Climate Science

EPA risks kiling bees to fight invasive stink bugs

The brown marmorated stink bug threatens crops in 33 states. But the EPA will allow farmers to use a pesticide that could wipe out bee populations, too

Critical List: Oil spills into Yellowstone River; Americans are driving less

42,000 gallons of Exxon oil spilled into the Yellowstone River in Montana over the weekend. Regulators had warned the company that the pipe wasn't safe.

The river's particularly high, which isn't helping clean-up.

Atmospheric pollution from China's coal use temporarily masked global warming: sulfur particulates reflected more light back into space, keeping the planet’s temperature from rising too fast. But over time the carbon dioxide released from the coal will push temperatures upwards.

Severe weather costs us $485 billion per year

According to estimates from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the baseline cost of extreme weather (which has always been with us, but which is steadily getting worse due to climate change) in the United States is $485 billion a year -- 3.4 percent of the country's GDP. 

Horde of jellyfish shuts down nuclear plant

In keeping with the recent trend of wildlife disrupting human activity through sheer numbers, a bunch of jellyfish just shut down a nuclear power station in Scotland. The plant manually shut down operations yesterday because of a "high volume" of jellyfish on its seawater filter screens. (As far as we know, the jellyfish were not […]

Critical List: New York could approve fracking; animals get stoned

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to open up private land in the state to hydrofracking.

Children living near Fukushima tested positively for radiation exposure.

Want to get all riled up before the weekend? Get your fix of climate skepticism here.

Climate models are creating a false sense of security, or at least insufficient terror

A commentary in Nature Geosciences has succeeded in ruining my Thursday by scaring the sh*t out of me. If you value your Thursday peace of mind, you should not read this post.

We might have to geoengineer the planet to save ourselves from renewable energy

Mark Lynas, an author whose pop-sci books about climate change are scrupulous enough to get favorable reviews from the likes of climate scientist Eric Steig, proposed a funny little thought experiment on his blog: Could switching to renewables strip the planet of its sun-protective smog? And if so, will we need to replace it with artificial smog instead?

How much hotter has your state gotten?

Lost boys: In a warmer world, will males die sooner?

New research shows climate change could have biological impacts that shorten the lifespans of many men.

Did ExxonMobil break its promise to stop funding climate deniers?

The oil giant ExxonMobil may have given big bucks to scientist Wei Hock "Willie" Soon, who blames global warming on the sun.