The paleoclimate record shouts to us that, far from being self-stabilizing, the Earth's climate system is an ornery beast which overreacts even to small nudges.
Interpretation
Earth's climate is sensitive and can change drastically from small influences.
Wallace Smith Broecker's observation highlights the complex and responsive nature of the Earth's climate system. Rather than being stable and predictable, the climate is depicted as a 'beast' that can react strongly to minor changes, emphasizing the importance of understanding and managing these fluctuations to address climate change effectively.
In practice
During a climate conference as a reminder of the urgency of addressing climate instability.
Haemoglobin is a very large molecule by ordinary standards, containing about ten thousand atoms, but the chances are that your haemoglobin and mine are identical, and significantly different from that of a pig or horse. You may be impressed by how much human beings differ from one another, but if you were to look into the fine details of the molecules of which they are constructed, you would be astonished by their similarity.
The greatest explorer of recent decades is not even human.
Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.
The science shows that the best way to use money is to take the issue of money off the people. Pay people enough so that money isn't an issue, and they can focus on doing great work.
The works of Lavoisier and his associates operated upon many of us at that time like the Sun's rising after a night of moonshine: but Chemistry is now betrothed to the Mathematics, and is in consequence grown somewhat shy of her former admirers.
Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.