TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| UN: Climate funds shouldn't divert poverty aid By 2010-09-02T11:22:52ZGENEVA (AP) -- The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief.... hosted.ap.org |
Let's put a stop to this cliche – right now|Mind your language At this moment in time, an even more annoying expression has emerged. It's just not rightRight now the most irritating expression doing the rounds is … right now. It's everywhere – TV, radio and in the public prints – giving apparent urgency to what are usually vague general statements about tendencies in contemporary society. Nick Clegg has even tried, somewhat fruitlessly, to turn it into a soundbite: "This is the right government for right now." Ugh.Here are some other examples:"AKA Radric Davis is rap's go-to guy right now." (Guardian Guide)"There is a huge focus self-evidently on the global economy right now." (Tony Blair)"Right now it is a political jungle out there." (Nancy McLernon)"Right now the issues are around the economy, around the Green new deal, around social justice and fairness." (Caroline Lucas MP)"If we were in the euro right now, all of your taxes, all of your national insurance – some of that would be taken to bail out Greece." (David Cameron)"I wouldn't be able to be playing this very important role right now as the party goes forward" (Harriet Harman, deputy Labour party leader, on Radio 4's Woman's Hour)Now read those sentences without the "right now". They mean exactly the same. The right now adds nothing. It doesn't mean "right now" as in "I need to go for a wee right now!" What, I ask, is wrong with that serviceable old periphrasis "at this moment in time"?This isn't the only fashionable phrase that has emerged in recent years, usually from America, to infect our language – rogue memes subtly infesting our speech patterns and thus changing the way we think. Their function seems to be to associate the users with something they feel is modern, fashionable and cool. Indeed "cool" itself has had a very good run of late, tending to come towards at the end of an informal business discussions and meaning: "Excellent. We are in agreement. Let us proceed on the basis of our consensus."Or take the expression "Can I get an espresso and a bagel". This use of the word "get" crossed the Atlantic and replaced the perfectly acceptable and polite: "I wonder if I might have a buttered scone and a pot of Earl Grey" some time in the Gordon Gekko 1980s when "getting" seemed the most important thing in the world. It felt insistent, edgy, impatient. For a brief few seconds the speaker was in a trendy New York coffee bar, not just his or her local greasy spoon.Harman in the above quotation also comes close to a "going forward". You know the one: "We will be able to leverage synergies from this, going forward." It is a wholly redundant way of saying "in the future" – redundant because it is always in a sentence implying or formed in the future tense. Yet the people who say it just can't help saying it. It is their badge of acceptance within a particular narrow community. It shows they are corporate, entrepreneurial, in with the particular in-crowd that's particularly in right now (oops) – the business/marketing community. That's why politicians say it: it is a signifier to show they are on message with the corporate world.I'm pretty sure Clegg's somewhat uncomfortable use of the phrase will have come at Cameron's suggestion. He is a serial user, as in his first speech as prime minister: "And I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our really big challenges ..."You can imagine, as he was checking Clegg's notes for the keynote Lib Dem speech, Cameron might have said: "Why not try this line: 'This is the right government for right now'? I was going to use it myself, but your need is greater than mine, old chum."So by their expressions shalt thou know them – who they want to impress, whose gang they want to be in, even what particular fantasy world is playing out in their minds. Right now, it is a hyped up, jargon-ridden US corporatism that holds sway so that's the way we want to speak.But, you know what? You won't likely find me slipping into modish Americanisms any time soon. No way, Jose!LanguageNick CleggRichard Alcockguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Birdbooker Report 138 | GrrlScientist Compiled by an ardent bibliophile, this is a weekly report about nature, science and history books that have been newly published in North America and the UKBooks to the ceiling, Books to the sky,My pile of books is a mile high.How I love them! How I need them!I'll have a long beard by the time I read them. ~ Arnold Lobel [1933-1987] author of many popular children's books. Compiled by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, the Birdbooker Report is a long-running weekly report listing the wide variety of nature, natural history, ecology, animal behaviour, science and history books that have been newly released or republished in North America and in the UK. The books listed here were received by Ian during the previous week, courtesy of these various publishing houses. FEATURED TITLE: Paul, Gregory S. The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. 2010. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 320 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US]. SUMMARY: This lavishly illustrated volume is the first authoritative dinosaur book in the style of a field guide. World-renowned dinosaur illustrator and researcher Gregory Paul provides comprehensive visual and textual coverage of the great Mesozoic animals that gave rise to the living dinosaurs, the birds. Incorporating the new discoveries and research that are radically transforming what we know about dinosaurs, this book is distinguished both by its scientific accuracy and the quality and quantity of its illustrations. It presents thorough descriptions of more than 735 dinosaur species and features more than 600 colour and black-and-white images, including unique skeletal drawings, "life" studies, and scenic views – illustrations that depict the full range of dinosaurs, from small, feathered creatures to whale-sized supersauropods.Heavily illustrated species accounts of the major dinosaur groups are preceded by an extensive introduction that covers dinosaur history and biology, the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs, the origin of birds, and the history of dinosaur palaeontology – and that also gives a taste of what it might be like to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs.The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs is a must-have for anyone who loves dinosaurs, from the amateur enthusiast to the professional palaeontologist.* The first authoritative field guide to dinosaurs * Covers more than 735 species * Beautiful, large-format volume * Lavishly illustrated throughout, with more than 600 colour and black-and-white drawings and figures, including:o More than 130 colour life studies, including scenic views o Close to 450 skeletal, skull, head, and muscle drawings o 8 colour paleo-distribution maps o Colour timelineDescribes anatomy, physiology, locomotion, reproduction, and growth of dinosaurs, as well as the origin of birds and the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs. IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: For those with a serious interest in dinosaurs, I also recommend this title: Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages [Amazon UK; Amazon US] New and Recent Titles: Couzens, Dominic. Atlas of Rare Birds. 2010. MIT Press. Hardbound: 240 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US]. SUMMARY: This book offers a guide to some of the rarest birds in existence, with maps that show where to find them. Focusing on 50 captivating stories of the very rare, it describes remarkable discoveries of species not seen for centuries and brought back from the brink of extinction, successes like the Seychelles magpie-robin and the California condor. The book is organised around key groups of species, with each species the subject of its own mini-chapter; we learn about the five most amazing tales of island endemics, the five most bizarre cases of a bird's becoming threatened, and other astonishing tales of bird life. Atlas of Rare Birds is an accessible, readable, and visually appealing take on the serious subject of threatened birds and possible extinctions – a timely topic because of increasing concerns about climate change and habitat destruction. The atlas format – featuring 200 color photographs and 61 color maps – shows the global nature of the problem and brings together the many strands of the concerted bird conservation effort taking place on every continent.Atlas of Rare Birds is published in association with BirdLife International, the world's largest global alliance of bird conservation organisations [View the rare birds photogallery, courtesy of The Guardian]IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: This book would make a nice gift for birders! Cox, George W. Bird Migration and Global Change. 2010. Island Press. Paperback: 291 pages. Price: $45.00 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US]. SUMMARY: Because of their dependence on specific habitats and resources in different geographic regions at different phases of their annual cycle, migratory species are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, conservation scientists and birdwatchers are very interested in changes in the seasonal movements and population dynamics of migratory birds.In Bird Migration and Global Change, eminent ecologist George W. Cox brings his extensive experience as a scientist and bird enthusiast to bear in evaluating the capacity of migratory birds to adapt to the challenges of a changing climate.Cox reviews, synthesises, and interprets recent and emerging science on the subject, beginning with a discussion of climate change and its effect on habitat, and followed by 11 chapters that examine responses of bird types across all regions of the globe. The final four chapters address the evolutionary capacity of birds, and consider how best to shape conservation strategies to protect migratory species in coming decades.The rate of climate change is faster now than at any other moment in recent geological history. How best to manage migratory birds to deal with this challenge is a major conservation issue, and Bird Migration and Global Change is a unique and timely contribution to the literature.IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: For those with a technical interest in bird biology and/or global change. Hawking, Stephen and Leonard Mlodinow. The Grand Design. 2010. Bantam. Hardbound: 198 pages. Price: $28.00 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US]. SUMMARY: When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent "grand design" of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion – or does science offer another explanation?The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet – if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the "top-down" approach to cosmology that Hawking and Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the "multiverse" – the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a "model-dependent" theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete "theory of everything". If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform – and provoke – like no other.IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: Fans of Stephen Hawking's works will like this book! REPRINTED TITLES:T & AD Poyser launch revivalT & AD Poyser has a proud record of publishing the finest in ornithological literature. Many Poyser titles have been out of print for years, and in some cases have become extremely rare and sought-after. A&C Black Publishers are launching a revival of the entire T & AD Poyser list, in print-on-demand format. Titles making a comeback include the very first in the series, John Parslow's 1973 title Breeding Birds of Britain and Ireland, and classics such as Donald Watson's The Hen Harrier (1976; pictured) and Richard Vaughan's In Search of Arctic Birds (1991). The return of these books to print gives modern readers the chance to enjoy these classics of natural history literature, and of course allows collectors of the Poyser series to fill in any gaps in their collection. In addition, we will be releasing each title in ebook format over the next three months.Books will be available for purchase via their new website (NOTE: The website will launch Monday 4 October 2010).You can read the early Birdbooker Reports in the archives on my former ScienceBlogs site, and Ian now has his own website, The Birdbooker Report, where you can read his synopses about newly published science, nature and animal books.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Denver Zoo hatches 4 Komodo dragons By 2010-10-15T02:56:52ZDENVER (AP) -- The Denver Zoo says it's become the only zoo in the world to hatch endangered Komodo dragons for a third time.... hosted.ap.org |
ANU shines bright with new solar lab A new solar laboratory has been opened at the Australian National University in Canberra. abc.net.au |