My latest TV appearance

On Fox News Live, I discussed prediction markets that the government may not be able to stop with Lauren Green:

Universities under pressure to ‘divest’ from fossil fuels

Environmental activists are pressuring universities around the country to “divest” and stop all investment in fossil fuels. Many are taking heed, and more than a dozen universities -- among them Stanford and Syracuse -- have already promised to stop all such investments. But around 50 others, such as Harvard, Yale, and the University of Colorado, have decided not to. On Thursday, New York University’s faculty senate will vote on whether to strip its $3.5 billion endowment fund of fossil fuel investments. The controversial measure is supported by some environmentalists, but critics say that it would needlessly cost the school money. An NYU faculty working group studying the issue recommends that the university keep its fossil fuel investments due to financial reasons. “In order to eliminate the $139 million in fossil fuel investments, NYU would have to [end] relationships with 39 funds… this [is] not financially prudent,” their report concluded.... Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Google engineers say renewable energy won’t solve climate change

Can climate change be solved with technologies like wind and solar energy?

No, it can’t, according to a new report by two Google engineers, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The two engineers worked on an ambitious renewable energy project at Google called “RE-C” – but the project failed, and they now say that existing technologies like wind and solar are too costly to stave off climate change.

“At the start of RE-C, we had shared the attitude of many stalwart environmentalists: We felt that with steady improvements to today’s renewable energy technologies, our society could stave off catastrophic climate change. We now know that to be a false hope,” their report reads...

Continue reading on FoxNews.com...

Over 100 published science journal articles just gibberish

Do scientific papers ever seem like unreadable gibberish to you? Well, sometimes they really are.

Some 120 papers published in established scientific journals over the last few years have been found to be frauds, created by nothing more than an automated word generator that puts random, fancy-sounding words together in plausible sentence structures. As a result they have been pulled from the journals that originally published them.

Continue reading on FoxNews.com...

Climate models wildly overestimated global warming, study finds

Can you rely on the weather forecast? Maybe not, at least when it comes to global warming predictions over short time periods.

That’s the upshot of a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change that compared 117 climate predictions made in the 1990's to the actual amount of warming. Out of 117 predictions, the study’s author told FoxNews.com, three were roughly accurate and 114 overestimated the amount of warming. On average, the predictions forecasted two times more global warming than actually occurred.

Some scientists say the study shows that climate modelers need to go back to the drawing board.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/09/12/climate-models-wildly-overestimated-global-warming-study-finds/#ixzz2eiMCgquy

States battle surging seas -- despite uncertainty among climate scientists

Large parts of Florida may be underwater in the next few decades, and New York thinks $20 billion might save the city from the coming floodwaters of climate change, but some scientists disagree about whether there’s even a problem.

A new report in the prestigious journal Nature Geosciences concludes that water levels are set to rise by as much as 7 feet in the next thousand years. With similar concerns in mind, some lawmakers say now is the time to act.

“Climate change and rising sea levels is a serious concern for all Americans, but especially those who live in low-lying areas,” New York City Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/07/18/states-battle-surging-seas-despite-uncertainty-among-climate-scientists/#ixzz2ZPnCO5uT

Report shows UN admitting solar activity may play significant role in global warming

The Earth has been getting warmer -- but how much of that heat is due to greenhouse gas emissions and how much is due to natural causes?

A leaked report by a United Nations’ group dedicated to climate studies says that heat from the sun may play a larger role than previously thought.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Draft UN climate report shows 20 years of overestimated global warming, skeptics warn

The report -- which is not scheduled for publication until 2014 -- was leaked by someone involved in the IPCC’s review process, and is available for download online. Bloggers combing through the report discovered a chart comparing the four temperature models the group has published since 1990. Each has overstated the rise in temperature that Earth actually experienced.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Leaked UN climate report slammed for citing WWF, Greenpeace

Critics are blasting a draft U.N. climate change report that combines studies by advocacy groups like the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace alongside scientific research papers -- the same issue that led independent auditors to slam the U.N.'s last report.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com... 

Global warming skeptics as knowledgeable about science as climate change believers, study says

Are global warming skeptics anti-science? Or just ignorant about science?

Maybe neither. A study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change finds that people who are not that worried about the effects of global warming tend to have a slightly higher level of scientific knowledge than those who are worried, as determined by their answers to questions like:

"Electrons are smaller than atoms -- true or false?”...

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Tech startups facing unexpected challenge: the government

Could your favorite apps soon be banned in your city?

From the online taxi service Uber -- which regulators are trying to keep out of Washington, D.C. -- to Zipcar.com, tech startups are facing an unexpected challenge: government regulation.

Here are three hip new technology sites that politicians are causing trouble for.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Climategate Bombshell: Did U.S. Gov't Help Hide Climate Data?

Are your tax dollars helping hide global warming data from the public? Internal emails leaked as part of “Climategate 2.0” indicate the answer may be "Yes."

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

After 9/11: How to Build a Safer Skyscraper

The 9/11 attacks threw the architectural world into shock. “The age of skyscrapers is at an end,” city planner Howard Kunstler declared just after the tragedy, and Donald Trump reduced the height of a planned tower in Chicago, citing security concerns raised by 9/11.

But since the tragedy, architects have used advances in construction materials and new designs to make tall buildings safer -- and more likely to withstand a 9/11-style attack.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Changing Tides: Research Center Under Fire for 'Adjusted' Sea-Level Data

Is climate change raising sea levels, as Al Gore has argued -- or are climate scientists doctoring the data?

The University of Colorado’s Sea Level Research Group decided in May to add 0.3 millimeters -- or about the thickness of a fingernail -- every year to its actual measurements of sea levels, sparking criticism from experts who called it an attempt to exaggerate the effects of global warming.

"Gatekeepers of our sea level data are manufacturing a fictitious sea level rise that is not occurring," said James M. Taylor, a lawyer who focuses on environmental issues for the Heartland Institute.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

To Boldly Go: What Made 400 People Volunteer for a One-Way Mission to Mars?

An interplanetary trip to Mars could take as little as 10 months, but returning would be virtually impossible -- making the voyage a form of self-imposed exile from Earth unlike anything else in human history.

What would inspire someone to volunteer?

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...

Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts

A new year is around the corner, and some climate scientists and environmental activists say that means we're one step closer to a climate Armageddon. But are we really?

Predicting the weather -- especially a decade or more in advance -- is unbelievably challenging. What's the track record of those most worried about global warming? Decades ago, what did prominent scientists think the environment would be like in 2010? FoxNews.com has compiled eight of the most egregiously mistaken predictions, and asked the predictors to reflect on what really happened.

1. Within a few years "children just aren't going to know what snow is." Snowfall will be "a very rare and exciting event." Dr. David Viner, senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, interviewed by the UK Independent, March 20, 2000.

Continue reading at FoxNews.com...