Science and Technology links (December 21st 2019)

  1. The number of research papers with more than 1000 authors is increasingly quickly and reaching many fields.
  2. Researchers at Facebook use neural networks to solve fancy algebraic problems that may be out of reach of computer algebra systems.
  3. At least on the short term, wind turbines may contribute more to global warming than equivalent fossil fuel technologies. The warming effect has been empirically measured.
  4. The Bengal tiger population is increasing quickly in India.

Published by

Daniel Lemire

A computer science professor at the University of Quebec (TELUQ).

3 thoughts on “Science and Technology links (December 21st 2019)”

  1. On the wind turbines, I think the result was more limited. At least in my read, they said surface temperatures rise due to mixing of layers of air. That’s quite a bit different than talking about global warming or global climate changes; this appeared to be a more isolated effect.

    Thanks for pointing to these though. I hadn’t seen this or the Facebook result (which also seems more limited, though still interesting it is possible at all).

    Reply

    1. @Greg

      As far as I can tell, the concerns regarding global warming have mostly to do with surface temperature. From the paper : “We find that generating today’s US electricity demand with wind power would warm Continental US surface temperatures by 0.24°C.”

      Maybe your argument is that it won’t warm the stratosphere… ?

      Reply

  2. From the paper itself:

    “Wind’s overall environmental impacts are surely less than fossil energy. Yet, as the energy system is decarbonized, decisions between wind and solar should be informed by estimates of their climate impacts.”

    Reply

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