Adventure Ausrama Blog

It seems some scientists fall into the trap of believing they are "all knowing" and they know the truth about things. Professor emeritus William Romoser says he has photographic proof that creatures like bees and reptiles exist on Mars. His areas of specialty are viruses in arthropods, and entomology. He suggests that he can see fossilized remains and living things on the Mars' surface. Just how he can differentiate a fossil from "skeletal' remains in less that perfect low resolution photos is a mystery. His prize "fact' is in a photo of the Mars lander's track. He sees something like an insect. To most people it looks like a stone. Human beings have evolved to put order into what is seen. That is why the ancients saw animals in the stars of the night sky. The propensity to make sense of patterns is called pareidolia. It could be said that it is when scientists take their work home with them. Examining the same animal in the laboratory...

Fire caused tuberculosis according to new archaeological theory. Evolution is very powerful. A change in climate leads to the survival of those who suit the new climate more adequately. A series of ice ages meant hairy people with narrow nasal passages (to warm the damaging cold air on it way into the lungs) passed on their genes. People living in central Africa remained in a warm climate, so they did not have to adapt. A new premise is that the adoption of fire by early humans caused the emergence of tuberculosis. Apparently, many people crouching around a fire set the ideal conditions for TB to take hold. Just a minute though. Didn't Africans also cook meat on fires and kept near to it for warmth on cold nights? They certainly did. No, this new theory does not hold up. It is assumed that TB is mainly a thing of cold climates.  More correctly, molecular archaeological evidence shows that TB began in Africa. Just how scientists reached the conclusion that humans ...

Chemistry: Stomata on plant leaves shows the way to predict climate change. It looks like the future is going to be very hot - in Asia at least. Oddly it will not get drier. With more carbon around plants will not need as much water, so grass will grow everywhere. A 5 degree rise in temperature is expected by mid-century. High humidity will make life unbearable.. Plants have a significant effect on the climate in general. This has been ignored in the past. Scientists are now examining it. More efficient use of water means less water in the atmosphere which increases temperature during the day.   Spring will arrive earlier as the climate itself changes. A study of stomata, tiny spores on leaves involved in carbon dioxide absorption and the shedding of water, has provided information on how plants affect the weather. It was initially for understanding how plants work, but it has ultimately been applied to the study of climate change. ◆ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan...

"Darn global warming!"   ✿   ✴  Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan   ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his mate Maurice Newman are both as thick as a post. They are both climate change skeptics. Business advisor Maurice Newman wants a Royal Commission into the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) claiming that it has doctored temperatures to support global warming. If anyone is looking for a phantom in the cupboard it is the couple above. After all, Tony Abbott blindly believes that there is a God. How stupid is that in this day and age - religious fanatics not withstanding? In regard to God, you can knock on the door but there is no one home. So the Australian weather authority is lying. What about weather departments in other countries? The poles are clearly melting. Global warming is a fact. Take note skeptics: scientists are telling the truth. That is the trouble with "businessmen": they don't want a free market; they want a fixed market. They want to legislate to ban any reports of global warming because it is bad for business. In t...

Everyone knows that Australia is a hot country, perhaps not as hot as Africa. Nonetheless, it can get "stinking hot" here. In the past, some regions have experienced 10 days or more with temperatures close to 40 degrees Centigrade (100 Fahrenheit). We are going through a cool period now with La Niña . However, this winter has been the warmest on record. There seems to be rain along the coast, hardly any inland. This is an odd situation. La Niña should make it wet everywhere. Australians treat heat as a way of life, knowing that the cool will end and the scorchers will soon arrive. Most do not know that heat is the country's greatest killer. If asked in the street, most would not believe this. Combine deaths caused by bushfires, storms and cyclones. The number will not be near as many who die from heat. Research has shown that most heat related deaths occur on January 27. This is a day after Australia Day, a bank holiday where people celebrate wit...

Australia has always been a harsh place to live. Despite the luxury living on the coast with all the latest modern services, inland there is a desert. Many people who are born in the harsh center remain there all their lives. A fewer number choose to live there moving from coastal cities. Let's face it many prefer the heat over the cold and they have personal reasons for choosing to do this. We do yet know what lies ahead for us in this vast continent. Climate change is happening at this very moment most definitely. El Niño and La Niña are the major factors influencing the weather on the east coast. Scientists forecast more extremes from these usually opposite climate impacting factors. The intermediate stage between these cycles has lasted for several years now. Weather is very unpredictable ranging from drought inland to too much rain on the coast. It seems we experience one or the other extreme with changeable in between. The level of the ocean is rising. Co...

We are getting very hot conditions with flooding. This is seen by many as unusual. Australia has very hot dry weather followed by cooler wet weather in its regular pattern. There is a 100 year cycle in El Niño and La Niña events.  In other words severity peaks every century. Australia is currently in a transition period.  The La Niña could continue or it could change to El Niño.  There is presently a lot of rain. Oddly there is also a drought inland. If it were an El Niño cycle things would be a lot worse. It seems global warming is making La Niña years very hot. Australia is now getting hot La Niñas along with very hot El Niños. This is bad for the whole world because all continents are affected by weather in the Pacific Ocean. Some El Niños reach a critical temperature with dry periods being severe. Global warming means that more of them will go over this critical point. The average of extreme El Niños has been one in twenty years. Australians fear ho...

It seems the first signs of general acceptance of extreme weather from climate change are forming. Some scientists are openly declaring that change in weather patterns will be permanent or worsen as climate change takes hold. This past year has been one of the wettest on record in eastern Australia. This is blamed on damage to the environment by human activity. Change is regional with heavy rains in Europe, east Asia and Oceania. The US and Africa were very dry. Greenhouse gasses caused a warming of oceans. This put more moisture into the atmosphere to fall as rain in the large land masses of Europe, Asia and Oceania. A downpour occurred in New Zealand that was a once in 500 years event. Just  why the US remains dry is a problem. It should have received more rain, but weather patterns tends to vary around the world due a balancing effect in humidity. Hurricane Sandy indicates the probable future damage from extreme weather due to climate change. Rising sea levels...

It seems the Earth is trying to balance out global warming itself. There could be a natural balance level that the planet is attempting to reach. In Australia an unusual phenomenon has taken place. We have had a lot of rain in coastal regions, while inland it remains dry. The arid regions have soaked up the excess water only gradually releasing it to the ocean, so sea levels have not increased. Indeed, sea level has fallen 7 millimeters. Damaging floods cost Queenslanders millions of dollars. It was so bad that insurance companies refused to reinsured low-lying towns. Even the dry Northern Territory had floods. One of two very close La Ninas was the strongest ever recorded. The year 2012 was rain, rain and more rain. This is not something that global warming critics should put forward as a natural solution. Only in Australia does the unusual geographic structure of the continent exist. Humid air moved slowly east but moved as far south as Melbourne, pushing up rainfall 20 pe...

Human beings may be having problems with variable weather in Australia, but animals are coping well. Zebra finches, pelicans and woodswallows seem to know when the weather changes. If the Spring comes early they nest early. If it is too dry to breed they hold off until times are better. They change their breeding point by months either way. When glaciation was at its peak the woodswallow population actually boomed. In boom times there is a larger pool of gene carriers ideal for genetic selection when times become harder. More of the birds die off. Yet, the survivors have traits that suite the changed environment. Australia has the harshest of climates with long periods of drought. Consequently, birds such as pelicans live a longtime on a meagre diet so they can wait for good times to breed. Zebra finches seem to do well even when times are very hard. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml...

The world is in a crisis of bad weather. Extremes of climate are becoming regular phenomena. While coastal eastern Australia is getting unprecedented levels of rain. inland there is a drought. We have a drought even though El Niño has not been in effect for years. It could be said that the rain on the coast is caused by La Nina. This does not explain "the dry" inland. Where once weather could be clearly predicted by the El Niño/La Niña cycle, this is no longer the case. Improvement in weather forecasting now helps in knowing a year in advance whether El Niño or La Niña will be dominant. An El Niño is due. The US would be pleased to get some relief from damaging drought and fires. Australia's last drought was severe. The Queensland government invested heavily in water catchment and storage. When La Niña arrived the government was condemned and even ridiculed for "wasting" money. At the time the investment was deemed necessary by government and co...

The common view on climate change (CC) has shifted. This is due to the shocking weather in the US over the last few years. A survey of respondents at Yale University shows those who believe that global warming is happening has increased from 57 per cent in 2010 to 66 per cent currently. People with common views have been identified: Alarmed - 13% Concerned - 26% Cautious - 29% Dismissive - 10% Disengaged - 6% Doubtful - 15% These figures were obtained in 2011, a year before the Yale study which noted the changes as follows: Alarmed - 13% Concerned - 26% Cautious - 34% Dismissive - 10% Disengaged - 2% Doubtful - 15% Other important opinions in each group include: Alarmed - 57% = Extremely sure CC is happening Dismissive - 94% = Strongly dstrust Pres. Obama ........ " .... - 70% = Strongly distrust climate scientists All Respondents - 58% = US could afford to act...

It seems that with climate change we will lose some species but gain new ones - or have new "changed" species. Some species living at high altitudes have been changing as mountain tops become warmer with climate change. It was believed that accelerated evolution only occurs in cold regions, but it has been discovered that it also happens in the tropics. While it has been accepted for a long time that plants and marine protists evolve faster, the process has only recently been recognized in mammals. What is unusual is that mammals are not directly affected by a warming climate because they naturally maintain a steady body heat. It is now believed that evolution in the tropics is even faster that in temperate regions. There is a greater diversity of species in the tropics. This faster evolution and more species means that adaptation to changing conditions is rapid. The faster evolution actually makes for many more types of animals. There must be something else, however, t...

There is something strange going on with the weather. Despite reports telling us that Australia is becoming drier we are getting more rain than ever. They say that global warming will make it rain more but water will evaporate faster. In Britain they may have to set water restrictions because it is raining less. Holding water in dams in Australia at the moment is a silly idea. With La Nina seemingly fixed off Australia's coast more and more rain is predicted. Some east coast towns, many inland, have had three house-destroying floods in three years. The poles are melting. We know this. Yet long-term predictions about future weather for different countries is like water divining. It seems to be right, though the truth will be known only by what actually eventuates. If the sea does rise and Australia still gets flooding rains people will abandon low, flood-prone regions permanently. There are only so many times you can repair a house. Australia will become what it has be...