Arte-non-Vi

Tag: Research

  • 8th of October

    8th of October

    Tomorrow [8th of October] is not just another Monday.

    The 48th session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 48) is convening from 1-5 October 2018, in Incheon, Republic of Korea.

    Consider the state of current general policy response to a warming planet and those that offer ‘opinion’ or ‘identity’ as a generational policy vector. We should take Hitch’s advice…

    What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

    – Christopher Hitchens

    In 2015 governments adopted the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change and invited the IPCC to prepare a special report in 2018 to assess the impacts and related pathways of warming of 1.5oC.

    This is due on the 8th of October.

    The Special Report on 1.5°C assesses three main themes:

    • What would be required to limit warming to 1.5°C (mitigation pathways)
    • The impacts of 1.5°C of warming, compared to 2oC and higher
    • Strengthening the global response to climate change; mitigation and adaptation options

    Some food for thought on the IPCC process.

    • The process of preparing an IPCC report involves both scientists and government representatives.
    • Ninety-one authors from 40 countries have been involved in the assessment and writing of the Special Report on 1.5 degrees. Chapter teams comprise three Coordinating Lead Authors (CLAs) and a team of Lead Authors, who are responsible for developing the chapter’s content. Review Editors are respon- sible for ensuring the integrity of the review process.
    • A further 133 Contributing Authors added their expertise to the report.
    • The report has over 6,000 cited references to the scientific literature.

    Forthcoming reports

    The IPCC Special Report on 1.5oC is due to be released in October 2018, subject to approval. Two other special reports, Climate Change and Land, and the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, will be published in 2019, as will a refinement to the IPCC’s 2006 Guidelines on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report will be published in 2021, with a Synthesis Report in 2022.

    It will be an interesting exercise to observe global, national and state media.

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  • Out, Liar

    Out, Liar
    Out, Liar – by Ben Shabad

  • PISA – 2012

    OECDSince 2000, the OECD has been evaluating the knowledge and skills of the world’s 15-year-olds through its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test.

    According to the OECD, PISA results reveal what is possible in education by showing what students in the highest-performing and most rapidly improving education systems can do.

    More than 510,000 students in 65 economies took part in the latest test, which covered maths, reading and science, with the main focus on maths.

    I have been charting these results [and others] to better examine and share the meaning of these results with colleagues and clients. See the latest chart below.

    My additional “dashboard” can also be found at:  www.whalesongservices.com.au/dashboard

    Note: The motion chart requires flash – My apologies to iPhone and iPad viewers!

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  • Melbourne in the 1960’s

    The National Film and Sound Archive have released some gems! For those of us who can remember!

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  • Hot, Hotter, Hottest

    The greatest policy challenge of our (or anyone’s) lifetime.

    BOM - Temperature Index
    Bureau of meteorology – Australia

    Australia recently experienced its hottest day since records began a century ago.

    The national temperature is the average of hundreds of daily readings across the country and it hit 40.3 degrees.

    Australia’s first six days of 2013 were all among the hottest 20 days on record in terms of average maximums

    Temperatures have now gone above 50 degrees celsius [ that’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit for those that need it] and the Bureau of Meteorology’s interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours to extend its previous temperature range to create an extended index.

    Some extra food for thought.

    Annual Mean Surface Temperature

    Australian Bureau of Meterology
    Australian Bureau of Meteorology

    From the Australian Government Department on Climate Change…

    In late 2011, Professor Ian Plimer, a geology professor and expert mineralogist with no background in climate science, released his latest book How to get expelled from school: a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters.

    In response to Professor Ian Plimer’s 101 questions on climate change science, the department provides Accurate Answers (PDF 1.4 MB). The answers and comments provided are intended to give clear and accurate responses to Professor Plimer’s questions. The answers are based on up-to-date peer-reviewed science and have been reviewed by a number of Australian climate scientists.

    A final word from Australia’s CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. It is Australia’s national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.

    In the past century, the global average surface temperature has risen by 0.74 ºC. The observed increase in average temperatures is widespread around the globe, with rising trends recorded on all continents and in the oceans.

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  • The Joy of Living or Crowboarding?

    Watch this Rook closely. It is playing. It is having FUN.

    Sensory consciousness in Birds? A fascinating field of research in to the human brain, machine learning and the nature and purpose of consciousness.

    Where does consciousness come from? And does it exist in other animals?

    Nicholas Humphrey, Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics, Darwin College Cambridge, was recently Interviewed by Robyn Williams on The Science Show.

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  • Capuchin monkeys reject unequal pay

    Food for thought..

     

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  • Vale Professor Jack Keating

    Vale Jack Keating.

    A teacher, colleague, mentor and friend; Jack, you will be missed.

    Those that have had anything to do with post-compulsory education in Victoria, Australia or around the world, will understand the loss to our field.

    Thank you Jack.

    Lector si monumentum requiris circumspice

     

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  • Higgs Boson within reach!

    Possible evidence of the Higgs Boson
    A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment -CERN 2012

    From CERN, the results are preliminary but…at a seminar held at CERN as a curtain raiser to the year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long sought Higgs particle.

    The results presented today are labelled preliminary. They are based on data collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis.

    Publication of the analyses shown today is expected around the end of July. A more complete picture of today’s observations will emerge later this year after the LHC provides the experiments with more data.

    Cern says…

     

     The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN today presented their latest results in the search for the long-sought Higgs boson. Both experiments see strong indications for the presence of a new particle, which could be the Higgs boson

     

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