 papers that declared a position on the cause of global warming since 1991, 97.1% of them agreed that humans were causing a majority of global warming. The rest? Most of them didn’t claim a position because it’s so well-accepted that they didn’t want to waste the space. 

And just how small is the leftover, even if it was real doubt (which it isn’t)? That 2.9% remainder is less than:

Can we start accepting how much everyone who understands the science is in agreement and work on fixing it and adapting to it? The doubt is not real. Just like the Loch Ness Monster.

Read more about the climate research survey at Smithsonian.com. Read more about the crazy psychology behind conspiracy theories here (which is all I am willing to call climate science denialism from here on out).

So there.

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crookedindifference:

First Solar Eclipse Photograph

Berkowski made the first solar eclipse photograph on July 28, 1851, also using the daguerrotype process, at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kalinigrad in Russia). Berkowski, a local daguerrotypist whose first name was never published, observed at the Royal Observatory. A small 6-cm refracting telescope was attached to the 15.8-cm Fraunhofer heliometer and a 84-second exposure was taken shortly after the beginning of totality.


Daguerreotype astronomy. That’s a new one for me.

crookedindifference:

First Solar Eclipse Photograph

Berkowski made the first solar eclipse photograph on July 28, 1851, also using the daguerrotype process, at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kalinigrad in Russia). Berkowski, a local daguerrotypist whose first name was never published, observed at the Royal Observatory. A small 6-cm refracting telescope was attached to the 15.8-cm Fraunhofer heliometer and a 84-second exposure was taken shortly after the beginning of totality.

Daguerreotype astronomy. That’s a new one for me.

(via itsfullofstars)

May 16

Do you identify with LGBTQ? Do you work or study in STEM? Take a survey and help to make sure the issues of this community are not overlooked!
My road through working and studying in science has been relatively easy (except for the usual academic challenges). But I’m a straight, white male, and I haven’t had to experience the explicit and systemic prejudices that so many people have to deal with every day, even in such a “progressive” field as this. But I’ve met many folks over the years who have had to deal with that, and it’s not easy for some (to make the understatement of the ever). To feel welcome, comfortable, equal and wanted in STEM fields (and in the world at large) … that’s what people deserve, and that’s the environment we should work to create.
That’s why I am so glad to hear that Jeremy Yoder and Allison Mattheis have put together this survey. By finding out how people’s careers and experiences relate to their peers, we can see where work remains to be done. It’s a great model for other groups.
Help spread the word, and if you or someone you know that works or studies in STEM wants to take the survey, visit http://bit.ly/queerSTEM

Do you identify with LGBTQ? Do you work or study in STEM? Take a survey and help to make sure the issues of this community are not overlooked!

My road through working and studying in science has been relatively easy (except for the usual academic challenges). But I’m a straight, white male, and I haven’t had to experience the explicit and systemic prejudices that so many people have to deal with every day, even in such a “progressive” field as this. But I’ve met many folks over the years who have had to deal with that, and it’s not easy for some (to make the understatement of the ever). To feel welcome, comfortable, equal and wanted in STEM fields (and in the world at large) … that’s what people deserve, and that’s the environment we should work to create.

That’s why I am so glad to hear that Jeremy Yoder and Allison Mattheis have put together this survey. By finding out how people’s careers and experiences relate to their peers, we can see where work remains to be done. It’s a great model for other groups.

Help spread the word, and if you or someone you know that works or studies in STEM wants to take the survey, visit http://bit.ly/queerSTEM

PhD regalia is weird. “Hello, I’m Christopher Columbus”

PhD regalia is weird. “Hello, I’m Christopher Columbus”

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