The NAU Review — Earth’s temperature, drool-worthy spring rolls, cooking for college and Notes from the President

A new review of available climate information from the last 12,000 years takes on an as-yet-unresolved question: whether global average temperature rose for thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution, or whether temperatures peaked around 6,500 years ago and then cooled until global warming reversed the cooling trend 150 years ago. The first option is favored by climate models and the second by paleoenvironmental evidence. The review, led by Regents’ professor Darrell Kaufman and recently published in Nature, reached a likely answer to that question while also highlighting areas of uncertainty in the data and modeling that need to be addressed to ensure climate scientists and global decision-makers are working with the most accurate picture possible.

High school students from throughout the state recently had a cooking showdown hosted by NAU’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Judges tasted, critiqued and offered advice to the young chefs competing for scholarships to further their culinary education. Through the hands-on cook-off, students not only experienced some friendly competition with fellow aspiring chefs, but also had the chance to win opportunities they would have otherwise never been provided. Competition never tasted so good!