A study published this week in science journal Climatic Change models how hospital admissions for things like diabetes, kidney stones, and suicide attempts will rise along with the temperature, something that’s expected to happen as global warming increases the average yearly temperature and causes temperature swings. Those most at risk for climate-related hospital admittance (and resulting deaths) are the very young and the elderly, whose regulatory systems are less able to adapt to high temperatures. With a health-care system that is already taxed, such an increase could overwhelm small hospitals or those with limited resources.

The authors of the study — from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University, and the National Center for Climatic Research — used 17 years of data from Milwaukee hospital admissions and found that hospital admissions for ailments involving the kidneys would increase 13 percent for every 2 degrees the mercury rose above 85 degrees Fahrenheit; endocrine disorders would increase by 9 percent. Accidents and suicide attempts would start increasing by about 3 percent for every 2 degrees over 81 degrees F. With temperatures projected to rise an average of 5 degrees in summer months, by 2059 this would mean hundreds of additional patients with heat-related renal and endocrine ailments in Milwaukee alone. Project that across the U.S., and that’s a substantial increase in hospital traffic, and provider workloads, especially considering the aging Baby Boomer population.

The health effects of increasing temperatures would be especially felt by the elderly, who can’t sweat as well as younger people, have weaker hearts, and may have other health problems that make them more susceptible to high or quickly changing temperatures. Children under age 5 would also be susceptible. The authors recommend that health-care providers do what they can to prepare for these climate-related admissions. “Public health strategies should focus on prevention efforts by targeting groups at risk, especially the elderly” and those with preexisting health conditions, they wrote.

Scientific American and Nature recently published the results of a survey they undertook to understand how Americans feel about science. Unfortunately, because they solicited participation via their respective websites, the 21,000 respondents were above-average in scientific understanding: a whopping 19 percent had doctorates, versus around 1 percent of the general population. Predictably, the #1 source of trusted information for this reader group was … wait for it … scientists! The least trusted was “religious authorities.”

Despite this bias, one encouraging finding was that climate denialism is shrinking, and the U.S. is not among the worst offenders. According to the survey, in the U.S. 37 percent of people are “more certain” humans are changing the climate, while 14 percent were “more doubtful” of man-made climate change. In contrast, in Japan 22 percent were more doubtful, and in Brazil, 20 percent. Overall, however, “Among those respondents who have changed their opinions in the past year, three times more said they are more certain than less certain that humans are changing the climate,” the survey reported.

The Scientific American/Nature survey was directed at a very science-literate crowd. But what about the rest of the nation? Other sources show that believing in climate change is just half the battle. Around 36 percent of Americans believe in man-made climate change, but 30 percent of those believers felt the media was “overstating evidence about climate change,” said a January 2010 report by the Brookings Institution. Brookings found that Americans were decreasingly worried about the effects of global warming, with half declaring it a “very serious problem” in 2009, down from 60 percent a year earlier. A March 2010 Gallup poll echoed these findings, reporting that between 2008 and 2010, 10 percent fewer people thought global warming would pose a threat to them during their lifetimes. For those who are upset by the lack of public concern and legislative action on climate, the news only gets worse when you move from the American public to its elected officials: A Wonk Room survey found that of all the Republican Senate candidates this year, not a single one supports action on climate. Good luck up there on the Hill, climate activists. You’re gonna need it.