"Pennsylvania State University has found no evidence of research misconduct on the part of  Michael Mann, the prominent climatologist who is a leader in efforts to chart Earth’s past temperature patterns and has been a longstanding target of groups and individuals fighting restrictions on greenhouse gases."

A high-level seminar in Washington June 29 probed the apparent disconnect between scientific knowledge and public understanding, especially as it relates to climate change. The debate spilled over into the blogosphere.

"'Expert Credibility in Climate Change,' a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that 97-98% of climate researchers examined who are most actively publishing in the field support the IPCC conclusions, i.e., are convinced by the evidence for human-caused climate change, and that the relative climate expertise and scientific prominence of researchers questioning the findings is significantly below that of convinced researchers."

"Though she has stayed behind the scenes for most of the federal response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt has emerged in the past week as a bold, forthright translator of the web of numbers and scientific estimates surrounding the spill."

Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told reporters yesterday that funding cuts in recent years for instrumental ocean observation programs have left scientists trying to track the movement of spilled oil partly in the dark.

Unable to discredit consensus climate science with evidence and arguments, the climate change deniers have launched a broad campaign of death threats and intimidation against top-level research scientists.

"Virginia's flagship university went to court Thursday to fight an effort by Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) to get documents from a former climate scientist at the school, an unusual confrontation that will test the bounds of academic freedom and result in the college facing down its own lawyer in court."

Climate scientists are receiving a rash of threats, hate-mail, and physical acts of intimidation from right-wing hate groups unhappy with the conclusions about man-made climate change which data have led them to.

"More than 250 U.S. scientists on Thursday defended climate change research against 'political assaults' and warned that any delay in tackling global warming heightens the risk of a planet-wide catastrophe."

"University of Newcastle researchers relied on 'spurious' results in claiming to debunk evidence that global warming is worsening Australia's droughts, a rival team of scientists contends in the latest battle of the climate wars."

"Climate scientists, used to dealing with sceptics, are under siege like never before, targeted by hate emails brimming with abuse and accusations of fabricating global warming data. Some emails contain thinly veiled death threats."

"One of the world's leading climate scientists has launched a libel lawsuit against a Canadian newspaper for publishing articles that he says 'poison' the debate on global warming." The newspaper is the conservative National Post, owned by CanWest.

"President Barack Obama will outline a revamped space policy on Thursday that will use $6 billion in new funding over five years to create 2,500 new jobs in Florida with the ultimate goal of going to Mars." "NASA's earth science team would receive an extra $2.4 billion -- a 62 percent increase -- through 2015 to study changing temperatures, ice coverage, ozone depletion, and atmospheric carbon dioxide."

"NASA, the agency known for exploring space, will be spending a lot more time studying Earth in the next few years. The Obama administration has proposed a budget for NASA that includes billions of dollars for satellites and other tools to help scientists investigate Earth-bound problems, especially climate change."

"A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property."