Free Republic

Ancient rhinos in Nebraska lived in large local herds and died slowly from volcanic ashfall, not sudden disaster. Credit: John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum ************************************************************************* Volcanic eruption from 12 million years ago preserves a snapshot of extinct animal life. Rhinos that once roamed much of North America 12 million years ago likely lived in large herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers examined isotopes in the teeth of rhinos found in what is now northeast Nebraska. At this site, more than 100 rhinos died at a single water hole and were buried in...

The longest molecules ever found on Mars have been unearthed by NASA's Curiosity rover, and they could mean the planet is strewn with evidence for ancient life. Molecule chains containing up to twelve carbon atoms linked together were detected in a 3.7 billion-year-old rock sample collected from a dried-up Martian lakebed named Yellowknife Bay, according to a study published March 24 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These long carbon chains are thought to have originated from molecules called fatty acids, which, on Earth, are produced by biological activity. While fatty acids can form without biological...

Research led by Burkhard Militzer, University of California Berkeley This false color photograph of Neptune was made from Voyager 2 images taken through three filters: blue, green, and a filter that passes light at a wavelength that is absorbed by methane gas. (Credit: NASA/JPL) In a nutshell Uranus and Neptune have weird, disorganized magnetic fields because their interiors naturally separate into two distinct layers—a flowing water-rich upper layer and a stable hydrocarbon-rich lower layer. Using advanced simulations of 540 atoms under extreme pressure and temperature, Berkeley physicist Burkhard Militzer discovered that planetary ices (water, methane, and ammonia) spontaneously separate rather...

Fortunately, the Constitution should still operate to prevent a leftist administration from handing to the UN American sovereignty and Americans’ rights. When five different people send you a link, you know that something very important has happened, even if the drive-by media aren’t trumpeting it on their outlets. In this case, it’s Robert Williams’ report at the Gatestone Institute that, in September, the Harris-Biden administration, without fanfare, adopted a UN pact that gives the UN and the World Economic Forum (“WEF”) control over American speech, foreign policy, and, possibly, internal sovereignty. Thankfully, while the administration can sign someone’s name on...

California, which prides itself on leading the effort to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, is emitting massive amounts of carbon due to wildfires, losing six times more carbon from federal land than any other state in the past 17 years. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday: While federal land ecosystems in most states are sequestering carbon dioxide on average, California’s lost six times more than any other state during the 17-year period from 2005 to 2021 that the study analyzed. … In five of the 17 years the [U.S. Geological Survey] team analyzed, California’s federal lands acted as a carbon sink...

An artistic representation of Chiron’s nucleus surrounded by debris and a coma of dust and gas. Credit: William Gonzalez Sierra UCF researchers utilized the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover unique characteristics of (2060) Chiron, a distant “centaur” that exhibits traits of both a comet and an asteroid. These findings provide valuable insights into the origins of our Solar System. Although our Solar System is billions of years old, we’ve only recently gained deeper insight into one of its most dynamic and intriguing members: (2060) Chiron. Chiron belongs to a group of celestial objects known as “Centaurs.” These objects orbit...

Under the policy, new non-condensing, natural gas-fired water heaters will be prohibited for sale starting in 2029 due to concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions. The policy comes during President Biden's twilight days in the White House and was quietly announced without a press release. If the policy takes effect, as it is slated to on March 11, a little less than 40% of the tankless water heaters currently on the market would be banned, according to an estimate from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.

The COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev says "time is not on our side" as the UN's climate summit is on the verge of collapse A bitter fallout erupted between richer and poorer countries over money to help tackle climate change and several countries walked out of negotiations Developing countries have dismissed an offer of $250bn (£199bn) per year to help them tackle climate change – some want a figure closer to $500bn One agreement has been made, on carbon markets, which has been "nine years in the making" The anger here from developing countries is palpable, our environment correspondent Matt McGrath...

Gas prices could soon be going up as California aims to hit carbon emissions goals. Members of the California Air Resources Board are set to vote Friday on an update to the state’s clean air rules, specifically the low carbon fuel standard. The issue is hitting an emission reduction goal set by Gov. Gavin Newsom to nearly half of 1990 levels by 2030. Amending the rules to reach that goal likely translates to significant increases in gas prices. While the Air Resources Board hasn’t issued an updated estimate on a gas price hike, its last one was 47 cents a...

A way to link carbon rings thought impossible for a century has now been done, and could have medical applications. For exactly 100 years, chemists have considered double bonds impossible – or nearly so – in organic chemistry under specific circumstances. Known as Bredt’s rule, this axiom was based not on theory, but decades of previous observations of molecules where such bonds were lacking. Confidence was high enough that it has widely been published in textbooks. New research shows it’s not true, and will encourage chemists to look for molecules they previously thought couldn’t exist. Carbon is such an immensely...

The first thing people have to know is there is absolutely zero scientific evidence that CO2, cars, oil, coal, natural gas, methane, or anything else that is being blamed for the climate has any direct relationship with temperatures, sea levels, or storm activity. Temperatures have risen and fallen the last 160 years, just as they have for billions of years, while we have used all of these products. Droughts come and go today, as they have throughout history. The reason there are so many deserts is long droughts throughout history. Floods and storms come and go, as they always have....

🥫 3 Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over 2 of Van Gogh paintings in the 'Poets and Lovers' exhibition at the National Gallery. VIDEO at link.................

Scientists are mad as hell and demand their claims of looming climate catastrophe are taken seriously. That’s the message released Sunday by a loosely federated global network of scientists and academics who plan “high levels of disobedience” to highlight what they say is a planet in decay. Members of Scientist Rebellion told AFP their non-violent actions are timed to coincide with an upcoming report from the U.N.’s climate science advisory panel laying out options for slashing carbon pollution.

Having read Bill Ponton’s very clear “reality check” on the UK’s Net Zero project, you are probably wondering, what are the counter-arguments advanced by the supporters of Net Zero? After all, the Net Zero thing appears to have near-unanimous support in the UK. There is no significant political party in that country that advocates policies dissenting from the Net Zero program, unless you count the UK Independence Party, which at the moment holds zero seats in a House of Commons of 650 members. The currently-governing Conservative Party is fully on board with the Net Zero program, with the partial exception...

Betelgeuse is our next door supergiant. It is almost 1000 times bigger than our sun and possibly it has already exploded in a giant supernova. How would we notice, how fast would the process be and what could we expect to see from Earth? Something happened in 2019 Betelgeuse is currently in the final stages of its short life. So when the red supergiant abruptly darkened in late 2019, the behavior led many to speculate that it might be about to explode. The loss of brightness was far greater than anything previously recorded. Analyzing data from Hubble Space Telescope and...

Kamala Harris has just struck fear into the hearts of many freedom-loving Americans by announcing that her 2024 running mate is globalist climate-radical Gov. Tim Walz. If elected vice president, Walz, the Democrat governor of Minnesota, wants to push for Americans to pay a so-called “carbon tax” to ensure that the United States complies with the collectivist goals of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Net Zero” agenda. Walz is hoping to continue with the green agenda policies that he’s been pushing in Minnesota but on a national level. As governor, Walz signed bills requiring Minnesota to abandon affordable and reliable...

Too hard and too costly. That sums up the reason Air New Zealand has abandoned a goal to cut its carbon emissions by 2030, blaming a range of difficulties Tuesday for the decision. Delivery delays of fuel-efficient aircraft and the affordability of alternative jet fuels were the two key factors in the surprise move. The move makes it the first major carrier to back away from such a climate target, the BBC reports. The airline added it is working on a new short-term target and it remains committed to an industry-wide goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 as...

A growing number of carbon storage projects are on the way across California, the US, and the world—a trend driven by growing government subsidies, looming national climate targets, and declining revenue and growth in traditional oil and gas activities. With these hundreds of looming projects, communities will be forced to weight the climate claims and environmental risks of capturing, moving, and storing carbon dioxide.

Portland Press Herald Portland startup that became global leader in capturing carbon shuts down, lays off all staff Running Tide, which raised more than $50 million from private investors since it was founded in 2017, fell victim to a collapse in voluntary carbon market prices, its CEO says. June 15, 2024 Kelley Bouchard, Staff Writer A Portland-based startup that pioneered ocean carbon-removal technology, and sold credits to offset the emissions of major clients such as Microsoft, shut down and laid off its last employees on Friday because it could no longer sell enough carbon credits to survive, its CEO said....

“What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own.” James Joyce penned those words while writing Ulysses, but he could have easily written them were he composing a report on the political attitudes of the pseudo-elite greenie left of the modern era.From an article by Greg Rehner at Fox News:California clean energy project threatens thousands of protected Joshua trees: reportsA California-based renewable energy company plans to clear thousands of protected Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert to make way for a solar project that will generate electricity for nearly 180,000 homes in coastal neighborhoods instead of the impacted communities,...