Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Say Cosmic Rays May Cause Global Warming
Saint Aardvark writes "Researchers in Israel and Germany suggest that variations in cosmic radiation as the sun orbits the galactic core may be responsible for changes in the Earth's climate -- including more than half of the change in the 20th century. A PDF of their article is available from GSA Today or read the abstract for their Physical Review Letters article."
" See we were right to censor the EPA's report that global warming was primarly caused through human activity."
There was no censorship. A publisher using some self-restraint and standards in what they choose to publish is not censorship in any way. Since the EPA sections which were removed were bad, crackpot science, it is a good thing that the publisher of the report exercized a little editorial discretion.
"I'm just waiting for the antiscience republicans to jump on this."
How about the pro-science Republicans? They should not be the only ones to see that the global warming theories are excellent examples of bad science: ill-concocted explanations of causality in which connections are pulled out of thin air.
Just yesterday night I was watching this show on the Science channel about the Stars.
They showed the interview of guy who went to space in Apollo mission. He talked about his experience with Cosmic rays. He was telling that if he closed his eyes, he could see fast flashes of light moving across. They didn't know what it was. Later they found out that it was Cosmic rays (high energy particles from a supernova explosion). When they looked at their helmets under magnification, they saw trails where the cosmic ray particles had passed. They said those cosmic ray nuclei were so powerful that they could pass through the spaceship unhindered. He was saying that if he had stayed in that environment for a long period of time, his brain probably would be fried.
I don't know how exactly our atmosphere stops such high energy particles but I am glad it does !!
And that ozone depletion is still a threat.
The ozone layer is there to protect us from this cosmic radiation (or cosmic rays as they call them in the articl, I wonder if there're any cosmic freds or cosmic mikes?). When we release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere we deplete the ozone layer. That makes it possible for this cosmic radiation to get through our atmosphere. This leads to global warming, and the increased cancer that seems to mildly correlate over the past half century to one century. Don't let whoevers agenda this is fool you. Global warming is still a great threat!
Slightly offtopic, but...
Whether fossil fuel emissions or cosmic rays or evil pixies are causing global warming, our cities are still enshrouded in horrible choking smog. Thus, I think we should ease up on the fossil fuels and pursue hyrdrogen or fusion or solar or whatever. If it has a positive effect on global warming, great. If not, at least we will be able to breathe clean air while we ponder how to defeat the cosmic rays / evil pixies.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling