Michael Ferrari
Decision making under uncertainty
Edge contributors say it's time to retire the search for one-size-fits-all answers.
The 2014 Edge Annual Question (EAQ) is out. This year, the question posed to the contributors is: What scientific idea is ready for retirement?
As usual with the EAQ, it provokes thought and promotes discussion. I have only read through a fraction of the responses so far, but I think it is important to highlight a few Edge contributors who answered with a common, and in my opinion a very important and timely, theme. The responses that initially caught my attention came from Laurence Smith (UCLA), Gavin Schmidt (NASA), Guilio Boccaletti (The Nature Conservancy) and Danny Hillis (Applied Minds). If I were to have been asked this question, my contribution for idea retirement would likely align most closely with these four responses: Smith and Boccaletti want to see same idea disappear — stationarity; Schmidt’s response focused on the abolition of simple answers; and Hillis wants to do away with cause-and-effect.
New tools and techniques for applying climate data
A workshop shows early signs of climate scientists and data scientists coming together.
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Interest in renewable energy could benefit data services
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The ecology of risk
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Industrial ecology and big data
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La Nina and global commodities
The connection between the La Nina phenomenon and food prices.
In the weather and climate community, 2010 will be remembered as a year where the strong La Nina pattern exerted a significant influence on global agricultural production.
Using the Standard Precipitation Index to monitor flood damage
The SPI can provide users with a quick and reliable way to assess damage from weather extremes
There is no shortage of news that attempts to discuss the potential for disruptions to the global food supply chain, as well as the subsequent financial and social effects of such disruptions on a global scale. Most of the news which garners the headlines in the agricultural commodity sector deals with topics including low physical inventories, floods, drought, food inflation,…
An ensemble approach to weather forecasting
A potential India-U.S. partnership could lead to better forecasting through collaboration.
A potential new partnership between U.S. agencies and the Indian Meteorological Department could could open up an "ensemble approach" to forecasting that encourages collaboration and breaks down proprietary barriers.
Growing new data streams
There's considerable promise in data sources targeting the global agricultural community.
High-quality and high-margin products will come to market that have their roots in agricultural data acquisition and repackaging.
Seeing green from space
How satellites and sensors can assess the health of crops.
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