Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Agenda Science!
Picked up on this report from both Amy Ridenour and Greenie Watch. The story is about a retired geochemist from the University of Ottowa that
The next time someone tells you that "everybody agrees" on global warming, you might tell them that people don't always have a choice in the matter, at least not if they want to keep their funding.
Related Tags: global warming, agenda science, politics in science, objectivity
says high-energy rays from distant parts of space are smashing into our atmosphere in ways that make our planet go through warm and cool cycles. Cosmic rays are hitting us all the time -- a well-known fact. What's new is that researchers are asking what cosmic rays do to our world and its weather.But there is a kicker to this particular story, a real lu-lu
- Last year, the British science journal Proceedings of the Royal Society published a theory that cosmic rays "unambiguously" form clouds and affect our climate.
- Florida Tech and the University of Florida are jointly investigating whether cosmic rays are the trigger that makes a charged thundercloud let rip with lightning.
- In 2003, scientists from NASA and the University of Kansas suggested that cosmic rays "influence cloud formation, can affect climate and harm live organisms directly via increase of radiation dose," an effect they claim to trace over millions of years of fossil history.
Yet, for years he held back on his climate doubts. "I was scared," he says.The man was intimidated out of presenting his results - that's actually an old story in science, hardly the first time, but what it proves - what it must say to the world - is that science is not the objective pursuit you might think it is. Politics play a clear and in some cases definitive role in science.
The next time someone tells you that "everybody agrees" on global warming, you might tell them that people don't always have a choice in the matter, at least not if they want to keep their funding.
Related Tags: global warming, agenda science, politics in science, objectivity
