The Final Phase of Starstuff

Everything must go (to starstuff)! Below are the final two sets (XII and XIII) of supplements for the Cosmos reboot, cross-posted as always to Tumbld Thoughts. Enjoy!

XII. Changing the World, One Carbon Sink at a Time.

 

Here are the supplemental readings for the twelfth episode of the Cosmos reboot. This episode, called "The World Set Free", is a point-by-point refutation of climate change denial. Also features a trip to Venus (below are an easter egg and a fictitious Venus-Earth mashup). Readings are organized by theme.

Venus and the case of the the Runaway Greenhouse:

Carl Sagan and the Quest for Life in the Universe, Cosmic Horizons, American Museum of Natural History.

Runaway Greenhouse Effect. Wikipedia.

Billings, L.   Fact or Fiction? We can push the planet into a runaway greenhouse apocalypse. Scientific American, July 31 (2013).

Kunzig, R.   Will Earth's Ocean Boil Away? National Geographic, July 29 (2013).

Sir, Don't Forget Your (climate) Change!

Dynamic Maps of Earth's Atmosphere and Biosphere, 2000-2014. NASA Earth Observatory.

Carbon Budget and Fluxes Worksheet. SEOS Project.

Carbon Budget, Learn Bazaar.

Amplitude of the Atmosphere's Seasonal CO2 Cycle. CO2Cycle blog (2014).

A limit on CO2 Drawdown. Nature, July 2 (2009).

Glikson, A.   No alternative to atmospheric CO2 drawdown. Skeptical Science blog, February 14 (2013).

Vidal, J.   Geoengineering side effects could be potentially disastrous, research shows. The Guardian, February 25 (2014).

Weather, Climate, and Models:

What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate? NASA Mission Pages, February 1 (2005).

The Albedo Effect Explained With The Daisyworld Model (NASA). Climate State blog, March 7 (2014).

A Breathing Earth. UX Blog, July 29 (2013).

Downscaling Climate Data. Climate-Decisions.org.

Our Boundless Energy Future:

Naam, R.   Smaller, Cheaper, Faster: does Moore's Law apply to solar cells? Scientific American guest blog, March 16 (2011).

Auguste Mouchot and his solar engine. Land Art Generator Initiative.

Alicea, B.   Solar is at a cost-per-unit threshold! Tumbld Thoughts blog, April 23 (2014).

Frank Shuman. Encyclopedia of Earth.

History of Solar Energy. SolarEnergy.com

Solar Energy Innovation: Quantum-dot Photovoltaics. Phys.org

Teller, A.   Google X Head on Moonshots: 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent. Wired, February 11 (2013).

  

XIII. Goodbye and Goodnight, even when there is no sun to set.

Here is the thirteenth (and final) installment of the supplemental readings for the Cosmos reboot ("Unafraid of the Dark"). Readings are (as always) organized by theme. 

Information, Information Everywhere

Chesser, P.   The Burning of the Library of Alexandria. eHistory Archive, June 1 (2002).

Size of the Internet. Wolfram|Alpha.

Moskvitch, K.   Paradox Solved? How Information Can Escape from a Black Hole. Space.com, March 4 (2014).

Expanding your Worldview

Erdapfel and Early World Maps, Wikipedia.

Right for the Wrong Reasons. TV Tropes.

Alicea, B.  Plausibility and de Navitus Models of Complex Systems. Synthetic Daisies blog, March 21 (2013).

The Galactic Circus

Neutron Stars and Pulsars. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Picture courtesy Universe Today.

Dark Energy, Dark Matter. NASA Science: Astrophysics. 

What is Dark Matter? Space.com

Astrobio   New Information about ‘Snowball Earth’ Period. Astrobio.net, March 3 (2013).

Dell'Amore, C.   "Snowball Earth" Confirmed: Ice Covered Equator. National Geographic, March 4 (2010).

Alicea, B.   On Bet Hedging and Evolutionary Futures. Synthetic Daisies blog, January 24 (2014).

A Pale Blue Dot. The Planetary Society.

Solar System Portrait -- Earth as a Pale Blue Dot. NASA Visible Earth.

Voyager has left the building (Solar System):

Voyager I. xkcd blog, #1189, March 22 (2013). Explain xkcd wiki. 

NASA confirms Voyager 1 probe has LEFT the solar system. Solar system “exit” debated. Follow the Money blog, March 25 (2013).

Witze, A.   First hints of waves on Titan's seas. Nature News and Comment, March 17 (2014).

The Heliosphere. Cosmicopia, NASA.

Benningfield, D.   Manganese Nodules. Science and the Sea, October 25 (2009).

Voyager Golden Record. Wikipedia.