It’s climate change, betches! I don’t mean to sound excited about that, but for any non-believers out there — the snow that fell on Saturday, October 29th better have rocked your world. And if that wasn’t enough to get you thinking, this snowfall was NYC’s earliest since 1869. In the dialogue about climate change, there’s a lot of emphasis on the global warming bit, but the truth is that our climate is changing in a lot of other extreme ways, too. In case you haven’t noticed, winters have been colder and longer in the past few years. Remember how long it took to whip out our short shorts last spring? Hate to break it to ya, but chances are that it’ll be the same deal this year. So why, exactly, is global warming causing fucking freezing cold winters that start in October? Let me break it down for you:

Note: this is the oversimplified version of the explanation, get at me for the dirty deetz. 

1. ice caps are melting because of higher global temperatures

2. as ice sheets melt, less of the heat on earth can be reflected back out

3. wait doesn’t that mean it’s getting hotter?  [Read more →]

Any biology-and-political-science double-concentrators hard at work in the depths of Sidney Frank Hall may have gotten a surprise treat Friday afternoon: none other than Rhode Island’s junior senator was in town and paying a visit to the building.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat elected in 2006, visited campus Friday afternoon to tour the building (better known to students as the LiSci) and meet with deans and researchers.

Included on the agenda:

• A meeting with Dean of Medicine Edward Wing, Vice President for Research Clyde Briant, and director of Governmental Relations Tim Leshan

• A discussion of climate change with Professor of Geological Sciences Jack Mustard and Professor of Biology Joanna Schmitt, who directs Brown’s Environmental Change Initiative

• A visit to the lab of Associate Professor of Medical Science Tricia Serio, who studies prion proteins

(Continued after the jump.)

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