Choking China: The struggle to clear Beijing's air
As pollution levels return to normal in China's capital after a record-breaking month of smog, what can be done to banish the smog?
New Scientist
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Polluting ships have been doing the climate a favour
New restrictions on sulphur emissions from shipping will save thousands of lives
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Food kills, flab protects
Obesity kills, everyone knows that. But is it possible that we've been looking at the problem in the wrong way? It seems getting fatter may be part of your body's defence against the worst effects of unhealthy eating, rather than their direct cause.
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Better living through green chemistry
Pass by a chemical plant, and the plumes billowing from its smokestacks may get you thinking. What filthy concoctions are being brewed inside, and what nasty stuff is it spewing into the environment?
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Battle over climate science spreads to US schoolrooms
SCHOOLS in three US states - Louisiana, Texas and South Dakota - have been told to teach alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming. The moves appear to be allied to efforts to teach creationism in public schools.
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Climategate scientist questioned in Parliament
Beleaguered climate scientist Phil Jones from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, yesterday answered his critics during questions from a British parliamentary committee.
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There's no war to fight over global warming
What is it like being a climate scientist at the moment? Not much fun. It's a bit like your next-door neighbour being accused of a crime and everyone in the city you live in, including yourself, being told they are under suspicion as well. Accusations about lack of integrity, deceit and bias are flying thick and fast.
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Arctic ice arches in peril
Every winter the Arctic ice cap is penned in by curved barriers of ice spanning the straits that lead out of the Arctic Ocean. Now it seems that some of these ice arches are failing to form. The resulting exodus of sea ice into the Atlantic and Pacific could affect ocean circulation and marine life.
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Can we trust the IPCC on the big stuff?
Ever since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report on the impacts of climate change was discovered to contain a major error - that the Himalayan glaciers will be largely gone by 2035 - there has been a media feeding frenzy to find other mistakes. But it misses the point to focus on individual errors sprinkled through the report's 1000 or so pages.
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Honesty is the best policy for climate scientists
FOR many environmentalists, all human influence on the planet is bad. Many natural scientists implicitly share this outlook. This is not unscientific, but it can create the impression that greens and environmental scientists are authoritarian tree-huggers who value nature above people. That doesn't play well with mainstream society, as the apparent backlash against climate science reveals.
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Hey green spender: The truth about eco-friendly brands
If you care about the environment, you may want to show that in the way you spend your money. These decisions could help steer us towards a truly green economy - but only if consumers and investors have a good idea of which companies have genuinely minimised their impact on the environment.