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posted by martyb on Sunday September 09 2018, @05:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the climate-needs-some-serious-debugging dept.

Pests to eat more crops in warmer world

Insects will be at the heart of worldwide crop losses as the climate warms up, predicts a US study. Scientists estimate the pests will be eating 10-25% more wheat, rice and maize across the globe for each one degree rise in climate temperature.

Warming drives insect energy use and prompts them to eat more. Their populations can also increase. This is bound to put pressure on the world's leading cereal crops, says study co-author Curtis Deutsch.

"Insect pests currently consume the equivalent of one out of every 12 loaves of bread (before they ever get made). By the end of this century, if climate change continues unabated, insects will be eating more than two loaves of every 12 that could have been made," the University of Washington, US, researcher told BBC News.

Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate (DOI: 10.1126/science.aat3466) (DX)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:10PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09 2018, @07:10PM (#732522)

    I hope not because that was disproven 50 years ago when the "population bomb" was published. That book is now wholly and fully discredited and we will not have food shortages. /s

  • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday September 09 2018, @09:09PM (8 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 09 2018, @09:09PM (#732581) Journal

    I believe it was Bertrand Russell that would read a book until the first logical mistake. At which point he quit reading since everything after that was invalid.

    I wonder if the Population Bomb got past the initial premises.

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 10 2018, @12:18AM (7 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @12:18AM (#732616) Journal

      I believe it was Bertrand Russell that would read a book until the first logical mistake. At which point he quit reading since everything after that was invalid.

      Whoever has done this is stupid.
      False premises with correct rationing can lead to true conclusion. Yes, it can lead to false conclusion as well.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday September 10 2018, @09:42AM (4 children)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday September 10 2018, @09:42AM (#732701) Homepage
        If you accept the truth of a statement that has only been proved based on false premises, then you are also accepting the truth of the false premise too. Which is best avoided.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 10 2018, @09:56AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @09:56AM (#732705) Journal

          Nobody said I'm going to automatically accept the conclusion derived from false premises. Not going to reject it either, just classify it as 'Maybe interesting, too bad it wasn't demonstrated'

          Here are examples in which stopping short at the first error drives to lost opportunities.

          Analogies are false premises, and yet they do have suggestive powers to generate new ideas that may/will be demonstrated true.

          Stopping at the first logical error may also prevent you from finding the second ones - which, if both/all corrected can demonstrate the conclusion as true.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 10 2018, @12:40PM (2 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @12:40PM (#732731) Journal

            Here are examples in which stopping short at the first error drives to lost opportunities.

            And yet in the case of The Population Bomb, we have 50 years of evidence that the stopping short at the first error would allow us to skip a lot of faulty reasoning.

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 10 2018, @10:52PM (1 child)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 10 2018, @10:52PM (#732957) Journal

              ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:07AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 11 2018, @04:07AM (#733053) Journal
                It's as close as you can get. Bad logic skipped and time saved for the minuscule chance of missing a possibly decent argument that someone else could present better.
      • (Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday September 15 2018, @03:32PM (1 child)

        by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 15 2018, @03:32PM (#735304) Journal

        "False premises with correct rationing can lead to true conclusion."
         
        There is no surety in this. How can you trust it? 

        --
        В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:30PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:30PM (#735433) Journal

          You don't trust it.
          But it has its value - take analogies, by example.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford