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Science education group decides it's time to tackle climate change -- Ars Technica

The National Center for Science Education has been defending the teaching of evolution since before Edwards vs. Aguillard, the 1987 Supreme Court decision that declared the teaching of creationism an unconstitutional promotion of religion. Although its primary focus is on supporting teachers and students by helping them handle public controversies caused by science education, the organization played a critical role in the Dover case, which blocked the teaching of creationism's descendent, intelligent design.

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Antarctic ice and future sea level rise: big questions -- Ars Technica

There has been considerable angst and uncertainty about projections of the sea level rise that accompanies rising global temperatures. In fact, the last IPCC assessment settled on pretty conservative numbers due to that uncertainty. There are a lot of unknowns that make this one of the tougher variables to predict; Antarctica, in particular, has proven difficult to get a handle on.

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History of water availability in the Rockies shows trouble ahead -- Ars Technica

Communities in the Rocky Mountain region of North America rely on snowmelt to provide water for drinking, sanitation, irrigation, and industry. Snow, which falls in the mountains during the winter, acts like a massive frozen water tower, providing a steady supply of water throughout the drier summer months. Water usage in many cities is growing rapidly, and some are already encountering the limits of water availability. The threat of climate change looms large -- warming temperatures would push the snowline to higher elevations, decreasing the capacity of that frozen water tower.

Two recent papers shed some light on the long-term history of water availability in the region to provide insights into the current situation, as well as a future outlook.

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Coming Clean about Nuclear Power -- Regulators and industry have one precious moment to recapture the public's trust -- Scientific America

Ever since Japan’s battered Fukushima Daiichi reactor complex began emitting radiation in March, calls to abandon nuclear power have risen in the U.S. and Germany, among other countries. If only it were so simple. Nuclear contributes 20 percent of the U.S. power supply and a significant share in other developed countries. If we gave it up, what would replace it? Pollution from fossil-fueled power plants shortens the life span of as many as 30,000 Americans a year. Coal companies lop off mountaintops, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas threatens water supplies, and oil dependence undermines the nation’s energy security. Then there is the small matter of greenhouse gas emissions. Clean renewable technologies will take years to reach the scale needed to replace the power we get from splitting atoms.

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'Coal Cares' Hoax Website Backed by Science -- Wired

An activist prankster group called Coal is Killing Kids has struck with a hoax website lampooning the coal industry's resistance to federal pollution reforms. And science is on their side.

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Check the site out -- Coal Cares

Uh-oh. Greenland and Antarctica melting faster than expected -- Ars Technica

The rate of melting by the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica may throw existing projections for sea level rise out the window. Unfortunately for Maldivians and other idyllic, but altitude-challenged islands, the ice sheets are melting faster than anyone expected.

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