Science

"Nature and man together cooked up the disaster in the Philippines. Geography, meteorology, poverty, shoddy construction, a booming population, and, to a much lesser degree, climate change combine to make the Philippines the nation most vulnerable to killer typhoons, according to several scientific studies."

As science celebs praised Carl Sagan for the opening of a collection of his papers at the Library of Congress, they also lamented the mounting attacks on science by opponents of climate change controls.

"WASHINGTON -- Greenhouse gases are making the world's oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for global waters, according to a new report Wednesday from 540 international scientists."

"ATLANTIC CITY — Five miles offshore from the Golden Nugget casino, Michael F. Crowley, a marine scientist at Rutgers University, heaves three lifeboat-yellow drones off the back of his research vessel."

"Canada's failure to adopt a 'comprehensive national strategy or vision' for ocean science is confounding efforts to plan for the future and make efficient use of funding for ocean research, a new national report released Wednesday concludes."

"Voters in Virginia narrowly elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor over Republican Ken Cuccinelli II, who differed among other things on the future of the state's coal industry. Mr. McAuliffe supported new EPA regulations on power plants that will make it difficult for new coal plants to be bought."

Lack of understanding of climate science seems to be a hallmark of mainstream media's coverage of global warming. Case in point: the "pause."

"WASHINGTON -- Environmentalists are poised to become the second-biggest contributor to the effort to elect Democrat Terry McAuliffe as the next governor of Virginia, trailing only the Democratic Governors Association in spending on his campaign."

"Tea Party Republicans succeeded in grinding the federal government to a halt, and they are the biggest holdouts in the face of overwhelming evidence that climate change is happening. Mainstream Republicans, however, are much less likely to reject the fact that the planet is getting hotter."