One might well come to that conclusion after reading the first paragraph from this article from the UK’s Independent (via ClimateArk). Yet the idea isn’t so “flaky”:
…the research – partly funded by the German government – may provide the solution to one of the world’s most enduring pollution mysteries: the origin of much of the vast clouds of fine dust in the atmosphere. It suggests that more than half of the dust is a rich soup of organic detritus, including particles of decaying leaves, animal hair, dead skin and dandruff.
The research is published in the April issue of Science magazine by Dr Ruprecht Jaenicke of Mainz University – who has been leading the study for the past 15 years – and says “it has got to be taken very seriously”.
I fear that the right-wing “junk science” crowd will be crowing about this one… so, repeat after me, folks — this does not mean that global warming is simply a “natural phenomenon” that we should do nothing to address.
Techorati tags: climate change