Science News

This Sunday most U.S. residents will gain an hour of daylight as its time to spring forward.

Why two oclock? The thinking goes its late enough that most people would be at home, with few bars and restaurants being affected. In addition, it prevented the date from switching to yesterday; it would be confusing if, say, we changed the clocks at midnight back to 11 p.

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Climate change is here and scientists need to do a better job of explaining it to the public, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday.

“Scientists have seriously underestimated the importance of explaining what we know about climate in a way people can understand,” she said.

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A breakup can turn your world upside down, making it feel like you dont know who you are anymore. And you might not, according to a new study.

Couples often share friends, do the same things in their free time, and talk about the future. They say things like, “We like traveling,” and finish each others sentences.

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Climate change is pushing some bird species “towards extinction,” US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar warned Thursday as a new report on the threats facing North American birds was released.

Birds that depend upon the ocean for survival “are among the most vulnerable birds on Earth to climate change,” warned the report put together by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in coordination with several environmental groups.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday demanded reforms of the United Nations and urged negotiations under a small group of countries to accelerate efforts to fight climate change.

But he said changes to the UN were way overdue.

Sarkozy, opening a one-day conference on deforestation, stood by the UN, saying there was “no alternative strategy” to a forum that gave all nations, rich and poor, a voice in a global arena.

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China told the United States on Wednesday to make stronger commitments on climate change and provide environmental expertise and financing to developing nations.

“So we hope the United States will do more … we hope the United States will not shift the responsibility for taking more active action to other countries,” Xie told a news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative session.

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The beleaguered global warming panel has found an outside group to review how it makes its reports.

The Netherlands-based organization of 15 national science councils will pick the scientists for the review. Details will be announced Wednesday at the United Nations.

The InterAcademy Council will be given complete control to review the rules, procedures and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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China and India have given their qualified approval to the Copenhagen climate accord calling for voluntary limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

But the delay in replying by the world’s two fastest-growing polluters had raised concern the accord could be rendered meaningless, even though India and China were among a small group of nations that negotiated the deal.

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A recent poll suggests that high-profile controversies regarding climate science are weakening public confidence in the validity of global warming, And that could endanger congressional efforts to pass climate legislation.

Weve seen some pretty significant changes over the past year, says Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change.

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The dead of winter especially this winter with its massive snow storms in the eastern United States is not the easiest time to make the case for global warming. Short-term weather events and long-range climate change are not the same thing, of course, but its hard to separate them in the publics mind.

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