Abstract: Stable parts of the South Australia coast show that the last interglacial sea level was 2 m higher than present, but elsewhere there has been relative subsidence up to 7 m and uplift of 18 m. Estimates of changing sea level, and future projections, should state the time period involved and the tectonic background to be of any use.

The coast contains ‘carbonate sand factories’ where organisms produce vast amounts of sand by fixing carbon dioxide as carbonates. Far from dissolving carbonate by acidification, carbon dioxide is an essential part of carbonate production and the continued maintenance and growth of coasts and reefs.

When the Romans built Pevensey Castle in southeast England 1,700 years ago, it was nearly surrounded by ocean and had a natural moat. Same story when the Normans occupied it during the Medieval Warm Period.

Spaceweather.com is in Sweden with a team of student researchers from Earth to Sky Calculus for a March 10th  launch of a series of space weather balloons. The balloons are equipped with cosmic ray sensors and cameras to search the stratosphere above the Arctic Circle. At the same time, Earth to Sky launch teams in Chile and California is set to launch identical payloads, forming an intercontinental balloon network.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the name given to describe the relatively new technology that connects everyday objects and devices to the web to provide additional data or functionality. But in the race to create that next “it” product that no one can live without (smart fry pans anyone?), manufacturers and users are creating dangerous side effects known as botnets.

Image copyright: SPL

Neanderthals dosed themselves with painkillers and possibly penicillin, according to a study of their teeth. One sick Neanderthal chewed the bark of the poplar tree, which contains a chemical related to aspirin.

He may also have been using penicillin, long before antibiotics were developed. The evidence comes from ancient DNA found in the dental tartar of Neanderthals living about 40,000 years ago in central Europe.

In a late February (2017) interview on a U.S. news program, mechanical engineer Bill Nye claimed that the settled science says humans have been warming the planet at a rate that is  unnaturally and “catastrophically” fast since the year 1750 .

“It’s a settled question. The speed that climate change is happening is caused by humans.  Instead of climate change happening on timescales of millions of years or 15,000 years, it’s happening on the timescale of decades, and now years. …  Humans are causing it [climate change] to happen catastrophically fast.   [Without human activity], the climate would be like it was in 1750.”

More fake news from the Washington Post: turns out that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has helped save Americans from a substance which kills 4.2 million people every year – air pollution.

No really. If you believe WaPo it’s the fifth deadliest killer known to man:

First paper: Insidious pre-industrial warm phase: 4000 years ago glaciers in Norway had  almost completely melted away. The University of Bergen in Norway reported 14 February 2017 on the climate in Norway 4000 years ago, when in the summertime it was on average two to three degrees warmer than today. Most glaciers in the country at the time had almost completely melted away and gone. Instead of examining these what for many are unexpected warm phases, the team of authors in the press release chose to focus the public’s attention on concern and fear for the future.

And this time – for sure – the glaciers are never coming back again, even though they did so after the last warm phase.

I don’t know much about science, and even less about climate science. So as a practical matter, I like to side with the majority of scientists until they change their collective minds. They might be wrong, but their guess is probably better than mine.

That said, it is mind-boggling to me that the scientific community can’t make a case for climate science that sounds convincing, even to some of the people on their side, such as me. In other words, I think scientists are right (because I play the odds), but I am puzzled by why they can’t put together a convincing argument, whereas the skeptics can, and easily do. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

There were at least 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in 2016 demonstrating that  Today’s Warming Isn’t Global, Unprecedented, Or Remarkable.

As of the end of January, another 17 papers had already been published in 2017.  17 New (2017) Scientific Papers Affirm Today’s Warming Is Not Global, Unprecedented, Or Remarkable

A prototype solar roadway in Idaho was supposed to represent a possible green energy future, but technical issues have exposed just how far off the technology is from prime time.

Screenshots taken by Twitter users from the roadway’s official webcam show smoke coming out of a nearby electric box. Firefighters soon showed up to the scene, prompting the solar project’s official webcam to issue an update: “The Solar Roadways electrical system is currently undergoing maintenance. Please check back late next week.”

Image copyright: REUTERS

Several of the tech firms whose products have been allegedly compromised by the CIA have given their first reactions to the claims.Wikileaks published thousands of documents said to detail the US spy agency’s hacking tools on Tuesday.

They included allegations the CIA had developed ways to listen in on smartphone and smart TV microphones.Apple’s statement was the most detailed, saying it had already addressed some of the vulnerabilities.

‘Alternative facts’ is a term in law to describe inconsistent sets of facts put forth in a court given that there is plausible evidence to support both alternatives. The term is also used to describe competing facts for the two sides of the case. – Wikipedia

So . . . what exactly is a ‘fact’?  From the Wikipedia:

A fact is something that has occurred or is correct. Facts may be checked by reason, experiment, personal experience, or may be argued from authority. In the most basic sense, a scientific fact is an objective and verifiable observation, in contrast with a hypothesis or theory, which is intended to explain or interpret facts.

The smartest people on the planet want to oppose Trump & the best they can come up with is a march in support of themselves? – Roger Pielke Jr

A mega March for Science has been planned for Earth Day (April 22) in Washington DC.  The web site states:

The March for Science demonstrates our passion for science and sounds a call to support and safeguard the scientific community. Recent policy changes have caused heightened worry among scientists. 

Emotionally, it is almost impossible to walk a mile in another person’s shoes. It is particularly true when the other person is of a different sex. I say this because I believe a climate science story that must be told is the degree of difference in nastiness directed at those who questioned the prevailing AGW wisdom.

I think there are ways that a person can get a sense of the experience of another’s shoes, but it is only a sense. For example, as a young boy I delivered newspapers and on one occasion was attacked by a large dog. Since then I have been afraid of large dogs, and that has influenced my life because I walk every day, but avoid areas where I know there are large dogs.

Paper Reviewed: Yin, J., Fang, X. and Su, Y. 2016. Correlation between climate and grain harvest fluctuations and the dynastic transitions and prosperity in China over the past two millennia. The Holocene 26: 1914-1923.

In their study of climate change impacts on dynastic wellbeing in China over the period 210 BC to AD 1910, Yin et al. (2016) focused on relationships among dynastic transition and prosperity and how they were impacted by historical climate change and its impacts on grain harvests. And what did they learn by so doing?