Scientific American

Warming Ocean Current Might Create Coral Refuges

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:30:00 EST

Global warming is expected to have devastating effects on coral reefs, but recent research points to a few exceptions.

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Is Global Warming Causing More Home Runs in Baseball?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:15:00 EST

Fox baseball commentator Tim McCarver is a retired baseball catcher whose work as a TV analyst recently got him inducted into the announcers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He occupies the top TV perch in the sport, and fans either love him or hate him.

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The Funny Side of Climate Change

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:20:00 EST

Kate Evans majored in English during college in 1990s Britain while she perfected the art of getting arrested for trying to prevent the U.K. government and industry from cutting down too many trees. A fan of science, she gradually turned her artistic talents and environmental passions to crafting comics about climate change. In 2006 she published a fully referenced graphic novel based on peer-reviewed science, Funny Weather: Everything You Didn’t Want to Know about Climate Change but Should Probably Find Out . And she has just released a 16-page comic, The Carbon Supermarket , about carbon-offset markets as folly, which she has allowed Scientific American to reproduce in full (below). I talked with Evans by phone to find out why she thinks cartoons can help the world tackle climate issues.

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Warmer Temps May Bollux Botanicals

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:56:08 EST

Global warming might seem like a botanical boon. After all, milder temperatures and more carbon dioxide and nitrogen should feed flora. But a ten-year study has found that any initial positive effect on plant growth from climate change may soon disappear. The report is in the journal Nature Climate Change . [Sarah C. Elmendorf et al.," Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming "]

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A Tour of the New Geopolitics of Global Warming

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST

Energy security and climate change present massive threats to global security, military planners say, with connections and consequences spanning the world.

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U.S. Military Forges Ahead with Plans to Combat Climate Change

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:20:00 EST

The U.S. military's elite forces have always pushed the envelope. And this summer will be no exception, as the Navy deploys SEALs with $2 million of new gear on missions to save hostages, combat pirates, and counter terrorism around the world. What sort of next-generation weaponry, armor, or transportation will the funds provide?

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135 Years of Records Reveals Deep Ocean Warming

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:02:08 EST

Her Majesty's Ship Challenger set sail in 1872. Stripped of her guns and outfitted for science , her mission was to sail around the globe sampling as she went.

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Spread Reckoning: U.S. Suburbs Face Twin Perils of Climate Change and Peak Oil [Excerpt]

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:01:00 EST

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us (John Wiley & Sons, 2012), by Maggie Koerth-Baker.

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Global Energy Hunger Leaves Little Room to Displace Dirty Fuels

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:01:08 EST

Fifteen terawatts. That's 150 billion 100-watt light bulbs burning 24/7 for a year. Which is how much energy humanity now uses annually .

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Gene Therapy Could Help Corals Survive Climate Change

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:17:00 EST

Editor's note: Climate Query is a semi-weekly feature offered by Daily Climate, presenting short Q&A's with players large and small in the climate arena. Read others in the series at http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/query/climate-queries .

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First Horses Shrunk by Warming Climate

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:30:00 EST

The first horses in North America would not have been able to hold their own in the Triple Crown . At just about 5.6 kilograms the Sifrhippus sandrae hoofed onto the scene some 56 million years ago about the size of a small dog.

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Is the Keystone Pipeline a Shortcut to Catastrophic Climate Change?

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:00:08 EST

"Game over" for climate change . So opines NASA climatologist Jim Hansen when it comes to the development of the Canadian tar sands. And one big way to unleash the estimated 170 billion barrels of heavy oil stuck in Alberta's sands is to build a pipeline to the world's biggest oil consumer: the U.S.

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Leaked: Conservative Group Plans Anti-Climate Education Program

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:10:00 EST

Leaked documents from the free-market conservative organization The Heartland Institute reveal a plan to create school educational materials that contradict the established science on climate change .

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What Does a Coup in the Maldives Mean for Climate Change?

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:00:08 EST

“Kyoto divided the world…between rich and poor, developed and developing…our task now is to unite the world behind the shared vision of low carbon growth. The Maldives is trying to lead the way.”

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Popular Opinion on Climate Change Traced to Political Elites

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:15:00 EST

It seems the general public just can't make up its mind about the existence of man-made climate change. Rather than steadily increasing or decreasing over the last decade, the U.S. public's concern over our warming planet has jumped up and down, according to Gallup polls. But what exactly is driving this seesawing of opinions on climate change?

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Trumpeter Swans Rebound, with an Assist from Global Warming

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:55:00 EST

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Outside Alaska's largest city, where wildlife is more common than pigeons, locals bearing field glasses turn out every year to watch blazingly white trumpeter swans stop to feed on their way south for the winter.

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A Second Science Front: Evolution Champions Rise to Climate Science Defense

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:35:08 EST

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education , long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative for climate science education. [More]

Jet Lag: What's Causing One of the Driest, Warmest Winters in History?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:15:00 EST

A little snow and rain are falling in a few states today, but the 2011–12 winter has been extremely warm and dry across the continental U.S. Meteorologists think they have figured out why.

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How to Buy Time in the Fight against Climate Change: Mobilize to Stop Soot and Methane

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:01:00 EST

Humanity has done little to address climate change. Global emissions of carbon dioxide reached (another) all-time peak in 2010. The most recent international talks to craft a global treaty to address the problem pushed off major action until 2020. Fortunately, there's an alternative-- curbing the other greenhouse gases .

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Michael Mann Defends Climate Computer Models

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:27:08 EST

Fair warning: the following is more than 60 seconds, and it’s about climate change.

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