Climate Change, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2009

Bugs: The Forgotten Victims of Climate Change

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. If it were up to Jessica Hellmann, insects such as butterflies and beetles would wield just as much conservation clout as traditional conservation icons, such as polar bears, tigers and dolphins. Why? “Animals such...

May 31, 2009

Reindeer & Caribou Populations Plunge

Reindeer and caribou numbers worldwide have plunged nearly 60 percent in the last three decades due to climate change and habitat disturbance caused by humans, a new study finds. Global warming and industrial development are driving the dramatic decline, said Liv Vors, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta...

Mar 31, 2009

White House Sees 'Radical' Climate Ideas as Last Resort

As a last resort, the White House would look at shooting particles into the atmosphere to cool the climate, Obama's new science adviser John Holdren told the Associated Press. Some media are playing up the radical aspect of the idea. Well, it's certainly out there, and there's no agreement among...

Mar 31, 2009

Industry Climate Scientists Ignored

Scientists asked to advise an industry group about greenhouse gases and global warming were ignored by the industry during the 1990s. The Global Climate Coalition represented oil, coal and auto industries. Its own scientists wrote in a 1995 internal report that the human contribution for the greenhouse effect could not...

Dec 31, 2008

Can Obama Save the Planet?

The wintry wind that blew through Washington D.C. Tuesday brought change, ushering in what many see as a new era of respect for science that researchers and government officials around the world hope will result in a significant new effort to combat climate change. Whether the task is worthy will...

Nov 30, 2010

Meltwater Could Paradoxically Slow Glacier Flow

It is well established that the glaciers that flow from Greenland's massive ice sheet like rivers of ice are, in some cases, sliding toward the sea much more quickly than they did in the past. Many scientists have suspected that global warming was behind the speed-up in the process, and...

Nov 30, 2010

EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

With efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions via legislation stalled in Congress, the Obama Administration is now pushing to get the job done with unilateral regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last night (Dec. 23) that it would move to curb the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of power plants...

Jan 31, 2010

Less Fog in California Could Stress Redwoods

Significantly less fog is drifting in along the Pacific Coast these days, a new study finds. The shift force a decline in redwood trees, which rely on the fog to keep them supplied with water during the arid summer months. Climate models have predicted that with the warming caused by...

Dec 31, 2009

Past Decade the Warmest Since 1880

When an unusually cold stretch of weather grips much of the world, as one did in December, it can leave people wondering what ever happened to global warming. The gradual inching up of temperatures popularly known as climate change is alive and well, according to NASA. The decade 2000 through...

Nov 30, 2011

Fiscal Crisis Failed to Curb Global Warming Emissions

Believe it or not, there is a potential upside to the global financial crisis that began in 2007. However, it now appears that benefit — namely, putting the brakes on greenhouse gas emissions, and, as a result, global warming — never fully materialized, according to an analysis of two important...

Nov 30, 2011

2 Degrees of Warming a Recipe for Disaster, NASA Scientist Says

SAN FRANCISCO — The target set by nations in global warming talks won't prevent the devastating effects of global warming, according to climate scientist James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The history of ancient climate changes, which occurred over millions of years in the planet's history...

Nov 30, 2011

Climate Change Brings Visitors to Parks Earlier

As climate changes, animals' seasonal habits shift: Flowers bloom earlier in spring, birds change the timing of their migrations, hibernating mammals emerge earlier. Now, researchers have found what they say is evidence of a similar shift in humans. They found that peak attendance in U.S. National Parks in which spring...

Sep 30, 2011

What Do Neutrinos Have to Do With Climate? Not Much

The recent discovery that particles called neutrinos might be traveling faster than light has shocked physicists, but also led some to draw dramatically wrong conclusions, experts say. In particular, they point to a Wall Street Journal op-ed writer who used that finding, in part, to call the completely unrelated field...

Sep 30, 2011

Animals Shrink as Earth Warms

As global temperatures rise this century, the result of human-caused climate change, many living things will shrink, thanks to a host of changes in the environment, as well as the direct effects of warming, two researchers write. If everything were to shrink at the same rate, this wouldn't be a...

Aug 31, 2011

Clouds: The Wild Card of Climate Change

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. It is a little-known, but significant, fact that about 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by clouds at any given time. But, not all clouds are the same; different types of clouds...