We are still screwed: the coming climate disaster

legowarrior · 2018-05-12T12:49:36.332Z

Yeah, I see us surviving in some fashion even in 1k.

Gordon_Cameron · 2018-05-12T14:15:01.162Z

ShivaX:

There were a lot of dinosaurs too.

I think our intelligence gives us an edge in adaptability over the dinos.

Pride goeth before a fall? Maybe.

Tin_Wisdom · 2018-05-12T15:57:53.312Z

For the record, plenty of dinosaurs survived the K-Pg extinction event, just not the big ones. A bunch of their descendants left little crap-cylinders all over my lawn.

Fucking geese. GO BACK TO CANADA!

KevinC · 2018-05-12T16:02:49.029Z

My dog thinks they’re walking Pez dispensers.

RichVR · 2018-05-12T17:16:20.629Z

Ew.

ArmandoPenblade · 2018-05-12T17:32:04.819Z

Oh, jesus, I just got that.

Dogs are weird, man.

Timex · 2018-05-12T17:32:10.219Z

Tin_Wisdom:

Fucking geese. GO BACK TO CANADA!

We need to build a wall to stop them!

RichVR · 2018-05-12T17:57:25.393Z

It had better be a flying wall. Just saying.

ShivaX · 2018-05-12T19:54:47.924Z

RichVR:

It had better be a flying wall. Just saying.

RichVR · 2018-05-12T19:57:00.189Z

ShivaX · 2018-05-12T20:02:30.350Z

I do love me some Phalanx, but something about those big AA cannons just can’t be beat.

Timex · 2018-05-12T20:16:49.716Z

The CIWS is awesome though, since it keeps shooting at all the pieces of whatever it’s destroying, until there’s nothing bigger than a quarter, so even the wreckage doesn’t get to the target. It gets physically pushed back by bullets.

ShivaX · 2018-05-12T20:19:56.909Z

It is. But those thuds from that Gepard.

RichVR · 2018-05-12T20:55:54.221Z

Wall of steel, man. Wall of steel.

MikeJ · 2018-05-12T22:13:48.578Z

ShivaX:

but something about those big AA cannons just can’t be beat.

Yeah I feel the same. On a practical level it must have much larger range as well.

Nesrie · 2018-05-14T16:13:50.210Z

Bloomberg.com

People Can Demand Too Much Certainty of Science

It’s counterintuitive but true. Here’s why.

I would like to think we can still take data from one time, unrepeatable events, like Deepwater Horizon and use it even if it’s not something we can actually replicate.

Pyperkub · 2018-05-18T00:13:35.324Z

Doesn’t fly ;)

ineffablebob · 2018-05-19T19:59:20.024Z

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – 30 Jun 18

A plant that could save civilization, if we let it - Bulletin of the Atomic...

The carbon dioxide level in Earth’s atmosphere reached its highest level in human history last month, at 410 parts per million. Humans are a factor: We put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, where it contributes to the warming of the planet, by...

One scientist has a promising idea to solve two major problems at once—removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and feeding people and animals—by breeding a “super plant.” But her project, urgent though it is, might be unnecessarily slow for political reasons. Due to concerns about political opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), she has chosen to genetically alter plants the old-fashioned way, through selective breeding, rather than through a newer, faster technology, the gene-editing tool CRISPR.
…
Even with advanced breeding techniques, Chory estimates that developing a super plant in this fashion would take around 10 years.

On the one hand, I like the idea of the edible CO2-scrubbing plant. On the other hand, this feels like a “what could possibly go wrong” situation rife with the potential for unintended consequences. Gene editing certainly has potential, but I suspect that doing the proper due diligence to ensure we don’t end up with a disaster might take the 10 years anyway.

legowarrior · 2018-05-19T22:15:03.794Z

Sure, we should all fear vegetables going wild. Hell there was even a documentary about the epidemic.

John_Doyle · 2018-05-20T17:05:01.881Z

ineffablebob:

Gene editing certainly has potential, but I suspect that doing the proper due diligence to ensure we don’t end up with a disaster might take the 10 years anyway.

What disasters do you imagine coming from the use of CRISPR?