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Aerosols Control Rainfall in the Rainforest

Precipitation-controlling aerosols over the Amazon rainforest originate from the forest ecosystem

A team of environmental engineers, who might better be called “archeologists of the air,” have, for the first time, isolated aerosol particles in near pristine pre-industrial conditions. (more…)

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SOS – Save Our Sharks

It is the opposite of biting the hand that feeds you. This time around, it is a group of people who have been victims of shark bites campaigning to save this endangered animal: every year around seventy-three million sharks are slaughtered.

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Researchers Examine New Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes

*Researchers at UM’s Brehm Center for Diabetes Research examines immunotherapy for treatment of ever-increasing cases of type 1 diabetes* 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Brehm Center for Diabetes Research have received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that could lead to new drug targets for early treatment of type 1 diabetes.

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Optimizing Climate Change Reduction

Palo Alto, CA — Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology have taken a new approach on examining a proposal to fix the warming planet. So-called geoengineering ideas—large-scale projects to change the Earth’s climate—have included erecting giant mirrors in space to reflect solar radiation, injecting aerosols of sulfate into the stratosphere making a global sunshade, and much more. Past modeling of the sulfate idea looked at how the stratospheric aerosols might affect Earth’s climate and chemistry.

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Why “Scientific Consensus” Fails to Persuade

Suppose a close friend who is trying to figure out the facts about climate change asks whether you think a scientist who has written a book on the topic is a knowledgeable and trustworthy expert. You see from the dust jacket that the author received a Ph.D. in a pertinent field from a major university, is on the faculty at another one, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Would you advise your friend that the scientist seems like an “expert”?   (more…)

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