There have been news stories in the past week about one of CERN's less obscure experiments, but with one of the most contrived acronymns around: CLOUD [ Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets ] – quite ridiculous, but then these are physicists. The CLOUD website (and the Economist) are good places to pick up the detail, but with only the latter dealing with the controversy emerging in relation to climate change. CLOUD, you see, "offers [a] new explanation for global warming" – well, according to comments, for example, in TUCONE, the Telegraph, and the Financial Post.
Nigel Calder's comment on the pleas of Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN's Director General, for its scientists to steer clear of politics (that is, the stick to the physics and not mention what it might mean for us all) is here. Phew! So, August has ended with a bang – but mercifully, not a big one. And the Higgs boson still keeps its watching brief on events, well out of sight.
What, I wonder, will all those beavering away at Climate Change Education make of all this. I suspect that, as with so much of the global warming debate, it may well prove too hot to handle. Pity.
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