June 9, 2014

The Final Phase of Starstuff

Everything must go (to starstuff)! Below are the final two sets (XII and XIII) of supplements for the Cosmos reboot, cross-posted as always to Tumbld Thoughts. Enjoy!

XII. Changing the World, One Carbon Sink at a Time.

 
Here are the supplemental readings for the twelfth episode of the Cosmos reboot. This episode, called "The World Set Free", is a point-by-point refutation of climate change denial. Also features a trip to Venus (below are an easter egg and a fictitious Venus-Earth mashup). Readings are organized by theme.


Venus and the case of the the Runaway Greenhouse:
Carl Sagan and the Quest for Life in the Universe, Cosmic Horizons, American Museum of Natural History.


Billings, L.   Fact or Fiction? We can push the planet into a runaway greenhouse apocalypse. Scientific American, July 31 (2013).

Kunzig, R.   Will Earth's Ocean Boil Away? National Geographic, July 29 (2013).


Sir, Don't Forget Your (climate) Change!


Carbon Budget, Learn Bazaar.


A limit on CO2 Drawdown. Nature, July 2 (2009).

Glikson, A.   No alternative to atmospheric CO2 drawdown. Skeptical Science blog, February 14 (2013).

Vidal, J.   Geoengineering side effects could be potentially disastrous, research shows. The Guardian, February 25 (2014).


Weather, Climate, and Models:
What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate? NASA Mission Pages, February 1 (2005).


A Breathing Earth. UX Blog, July 29 (2013).

Downscaling Climate Data. Climate-Decisions.org.


Our Boundless Energy Future:
Naam, R.   Smaller, Cheaper, Faster: does Moore's Law apply to solar cells? Scientific American guest blog, March 16 (2011).

Auguste Mouchot and his solar engine. Land Art Generator Initiative.

Alicea, B.   Solar is at a cost-per-unit threshold! Tumbld Thoughts blog, April 23 (2014).

Frank Shuman. Encyclopedia of Earth.

History of Solar Energy. SolarEnergy.com


Teller, A.   Google X Head on Moonshots: 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent. Wired, February 11 (2013).

  

XIII. Goodbye and Goodnight, even when there is no sun to set.


Here is the thirteenth (and final) installment of the supplemental readings for the Cosmos reboot ("Unafraid of the Dark"). Readings are (as always) organized by theme. 


Information, Information Everywhere
Chesser, P.   The Burning of the Library of Alexandria. eHistory Archive, June 1 (2002).

Size of the Internet. Wolfram|Alpha.

Moskvitch, K.   Paradox Solved? How Information Can Escape from a Black Hole. Space.com, March 4 (2014).


Expanding your Worldview
Erdapfel and Early World Maps, Wikipedia.


Alicea, B.  Plausibility and de Navitus Models of Complex Systems. Synthetic Daisies blog, March 21 (2013).


The Galactic Circus
Neutron Stars and Pulsars. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Picture courtesy Universe Today.

Dark Energy, Dark Matter. NASA Science: Astrophysics. 


Astrobio   New Information about ‘Snowball Earth’ Period. Astrobio.net, March 3 (2013).

Dell'Amore, C.   "Snowball Earth" Confirmed: Ice Covered Equator. National Geographic, March 4 (2010).

Alicea, B.   On Bet Hedging and Evolutionary Futures. Synthetic Daisies blog, January 24 (2014).

A Pale Blue Dot. The Planetary Society.



Voyager has left the building (Solar System):
Voyager I. xkcd blog, #1189, March 22 (2013). Explain xkcd wiki


Witze, A.   First hints of waves on Titan's seas. Nature News and Comment, March 17 (2014).

The Heliosphere. Cosmicopia, NASA.

Benningfield, D.   Manganese Nodules. Science and the Sea, October 25 (2009).





1 comment:

Printfriendly