Bits and pieces from today:

Unrealpolitik – Click Opera
On 11th August Science magazine, under the low-key heading “Public Acceptance of Evolution”, published research by Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott and Shinji Okamoto which showed that only 14% of adult Americans think the theory of evolution is “definitely true” (around 40% give more qualified consent to the idea). In Europe and Japan, in contrast, around 80% of the adult population believes that human beings developed from earlier species of animals.

Did Humans evolve? Not us, say Americans – New York Times
Only adults in Turkey expressed more doubts on evolution. In Iceland, 85 percent agreed with the statement.

How Did We Get Here? – The Guardian
Evolution is on the way out – more than 30% of students in the UK say they believe in creationism and intelligent design.

Greenland Melting Accelerating
A new study from NASA’s GRACE data shows that melting is taking place. According to Dr. Jianli Chen’s paper (pdf) published online in Science, Greenland is in fact shrinking, and at a higher rate than earlier studies suggest. The melt rate is the most disturbing. Chen and his colleagues calculate a sea rise of 0.6mm per year from Greenland, a full third of the average 1.8mm annual sea level rise. Most of the melting is coming from eastern Greenland. In addition to trouble for ocean front cottages worldwide, the thaw also raises the chance that huge amounts of freshwater melting will disrupt the thermo-haline circulation, robbing sunny England of its pleasant climate.

What did I do today? I attended and photographed a Jukai ceremony at Upaya this morning.