Climate Denial Crock of the Week

App of the Year. I just started playing with this, but it looks like fun. Bring it with you next time you attend a creationist/climate denialist cocktail party.

Have you ever wanted to go back in time to see what the Earth looked like 400 million years ago? You can with the EarthViewer, a free, interactive app designed for the iPad, that lets users explore the Earth’s history with the touch of a finger by scrolling through 4.5 billion years of geological evolution.

The app, developed by HHMI’s BioInteractive team, tracks the planet’s continental shifts, compares changes in climate as far back as the planet’s origin, and explores the Earth’s biodiversity over the last 540 million years. It combines visual analysis with hard data, and helps students make connections between geological and biological change.

The modern timeline includes 100 years of NASA temperature data. Track the warming of high latitudes over the past 20 years

“We’re very interested in how the app can be used in formal education. Scientific concepts can be more fully appreciated when students are given a chance to explore the Earth in such a visual way,” said Dennis Liu, Ph.D., Director of Educational Resources at HHMI.

Liu said that interactive computer-based simulations are being developed and used with growing frequency in many science-education disciplines. His team previewed the app with teachers and professors during its development phase, and received a very positive response.

“The college and high school educators, as well as the geology researchers who’ve seen the beta version of EarthViewer, can’t wait to get their hands on it,” he said.

An in-depth guide to the greenhouse effect. Earth is only habitable because the atmosphere’s ability to trap heat.

I’ll be looking for the “Conservapedia” version, with Noah’s Ark and the Flood.

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