Dear EarthTalk: With all the talk of rising seas, what could happen to the rivers that flow into the oceans? Will they reverse flow? Will rising seas back up into fresh water lakes? And what happens to our groundwater should saltwater flow backwards into it? -- Sandy Smith, concerned Michigander
There are thousands of scientists that dispute humans are the cause of global warming. The earth goes through its cycles every few hundred or thousand years. We have had ice ages several times, and we have had forests where deserts are now. Just for the record, 2008 has been the coldest year for several decades. Check it out. Just a curiosity question: Rivers flow INTO the oceans. If global warming causes the water to go inland, they should then be called something else to avoid confusion. On a personal note, for many years I have said the earth would be a great place to live if it weren't for all the people on it.
Also in today's links: cloned dogs, android twins and more.
One pet peeve I have is people who greet me with "Hi. How are you?" Once-in-a-while I will JOKINGLY ask them "Do you really want to know?" Most will answer back "Not really." I will then JOKINGLY ask them "Why did you ask me then? Don't ask a question you don't want answered. If they aren't feeling "Fine," don't complain when they start telling you EXACTLY how they are, no matter how long it takes. My standard greeting is "Howdy."
The Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton’s voluptuous body shape and elongated head and neck, recorded in ancient depictions of the male ruler, have long perplexed historians. But now Irwin Braverman, a professor of dermatology and an expert on visual diagnosis at the Yale University School of Medicine, is offering a theory on the characteristics, which are not found in representations of other pharaohs: Akhenaton may have suffered from two genetic disorders that affect body shape.
The problem I have with THEORIES is they could be right, or they could be wrong. For years I have heard and read of people spending grant money to show that their THEORY of how the pyramids were built, only to find out the STONES that had to be hauled from afar, and lifted onto the others, were made by pouring a concrete like material into molds. All those millions of dollars spent for nothing. I like to see research like this being done, but if they are spending a lot of money on it, keep in mind, they can only prove that their theory COULD BE RIGHT. It could also be something else. Some societies in the past, and still today, do things that deform part or parts of bodies. One ancient society purposely made their baby's heads a different shape.
There’s a little bit of water inside each kernel of popcorn, and if you can heat the kernel above 212°F, that water should boil, turn into high-pressure steam, and pop the kernel. But in orbit, things aren’t so simple. First off, the cold vacuum of space would suck all the water out of the kernel before it could pop the corn. So any ordinary kernels would drop, not pop. But let’s say we figured out a way to keep the kernel watertight. In that case, it all depends.
beb You stole part of my thunder, except I was wondering, if there isn't anyone there to HEAR the pop, would it actually pop? How much of a government grant did the researcher get to do the study?
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