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'Sooty Birds' Reveal Hidden US Air Pollution (bbc.com)
Soot trapped in the feathers of songbirds over the past 100 years is causing scientists to revise their records of air pollution. From a report: US researchers measured the black carbon found on 1,300 larks, woodpeckers and sparrows over the past century. They've produced the most complete picture to date of historic air quality over industrial parts of the US. The study also boosts our understanding of historic climate change. [...] This new study takes an unusual approach to working out the scale of soot coming from this part of the US over the last 100 years. The scientists trawled through natural history collections in museums in the region and measured evidence of black carbon, trapped in the feathers and wings of songbirds as they flew through the smoky air. The researchers were able to accurately estimate the amount of soot on each bird by photographing them and measuring the amount of light reflected off them. "We went into natural history collections and saw that birds from 100 years ago that were soiled, they were covered in soot," co-author Shane DuBay, from the Field Museum and the University of Chicago, told BBC News. "We saw that birds from the present were cleaner and we knew that at some point through time the birds cleaned up -- when we did our first pass of analysis using reflectance we were like wow, we have some incredible precision." Their analysis of over 1,000 birds shows that black carbon levels peaked in the first decade of the 1900s and that the air at the turn of the century was worse than previously thought.
Was this a study that they planned to do, or was this something they did on a lark?
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
In before whiny APK wannabe troll.
If my mother was alive, she would have a thing or two say about those dirty birds.
See subject. Far too many INTELLIGENT POSTS being modded down by ABUSIVE moderators. Rather than doing the RIGHT THING and SUPPORTING posts calling for bump stocks to be banned, the moderators are CENSORING them and SUPPORTING the Las Vegas shooter...
* STOP the CENSORSHIP. Mod UP the posts calling for bump stocks to be banned...
* STOP the CENSORSHIP of my posts about Ash-Fox. Take the time to INFORM yourself, then MOD THEM UP...
* There is NO reason for bump stocks to be legal. They take already dangerous firearms & turn them into fully automatic KILLING MACHINES. The moderators are continuing to CENSOR any posts calling for bans of bump stocks & it's preventing reasonable discussion of gun control.
* Help SPREAD THE WORD that I'm right by posting links to the many INFORMATIVE posts I've made about these issues.
* A creepy person keeps following me around and impersonating me in replies. Obviously I've struck a nerve with a right wing NUTJOB by calling for gun control and banning bump stocks.
* The idiot moderators buy into the FAKE NEWS and will censor anyone who points out that climate change is false. It's remarkable that the comments tend to be about 50/50 about whether climate change is real, but virtually all of the posts that don't believe climate change get censored to -1. It's clear evidence of CENSORSHIP by the moderators.
* You seem very whiny and butthurt that I've exposed your censorship for all to see.
(It is a PLEASURE to honor the victims of the shooting by demanding legislation to prevent similar mass shootings...)
APK
P.S.=> M2 is broken, as too many moderators keep getting mod points after censoring USEFUL posts like my HOSTS file engine and calls for banning bump stocks... apk
Air pollution is not climate change. One of these is real and actually matters. Particulates in the air can be dangerous to health. Please don't try to spin unrelated and legitimate research to push your climate change fiction.
The measurable filth on those birds is nothing but a hoax. And even if it's true: how do we know exactly how they got that crap on them. For all we know, they frequent bars that allow smoking. Or maybe they drive diesel trucks.
See? Use some critical thinking here!
Human caused Global Warming is just a Liberal hoax because Liberals like to tax! Everyday, Liberals sit around and think, "How can we tax business and people more? It's so much fun and desirable to pay taxes; let's spread the joy!!"
And some other conservative Liberals says, "No no no. It's about helping people who made poor life decisions. You know, the ones who chose to be born without the abilities to do high paying STEM work. The ones who chose to be born into poor families and into poverty. You know, people with poor characters. What were they thinking when they chose their parents?!"
"Well, they should have chosen not to be born, numb-nutz!"
"My bad! You're right! These stupid fuckers brought it on themselves!!"
I wonder if they corrected for where the birds were collected. Population density was far lower then, and perhaps the soot was heavier, but also more local.
Intuitively speaking, I have trouble with the idea that the air all over the USA a century ago was more polluted than what I experienced in and around the 1970's, when the very rain was killing vegetation, the Delaware and other rivers ran with suds and rainbow slicks, and large areas of New Jersey were swamps of outright pollution.
The air was worse back then? Locally, sure. Like what happened to London England. But everything? Seems dubious. Very.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
What is the airspeed velocity of a soot-laden songbird?!
How was the effect of smoking being allowed and banned at the museum accounted for?
How was oil or candle lamps being used at the museum accounted for?
They were Angry Birds. Watch out pigs!
Air pollution is unrelated to global warming.
Ah no. You are horribly misinformed. The same things that cause air pollution also cause global warming.
Burning fossil fuels for example. It's a 1.0 correlation.
Stop hijacking legitimate research to promote your global warming propaganda.
Seriously?
Gee, they took stuffed birds that were collecting dust in dark closets for 100 years. And they reflected less light. Is it a surprise? How do they correlate it to soot?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Neither was a bird.
"Sooty Birds" is a failed version of "Angry Birds" targeted at smokers. It's now being re-branded for millennials as "Vaping Birds".
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
most of the Bump Stock posts are getting modded down because it's OFF TOPIC.
we will have the return of soot. Excellent!
I'll bet that they come back far worse than what is expected.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
See subject: Whoever the fool is attempting to "impersonate me" only proves that I've REALLY 'gotten to them' somehow (thanks).
As far as "AssFux" Ash-Fox? That whimp's a weasel who ALWAYS starts w/ me (he's 'butthurt' I've busted him up on tech issues is all that is).
* I am with you on something though - there is a TON of bogus downmoderation but as the saying goes? "When all your opposition has is censorship you've obviously won"
&
I am highly against the LOON(s) who shot all those folks up in Vegas - I think it's somekind of falseflag OR an attempt @ further dividing our nation up ala the KING of bogus evil in that capacity, George Soros paying off groups like BLM & Antifa to do so - but GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE - people do. NO reason to ban guns!
APK
P.S.=> Provoking weasel reactions like yours is all the satisfaction anyone needs seeing as you try to "impersonate" me loser... apk
Fake News!!!
Because a thousand birds gives a statistically viable sample size. Yeah, okay. Wow, does any researcher know the scientific method nowadays? This is just sad. Can't find enough actual data on global warming so they are using ONE THOUSAND birds as evidence.
Great work, Sparky.
Pax Vobiscum