Scientific Consensus Goes Into New Territory

The world is observing something unprecedented. Within a few short months the international scientific consensus has unraveled! It began with hacked e-mails being leaked over the internet which became known as “climategate.”

Science daily reported…

“Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008, according to the results of a national survey released January 27 by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities…Only 50 percent of Americans now say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about global warming, a 13-point decrease.”

The University where “climategate” began and provided damaging evidence that the hacked documents revealed. They  were found to have breached the terms of the freedom of information act.

The BBC reported…

“In a statement, Deputy Information Commissioner Graham Smith said it was an offence under section 77 of the Freedom of Information act “to prevent intentionally the disclosure of requested information”. He said the requests were made by a climate change sceptic in the 2007-2008 period and as the case was more than six months old “the opportunity to consider a prosecution was long gone” under existing legislation.”

The article admitted which is new territory within itself, that the University of East Anglia had damaged public interest by withholding information. What’s even more interesting, the mainstream media which advocated global warming has been publishing more skeptical articles, for example in Science Daily…

“Glaciologists at the Laboratory for Space Studies in Geophysics and Oceanography (LEGOS — CNRS/CNES/IRD/Université Toulouse 3) and their US and Canadian colleagues (1) have shown that previous studies have largely overestimated mass loss from Alaskan glaciers over the past 40 years. Recent data from the SPOT 5 and ASTER satellites have enabled researchers to extensively map mass loss in these glaciers, which contributed 0.12 mm/year to sea-level rise between 1962 and 2006, rather than 0.17 mm/year as previously estimated.”

And one of the most critical pieces that questions what scientists really know was previously unheard of a few months ago…

“The notion that scientists understand how changes in Earth’s orbit affect climate well enough for estimating long-term natural climate trends that underlie any anthropogenic climate change is challenged by findings just published.”

More unraveling includes the Himalayan glaciers where the IPCC claimed the glaciers would disappear by 2035. It took two months after the chairman was informed to correct it. The chairman alluded to his busy schedule for his slowness. This is not all, in another story…

“IPCC experts calculated that 55 percent of the Netherlands was below sea level by adding the area below sea level — 26 percent — to the area threatened by river flooding — 29 percent — Vallaart said…Correcting the error had been “on the agenda several times” but had never actually happened, Vallaart said.“

Was the IPCC too busy to correct this problem too? Not even a well known science journal believes that! In fact, they have a their own take on it which called for integrity in science!

Another error in IPCC studies claims that global warming could cut rain fed north African crop production by up to 50% by 2020. A remarkable change in such a short period of time. But Professor Chris Field, says there is no evidence to support such a claim and he is right.

What is all this telling us about global warming and practicing science? How reliable is the scientific consensus? Who polices them? There is a wider disconnect between big science and the public at large. Also, more papers challenging man-made global warming are being published and the consensus itself is being looked at much closer than ever before. What we are observing is so unprecedented and so refreshing!

SETI Demostrates Faith With Fiction

Many are convinced there are alien life forms out there…Scientists have went from searching for advanced beings to micro-organisms but have yet to produce on shred of evidence on either one. Now there is another way being promoted…In Physorg…

“She said several of the scientists involved in the project were interested in pursuing the notion, which Davies laid out in a 2007 Scientific American article, “Are Aliens Among Us?” So far, there’s no answer. And finding one would be fraught with difficulties, as Davies himself acknowledged. Unusual organisms abound – including chemical-eating bacteria which dwell deep in the ocean and organisms that thrive in boiling-hot springs – but that doesn’t mean they’re different life forms entirely.”

Shostak calls himself a scientist, but what accomplishments has he done? What he calls as “science” is not. Single point conclusions with observables is not science but rather storytelling. Shostak is basically telling the public is don’t believe in the miracles God rather believe in the miracles of materialism. Dead chemicals became alive even though it’s never been observed, because we are here? That’s not science!

Without observables like HNA or ANA (something like human DNA) for alien life forms to draw inference from, there is no foundation or basis for the belief! Instead, he tells this story about how aliens could be not only living among us but also inside of us. What makes him think aliens even exist at all and why just at the micro level? Believing in human evolution is not evidence, believing in the big band is not evidence, believing in one animal turning into a totally different animal isn’t evidence for alien life forms.

This also has to do with relevance for the purpose of funding. The micro world is vast with many unknowns that have yet to be discovered and many things that will never been discovered. While the public at large does have an interest, it’s still not science nor relevant or practical to spend millions upon millions of hard earned dollars looking for something that they are totally in the dark about.

Did Unique Dinosaurs Turned Into Birds?

Haplocheirus is labeled as a transitional fossil but why? Well according to science daily, “it shows an early evolutionary step in how the bizarre hands of later alvarezsaurs evolved from earlier predatory dinosaurs.” A typical metaphysical statement not a science one, then the BBC had it’s take on it, declaring it solving the mystery between dinosaur and bird evolution!

This is hype and misleading  journalism in a desperate attempt to convince the public at large to conceptualize dinosaurs turning into birds. The original paper says little about evolution, in fact Richard Stone and “feathered-dinosaur” hunter Xing Xu say the fossil does not solve anything but rather confuses the alleged dinosaur-to-bird transition.

Xu suggests that the fossil demonstrated the basal Maniraptorans which were not secondarily flightless birds and then he uses metaphysical reasoning claiming it convergently evolved!

“Haplocheirus is the largest alvarezsauroid known from complete material (see SOM), and its basal phylogenetic position suggests a pattern of miniaturization for the Alvarezsauroidea, relatively rare in dinosaurs but convergently evolved in Paraves.”

“Derived alvarezsauroids have a simplified, homogeneous dentition convergent with that of some extant insectivorous mammals, but Haplocheirus has recurved, serrated teeth and caniniforms that suggest carnivory was the primitive condition for the clade.”

“The presence in Haplocheirus of only slightly reduced second and third manual digits and curved unguals with flexor tubercles on these digits implies that the hand was fully functional and Haplocheirus retained some grasping ability, unlike the presumably limited function of the greatly reduced lateral manual elements of Mononykus and Shuvuuia.”

The mediolaterally narrow McIII (metacarpal three) and the greatly shortened and slender McIV suggest that the extensive digital reduction and fusion seen in derived alvarezsauroids was already under way by the earliest Late Jurassic, proceeded from lateral to medial on the manus and, surprisingly, initially involved reduction in length of only McIV.”

There is no mention of a dinosaur evolving into a bird here as the media like science daily and the BBC have claimed. What they did find was a unique dinosaur with fully functioning arms and grasping claws. Convergent evolution is just being used to fix the data into the framework in which they believe it to be rather than allowing the evidence to lead them!

Enceladus Dilemma Attempted Fix

Planetary scientists came across something truly amazing back in 2005.  Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons was found to be erupting with plumes of water vapor out of from its south pole! This was quite a shock to those who believe in the solar system being 4.5 billion years old because the phenomena at that age would violating the laws of thermodynamics.

Online publications like space.com stated that this moon because of it’s presumed old age should be not active but rather it should be frozen!

“The tide may be changing for the ocean suspected under the icy shell of Enceladus. Recent research has shown that this small moon of Saturn does not produce enough heat in its present configuration to keep water from freezing down to its core.  “There is no possible combination of parameters that allow for a thermally stable ocean,” said James Roberts of the University of California, Santa Cruz.”

So scientists scrambled to find an energy source that powered geysers. They looked high and low for an energy source but came up could come up with Tidal heating.  However, neighboring moons like Mimas which is bigger than Enceladus and endures more tidal stress than Enceladus is not active. Eventually more study revealed that Tidal heating was not viable.

“Calculations told scientists it would be impossible for Enceladus to have continually produced heat and gas at this rate. Tidal movement – the pull and push from Saturn as Enceladus moves around the planet – cannot explain the release of so much energy.”

So now what? How do they reconcile the physical evidence which shows a much younger age with their theory?  A computer generated simulation which cannot be checked with empirical data. This in turn becomes a playground for storytelling. And sure enough the computer was programmed with the old age framework to come up with a simulation that worked for 4.5 billion years. And they believed they found one as Jet Propulsion Laboratory filled in us in with the details of the model.

“Cassini appears to have caught Enceladus in the middle of a burp,” said Francis Nimmo, a planetary scientist at the University of California Santa Cruz and a co-author of the new paper in Nature Geoscience. “These tumultuous periods are rare and Cassini happens to have been watching the moon during one of these special epochs.”

We are blessed to observed such phenomena which indicates a young solar system. The 4.5 framework doesn’t allow evidence to lead to a conclusion rather they have a conclusion first then attempt to fix the evidence which isn’t matching up with their theory. It’s quite possible to observe more eruptions in the future which will put those who believe in evolution back to the drawing board or should I say more computer simulations. And for those of us who believe in creationism, rejoicing once again!