"Public attitudes to science are changing. The IPCC was established before the internet revolution. Like it or not, its closed world of peer review is no longer possible, let alone desirable." The most recent New Scientist leader calls for the IPCC to report more often and with more openness about its internal processes.

Against tumble dryers and their horrific energy consumption. "Clothes lines evoke a negative emotional reaction from many Americans, who view them as flags of poverty." Americans are a bit broken.

Yadin Dudai reviews two books, one by the LifeBits team promoting never forgetting, and a counterpoint that suggests remembering everything might not be a good thing. Worth a read.

Today's dose of anti-collapsitarian techno-utopianism, from Jesse Ausubel. "Technology has liberated humans from the environment... The new question is whether humanity can use technology to liberate the environment itself."

Coming out against collapsitarian thinking and for SCIENCE. "It is in this spirit that we launch a four-week campaign exploring ways to make the world a better place. It will come as no surprise that our starting point is the power of reason. From that springs an ironclad belief that the world can be made better through the application of science and rational thinking."

"'You believe that there are dangers if we fool ourselves into believing the AI myth?' 'It is likely to accelerate our progress towards a dystopian world in which wars, policing and care of the vulnerable are carried out by technological artefacts that have no possibility of empathy, compassion or understanding.'"

"In a patent filed on 6 August, Apple reveals that it aims to thwart iPod and iPhone users who cause damage to their gadgets and then claim new ones under warranty" including checking for overly high voltages on the dock connector.

"Human babies are useless on purpose. Because they don't have to do the adult work of predating and mating, fighting and fleeing, they can discover how the world works and explore the possibilities it offers." Alison Gopnik on altricial species and adaptability.

Edzard Ernst, who co-wrote a book on alternative medicine with Simon Singh, examines the history of chiropractic and the evidence for its medical efficacy, both for back pain and for the wider range of ailments some of its practitioners claim it can deal with. For back pain, "there is some encouraging evidence", but that's as good as it gets.

"Dirac was the theoretician's theoretician, responsible for a crucial piece of the explanation of fundamental particles and forces." "Farmelo has used a stash of Dirac's letters and notes to build an enthralling yet deeply depressing narrative." It's worth following through to the quotes.

"These days, science can be stranger than science fiction, and mainstream literature is increasingly futuristic and speculative. So are the genre's days numbered?" Speaking of 'speculative', I do wish they hadn't let Atwood off the hook so easily, but then I do get grumpy. There's more on the web than in the magazine, and it all seems to be free (usually NS have a paywall), so that's good, at least.

This isn't actually that much about the environmental aspects, not as I read it, but it's a fascinating look at Asustek's factories in Suzhou, amongst other things. (Don't read the comments.)

"it is possible to cut individual emissions by around 75 per cent without seriously altering our lifestyles." "The simple truth is that frequent fliers have carbon footprints ten times bigger than the rest of us"

Cameron Sinclair interview in this week's New Scientist. Annoyingly behind their paywall, but sounds interesting (if a bit boingboing-button-pleasing).

Seems a bit nutty. On the other hand, we all love Spitzbergen. Polar bears! Cold! Dark!

An actual, decent article from a proper science magazine about that story that's doing the rounds (from the Scotsman). Points out the flaws (no peer review, hard to follow theory)