AP Analysis: Science not faked, but not pretty

[villager]

Science not faked, but not pretty


LONDON – E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data — but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press.

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

The scientists were keenly aware of how their work would be viewed and used, and, just like politicians, went to great pains to shape their message. Sometimes, they sounded more like schoolyard taunts than scientific tenets.

The scientists were so convinced by their own science and so driven by a cause "that unless you're with them, you're against them," said Mark Frankel, director of scientific freedom, responsibility and law at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also reviewed the communications.

Frankel saw "no evidence of falsification or fabrication of data, although concerns could be raised about some instances of very 'generous interpretations.'" Some e-mails expressed doubts about the quality of individual temperature records or why models and data didn't quite match. Part of this is the normal give-and-take of research, but skeptics challenged how reliable certain data was.

The e-mails were stolen from the computer network server of the climate research unit at the University of East Anglia in southeast England, an influential source of climate science, and were posted online last month. The university shut down the server and contacted the police.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091212/ap_on_sc/climate_e_mails

[krispos42]

1. k&r

[Kali]

2. but but but

the determination is from another scientist and scientific association and any scientist that says anthropogenic climate change is real are in on the conspiracy, don't ya know?

You know - the big conspiracy of virtually all climate scientists to get more research grants or something, I don't know - can't quite figure out how they would benefit from catastrophe more than the oiligarchy would by denying it all.

[creeksneakers2]

3. K & R

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Now it would be interesting if the skeptical "Scientists"

had their emails hacked, stolen and released. I think it would go far beyond "not pretty".