Archive by category | Research

Copenhagen: the scientists’ view

Nature has a feature out today looking at the UN Climate Change Conference from the perspective of the scientists. Jeff Tollefson asked scientists what they hope to gain from attending the negotiations. Of the 34,000 registered delegates, many hundreds are scientists. Writes Tollefson:  … Read more

Director of East Anglia climate unit steps aside

Alex Witze; cross-posted from The Great Beyond Phil Jones, the embattled director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, stepped aside today from his post. It is the highest-profile fallout yet from the flap over leaked e-mails among prominent climate researchers, including Jones. The university’s statement quotes Jones as saying: “What is most important is that CRU continues its world-leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible. After a good deal of consideration I have decided that the best way to achieve this is by stepping aside from the director’s role” while the  … Read more

Updated: More heat, less light in CRU hacking ‘scandal’

Daniel Cressey; cross-posted from The Great Beyond Update:The CRU has now reponded to Daniel Cressey’s request for comment on the Sunday Times article discussed below. See the CRU statement below the fold. The fallout from the hacking of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia continues this week, with huge attention still focused on the controversial content of leaked emails between leading climate scientists. The university said on Saturday that 95% of the CRU climate data set concerning land surface temperatures has been made available to the public for “several years” and that all data will be  … Read more

Biofuel woes

Biofuel woes

Cross posted by Katharine Sanderson on The Great Beyond Two papers in Science yesterday have poured cold water on the promise of second generation biofuels. Biofuels derived from the cellulosic, woody parts of plants are not having their greenhouse gas emissions properly accounted for, says Jerry Melillo from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. Melillo’s study suggests that changes in the way land is used, as a consequence of growing crops for biofuels, is not taken into account, and if it were then those biofuels would be shown to actually cause more greenhouse gases to be released than fossil  … Read more