What staring at tits for over 30 years can teach us about climate change

And whilst on the subject of pathological thinking, there’s a recent article in New Scientist which a couple of people have sent me the link to largely, I suspect, because of its excellent title…

Great tits enjoying the warmer weather – so far

Putting aside the fact that average global temperature appears to be currently falling, I have been enjoying the sight of a couple of pairs of tits bouncing around my back yard for the last month or so and, yes, they do seem to be doing well

Apparently, scientists who have been staring at tits for over 30 years have discovered that tits have the uncanny ability to eat their favourite food if it becomes readily available earlier in the year

One would also suspect that tits also have the remarkable ability of eating less of their favourite food if it is not readily available

All of which proves, er, not very much at all

The New Scientist article includes a link to similar high grade research carried out on squirrels…

Squirrels evolve as the world heats up

...which proves that when faced with abundant food supplies squirrels ‘evolve’ in less than four generations into… fat squirrels

This is pseudo-scientific bollocks of the highest quality; combining, as it does, both climate change bollocks and neo-Darwinist bollocks in one seamless, grant application-friendly package

"Because climate change is happening so fast, the perceived wisdom is that mammals won't be able to undergo evolution to keep up with that. But this work offers a little glimmer of hope, at least for some species."

And, as with so much of what passes for rational orthodoxy in the new normal of our post 9/11 world, I keep asking myself did so much of what passes for science these days turn into politicised nonsense recently or has it always been this shite?

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