Tag Archives: extinction

Extinction has Nearly Happened Before: The Human Bottleneck

Posted on July 21, 2012 by

Sam Kean. 19 Jul 2012.  Blogging the Human Genome Entry 10: The chromosomal evidence that mankind nearly went extinct.  Slate.com Take your pick for the cause of our near-extinction—ice ages, plagues, Indonesian gigavolcanoes. But humans have far less genetic diversity … Continue reading →

Posted in Extinction Experts | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Extinction has Nearly Happened Before: The Human Bottleneck

Fungi destroy bees, bats, amphibians, trees, etc

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

Attack of the Killer Fungi: Rising Threat Worries Scientists Wynne Parry, LiveScience   11 April 2012 An unprecedented number of diseases caused by fungi have been causing some of the most severe die-offs and extinctions ever witnessed in wild species and … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiversity Loss, Extinction | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Fungi destroy bees, bats, amphibians, trees, etc

Michael J. Benton, paleontologist: Runaway Greenhouse

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

Benton, M.J. Presidential Address 2007: The end-Permian mass extinction events on land in Russia. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association Volume 119, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 119-136 Conclusion: If the runaway greenhouse model is correct and explains perhaps the biggest crisis … Continue reading →

Posted in World's Best Scientists | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Michael J. Benton, paleontologist: Runaway Greenhouse

Martin Rees, cosmologist: Will the Human Race Survive the 21st Century?

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

In his book “Our final century: Will the Human Race Survive the Twenty-first Century?: Martin Rees gives us at 50/50 chance of making it to 2100.  He thinks we’ve been lucky to survive even the past 50 years.  Some of … Continue reading →

Posted in World's Best Scientists | Tagged , | Comments Off on Martin Rees, cosmologist: Will the Human Race Survive the 21st Century?

Prince Charles warns of ‘sixth extinction event’

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

Louise Gray. 8 Sep 2011. Prince Charles warns of ‘sixth extinction event’.  Mankind faces extinction, the Prince of Wales has warned, unless humans transform our lifestyles to stop mass consumption, run away climate change and destruction of wildlife.  The Telegraph. … Continue reading →

Posted in Extinction Experts | Tagged , | Comments Off on Prince Charles warns of ‘sixth extinction event’

John Gribbin, Astrophysicist. If we destroy ourselves, a grave injustice to the universe

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

Below are a few paragraphs from Hirshfeld’s excellent book review of:    John Gribbin. 2011. Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique. Humans are a miracle of blood, bone, and brain, a volatile mixture of compassion and brutality … Continue reading →

Posted in World's Best Scientists | Tagged , , | Comments Off on John Gribbin, Astrophysicist. If we destroy ourselves, a grave injustice to the universe

Huge releases of arctic methane

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. At the American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco, Dr Semiletov announced he’d found an unprecedented amount of methane bubbling up from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (which … Continue reading →

Posted in Extinction, Runaway Greenhouse | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Huge releases of arctic methane

Ocean BioInvasion

Posted on October 23, 2011 by

 January 2016. Potential invasive species identified in S. Gulf of Mexico. November 2015. Marine invasive species benefiting from rising carbon dioxide levels Territories changing due to ocean acidification. March 2013. Invasive species: Understanding the threat before it’s too late. 7 … Continue reading →

Posted in 2) Collapse, BioInvasion | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ocean BioInvasion

How and Why Corporate Interests Attack Science. A Detailed Account of the Attack on the Hockey Stick graph

Posted on October 22, 2011 by

A Book review of: Bradley, Raymond. S.  2011.  Global Warming and Political Intimidation.  How Politicians Cracked Down on Scientists as the Earth Heated up.  University of Massachusetts Press. I would read Oreskes’ “Merchants of Doubt. How a Handful of Scientists … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Extinction Books | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How and Why Corporate Interests Attack Science. A Detailed Account of the Attack on the Hockey Stick graph

When Life Nearly Died. The greatest mass extinction of all time

Posted on January 18, 2011 by

[ Benton shows why it was probably lava flows, not impact from meteors that caused the Permian extinction. I don’t know why everyone isn’t reading whatever they can find on the greatest mass murder of all time — the Permian … Continue reading →

Posted in But not from climate change: Peak Fossil Fuels, Extinction Books | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on When Life Nearly Died. The greatest mass extinction of all time