Free Republic

Over 37.3 trillion gallons of water fell in Texas this past spring after heavy precipitation resulted in substantial flooding. While years of drought were literally washed away, the state experienced significant consequences of the flooding, including 21 deaths according to a report by NPR. The recent weather patterns exposed vital shortcomings in the state’s flood control infrastructure, which brings into question the appropriateness and level of investment in the state’s flood prevention infrastructure, the network of systems needed to protect the lives and property of citizens of the state. The rain Texas received during the single month of May broke...

Here, for the first time (to our knowledge), we are able to demonstrate unambiguously that the impact at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg, ∼66 Mya) was followed by a so-called “impact winter.” This impact winter was the result of the injection of large amounts of dust and aerosols into the stratosphere and significantly reduced incoming solar radiation for decades. Therefore, this phase will have been a key contributory element in the extinctions of many biological clades, including the dinosaurs. The K–Pg boundary impact presents a unique event in Earth history because it caused global change at an unparalleled rate. This detailed...