Remember, though, that politics has nothing to do with science
Blind creature that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump
A newly discovered blind and burrowing amphibian is to be officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi, in recognition of the US president’s climate change denial.
The name was chosen by the boss of EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, who paid $25,000 (£19,800) at an auction for the right. The small legless creature was found in Panama and EnviroBuild’s Aidan Bell said its ability to bury its head in the ground matched Donald Trump’s approach to global warming.
Trump’s distinctive hair has already led to comparisons to a poisonous furry caterpillar and a golden-plumed pheasant, while a yellow-crowned moth was called Neopalpa donaldtrumpi in 2017. (snip)
The newly discovered creature is a caecilian and its naming rights were auctioned to raise money for the Rainforest Trust. The scientists who found the 10cm amphibian have agreed to use the name Dermophis donaldtrumpi when they officially publish the discovery in scientific literature.
Bell said: “It is the perfect name. Caecilian is taken from the Latin caecus,meaning ‘blind’, perfectly mirroring the strategic vision President Trump has consistently shown towards climate change.â€
The funny part is that these scientists take long fossil fueled trips to search for new species. And that their Trump Derangement Syndrome is so great that Trump now has something that is named after him and will be for thousands of years if not more.
A Democratic majority in the U.S. House in January will mark the “dawn of a new era” in fighting climate change, according to U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.
Since being sworn in more than a week ago, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker has followed through on his promise to end the county’s participation in the federal 287(g) program.
Democrats will act “boldly†to bring “commonsense†gun control reforms to the table, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
Storm-driven data-center outages, production disrupted by flooding, forest-fire smoke choking workers at the corporate headquarters — already in 2018, Amazon has experienced at least a half dozen notable disruptions to its operations connected to climate change, according to a group of employees urging the company to be more transparent with its response to the global threat.
Organically farmed food has a bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed food due to the greater areas of land required, according to a new study. Researchers have developed a new method for assessing the climate impact from land-use, and used this, along with other methods, to compare organic and conventional food production. The results show that organic food can result in much greater emissions. But some points of the study are being challenged by advocates in the organic farming sector.
This year, researchers at Ohio State University 
Russian propaganda, one of the reports found, had about 187 million engagements on Instagram, reaching at least 20 million users, and 76.5 million engagements on Facebook, reaching 126 million people. Approximately 1.4 million people, the report said, engaged with tweets associated with the Internet Research Agency. “The organic Facebook posts reveal a nuanced and deep knowledge of American culture, media and influencers in each community the I.R.A. targeted,†it said.
Attempts to tax carbon emissions have twice failed on Washington state ballots and efforts in the Legislature have been stalled. And while activists say they’ll continue to push for greener policies, some researchers are suggesting the way these policies are constructed must be rethought. (big snip)
