So I've been listening to a lot of the AGU Fall Meeting talks and there is a huge selection, ranging from hard core geology to more easily digestible topics such as social issues and communication in the Earth Sciences. Climate change is also a huge focus as you would expect. Here is my pick so far.
The Race to Understand a Changing Planet
Piers Sellers from NASA/GSFC gives an
entertaining talk on biogeochemical modelling. This talk is well worth watching just to see the videos of the best and latest climate models of the Earth. These are the models that future climate predictions are based upon and include aerosols, weather and meltwater from areas such as Greenland. These geophysical models really are stunning, and make you realize how advanced the science has become. He also gives a bit of an insight into how climate predictions are made and from what sources the data is retrieved.
Union Frontiers of Geophysics Lecture - Professor Sir Bob Watson
The keynote address, from Sir Robert Watson from the Tyndall Center, was a
fascinating and at times frightening, broad reaching address, on current climate data. He explains that we can essentially forget about the
fantasy of a 2 degree warming world, in which all of the current economic response models are geared towards. According to him, projected emissions will have us on
track for something resembling a 4 degree world by 2100. He then goes
into some of the gory details. Highly engaging.
Ira Flatow, NPR Science. Science is Sexy.
This is a
brilliant talk from Ira Flato who hosts “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday,” He is the founder and president of a nonprofit company dedicated to creating
radio, TV and Internet projects that make science "Sexy". I personally think science communication is one of the largest issues facing modern society if we are going to engage people's critical thinking and avoid the idiocracy scenario. Very encouraging talk and relates more to the communication of science, rather than the hard science itself.
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