Science

Three stories about advances and milestones in solar-generated electricity in Michigan made the newspapers this past week. The most recent is also the one that I'm featuring first, as The Ann Arbor News via MLive reported Michigan's largest solar panel array now up and running near Ann Arbor.

At town halls and candidate debates across the country, Republican and Democratic election hopefuls are being asked where they stand on the important issue of climate change. Many of their answers have been recorded for posterity and, at best, hilarity. At worst, the peril of this planet.

“We have procrastinated for so long and allowed carbon emissions to rise year after year so there are no non-radical options left on the table. We cannot do this without radical changes to our political and economic system. This was not always so.”

China is moving to institute a cap-and-trade system that would begin to limit the powerhouse's coal emissions. The US is stuck with a GOP that doesn't even believe in climate change, and whose president must go it alone as best he can.

Conservatives are afraid that if they admit that global warming is happening and that we can do something about it, that would mean more public spending, more public regulations, the American public operating through our government to save the future of our society. That is correct, unless they can develop workable non-governmental methods to accomplish the same goals. They don’t think they can, so they close their eyes and repeat “la-la-la-la” as loud as they can.

The world's largest atom smasher is gearing up for its second three-year run after 16 months of maintenance and upgrades. The Large Hadron Collider, which was used to discover a long-theorized subatomic particle, is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel on the Swiss-French border near Geneva. The world's top particle physics lab known by its French acronym CERN said Monday that the $10 billion collider is being improved and is on track to resume early next year at double its former energy level.

There’s an old proverb that suggests it’s always the lie that gets half way around the world while the truth is still pulling its boots on. This is especially true in the realm of climate science, where deniers are quick to jump on anything that supports their theory (in itself a huge no-no according to scientific principles). The latest: a story in UK's The Times about an article rejected by a science journal for factual errors, but twisted to appear like a deliberate suppression of climate change denial.

While it's patently ridiculous to argue the reality of climate change, there is an argument to be said about the way scientists are selling the idea to the American people (and the world at large). Can they do a better job of explaining the facts — before it's too late?

Research has shown that the effects of aging in old mice are reversed by young blood, indicating that the blood transfusion could awaken stem cells and rejuvenate aging tissue. What does this mean for humans though?

For years, if you didn't believe in climate change, the Detroit News was probably your paper of choice. Through countless editorials and political cartoons, the newspaper routinely ripped climate science and the economic impact at moving towards energy less reliant on fossil fuels. However, with yesterday's editorial, that stance may be changing. Finally.