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Science 10 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5766, p. 1359
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5766.1359b
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ScienceScope

The heat was on a 12-person National Research Council committee last week as it tackled the politically charged debate over how scientists have gauged temperatures from the past millennium or two. Chair Gerald North of Texas A&M University in College Station kept the audience on a tight leash, including principal protagonists Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University in State College and his critics, Stephen McIntyre of the University of Toronto, Canada, and Ross McKitrick of the University of Guelph, Canada. House Science Committee Chair Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) had requested the study in the wake of attacks on Mann's "hockey stick" temperature curve showing an abrupt, presumably human-induced warming over the last century (Science, 1 July 2005, p. 31).

Mann made himself scarce throughout the proceedings, even abruptly departing as McIntyre stood to make a final comment. Others, however, had already provided independent support for temperature trends resembling Mann's, and Mann himself pointed out that he had sworn off the criticized analytical method years ago. The committee has promised a report on the science of millennial temperatures in June.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)