Scientists have discovered prehistoric fossils in Antarctica that reveal that the frozen continent once had tree-filled forests. The team estimates that Antarctica’s trees grew around 260 million years ago, during the Permian Period – this was even before dinosaurs existed.

Previously, it was thought that the Universe was isostatic, so there must be an equal number of counterclockwise and clockwise rotating galaxies.  Now it appears not so according to this arxiv study, ‘Color Differences between Clockwise and Counterclockwise Spiral Galaxies.’

New research by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows that a geothermal heat source situated far below Antarctica’s Marie Byrd Land is the likely cause for some of the melting beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (see here, here, and here).

Policy makers and environmentalists want increasing road vehicle electrification in the UK with a government date of 2040 for complete electrification. But independent scientists calculate that the actual cost of converting to electric  from petrol engines could DOUBLE human emissions of carbon dioxide.

The graph [after the jump] is noisy, but the density is needed to see the seasonal patterns in the oceanic fluctuations. Previous posts focused on the rise and fall of the last El Nino starting in 2015.

This post takes a longer view, encompassing the significant 1998 El Nino and since. The color schemes are retained for Global, Tropics, NH and SH anomalies. 

Despite the long time frame, I have kept the monthly data (rather than yearly averages) because of interesting shifts between January and July.

Europe is waging a war on the internal combustion engine as part of the region’s broader crusade against man-made global warming.

France, Germany and the U.K. are leading a Europe-wide push to phase out gasoline- and diesel-powered cars in the coming years and replace them with electric and hybrid vehicles. The recent anti-internal combustion engine craze has got automakers worried.

The Noble Lie is a concept discussed by Plato in the dialogues, lies told by oligarchs to get the populace in the right frame of mind, deceptions intended to influence the mindset and behavior of the populace.

The Noble Lie is not often noble; it is the tool of the totalitarian. Totalitarianism is built on the Noble Lie and the best evidence of it in modern society is political correctness and its accompanying censorship and intimidation of any speech or conduct that contradicts the Orwellian “good think” of the Noble Lie.

Ancient underground streams of heated rock, called a mantle plume, might be an explanation for the instability of the [West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)], according to a new NASA study.

Scientists have been debating whether or not mantle plume heat contributes to West Antarctica’s instability. Some recent studies provided evidence this might be the case, but even this study’s authors were skeptical.

In the previous two posts (first, second) we have looked at the climate alarmist’s “steel greenhouse” which they mathematically solve in such a way as to lead to what they think is an alarming behaviour about temperature, which they call a radiative greenhouse effect.

No, Our Ability to Monitor Sea Ice Has Not Ended. Yesterday, The Guardian ran a fake news story with the headline: ‘Donald Trump accused of obstructing satellite research into climate change Republican-controlled Congress ordered destruction of vital sea-ice probe.’

Expert software engineer and climate science blogger/critic Tony Heller just posted a video commenting on the just newly released National Climate Assessment (NCA) report:

New scientific study from Quebec, Canada shows that deaths from heart failure during increased cold weather rose at a rate of 0.7 percent for each 1°C drop in temperature.

Image copyright: MARK WITTON

Fossils of the oldest-known ancestors of most living mammals, including human beings, have been unearthed in southern England.

Teeth belonging to the extinct shrew-like creatures, which scampered at the feet of dinosaurs, were discovered in cliffs on the Dorset coast. Scientists who identified the specimens say they are the earliest undisputed fossils of mammals belonging to the line that led to humans. They date back 145 million years.

In a previous post called, “The Myth of the Scientific Method,” I explored how science gets accomplished in real life by describing the knowledge filter. This doesn’t mean to imply that the filter is a perfect or even preferable method of distilling knowledge into truth. Biases may still survive even at the most refined levels.