Entangled States

News of a study linking death rates caused by the weather to the mean income of a neighborhood was just published here in Arizona: “[The] link between money and the ability to cope with extreme weather emerged clearly in the research. Among the startling revelations: For every $10,000 an area’s income rises, the average outside temperature drops one-half degree Fahrenheit. ‘It’s an environmental-justice issue,’ said Darren Ruddell, a geographer who led the study. ‘The people […]

Neat! New details about a claim I remember being made at the beginning of this decade: “Chinese and Arabic astronomers left historical documentation of a supernova that occurred in our own galaxy in the year 1006 (SN 1006), and another one 48 years later (SN 1054). Some of the writings about SN 1006 say there was a visual explosion half the size of the moon, and it shone so brightly that objects on the ground […]

The news that a sizable number of scientists had signed a document that questioned the commonly accepted wisdom that human activities contribute to the observed effects of global climate change was announced with some glee by people opposed to that view. Apparently a number of the scientists who’s names appeared on the letter are reporting that they were not contacted in advance, and that they do not agree with the letter to which their signatures […]