Query: A subsequent study by Dessler (2011) found that Spencer's paper was not a test of climate sensitivity or feedbacks, and his assumptions do not match empirical observational data.

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Roy Spencer (scientist) <=SEP=> Roy Warren Spencer ( born December 20 , 1955 ) is a meteorologist , Principal Research Scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville , and the U.S. Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer ( AMSR-E ) on NASA 's Aqua satellite . He has served as Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA 's Marshall Space Flight Center .   He is known for his satellite-based temperature monitoring work , for which he was awarded the American Meteorological Society 's Special Award .

Evolution as fact and theory <=SEP=> Many scientists and philosophers of science have described evolution as fact and theory , a phrase which was used as the title of an article by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould in 1981 . He describes fact in science as meaning data , not absolute certainty but `` confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent '' . A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of such facts . The facts of evolution come from observational evidence of current processes , from imperfections in organisms recording historical common descent , and from transitions in the fossil record . Theories of evolution provide a provisional explanation for these facts .   Each of the words `` evolution '' , `` fact '' and `` theory '' has several meanings in different contexts . Evolution means change over time , as in stellar evolution . In biology it refers to observed changes in organisms , to their descent from a common ancestor , and at a technical level to a change in gene frequency over time ; it can also refer to explanatory theories ( such as Charles Darwin 's theory of natural selection ) which explain the mechanisms of evolution . To a scientist , fact can describe a repeatable observation that all can agree on ; it can refer to something that is so well established that nobody in a community disagrees with it ; and it can also refer to the truth or falsity of a proposition . To the public , theory can mean an opinion or conjecture ( e.g. , `` it 's only a theory '' ) , but among scientists it has a much stronger connotation of `` well-substantiated explanation '' . With this number of choices , people can often talk past each other , and meanings become the subject of linguistic analysis .   Evidence for evolution continues to be accumulated and tested . The scientific literature includes statements by evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science demonstrating some of the different perspectives on evolution as fact and theory .

Science <=SEP=> Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe .   Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences , which study the material universe ; the social sciences , which study people and societies ; and the formal sciences , which study logic and mathematics . The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations . Disciplines which use science , like engineering and medicine , may also be considered to be applied sciences .   From classical antiquity through the 19th century , science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now , and in the Western world the term `` natural philosophy '' once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science , such as astronomy , medicine , and physics . However , during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics . While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air , earth , fire and water was more philosophical , medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials .   In the 17th and 18th centuries , scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws . Over the course of the 19th century , the word `` science '' became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world . It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology , chemistry , and physics reached their modern shapes . That same time period also included the origin of the terms `` scientist '' and `` scientific community '' , the founding of scientific institutions , and the increasing significance of their interactions with society and other aspects of culture .

Regression analysis <=SEP=> In statistical modeling , regression analysis is a statistical process for estimating the relationships among variables . It includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables , when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables ( or ` predictors ' ) . More specifically , regression analysis helps one understand how the typical value of the dependent variable ( or ` criterion variable ' ) changes when any one of the independent variables is varied , while the other independent variables are held fixed . Most commonly , regression analysis estimates the conditional expectation of the dependent variable given the independent variables -- that is , the average value of the dependent variable when the independent variables are fixed . Less commonly , the focus is on a quantile , or other location parameter of the conditional distribution of the dependent variable given the independent variables . In all cases , the estimation target is a function of the independent variables called the regression function . In regression analysis , it is also of interest to characterize the variation of the dependent variable around the regression function which can be described by a probability distribution . A related but distinct approach is necessary condition analysis ( NCA ) , which estimates the maximum ( rather than average ) value of the dependent variable for a given value of the independent variable ( ceiling line rather than central line ) in order to identify what value of the independent variable is necessary but not sufficient for a given value of the dependent variable .   Regression analysis is widely used for prediction and forecasting , where its use has substantial overlap with the field of machine learning . Regression analysis is also used to understand which among the independent variables are related to the dependent variable , and to explore the forms of these relationships . In restricted circumstances , regression analysis can be used to infer causal relationships between the independent and dependent variables . However this can lead to illusions or false relationships , so caution is advisable ; for example , correlation does not imply causation .   Many techniques for carrying out regression analysis have been developed . Familiar methods such as linear regression and ordinary least squares regression are parametric , in that the regression function is defined in terms of a finite number of unknown parameters that are estimated from the data . Nonparametric regression refers to techniques that allow the regression function to lie in a specified set of functions , which may be infinite-dimensional .   The performance of regression analysis methods in practice depends on the form of the data generating process , and how it relates to the regression approach being used . Since the true form of the data-generating process is generally not known , regression analysis often depends to some extent on making assumptions about this process . These assumptions are sometimes testable if a sufficient quantity of data is available . Regression models for prediction are often useful even when the assumptions are moderately violated , although they may not perform optimally . However , in many applications , especially with small effects or questions of causality based on observational data , regression methods can give misleading results .   In a narrower sense , regression may refer specifically to the estimation of continuous response variables , as opposed to the discrete response variables used in classification . The case of a continuous output variable may be more specifically referred to as metric regression to distinguish it from related problems .

Richard Lindzen <=SEP=> Richard Siegmund Lindzen ( born February 8 , 1940 ) is an American atmospheric physicist known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere , atmospheric tides , and ozone photochemistry . He has published more than 200 scientific papers and books . From 1983 until his retirement in 2013 , he was Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He was a lead author of Chapter 7 , `` Physical Climate Processes and Feedbacks , '' of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's Third Assessment Report on climate change . He has criticized the scientific consensus about climate change and what he has called `` climate alarmism . ''