Science

"Medical experts reacted with alarm Monday as two top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination appeared to question whether child vaccinations should be mandatory — injecting politics into an emotional issue that has taken on new resonance with a recent outbreak of measles in the United States."

"The World Meteorological Organization reported on Monday that 2014 was the hottest year in a historical record of global temperature dating from 1880. That finding confirms an announcement made last month by two American scientific agencies and one in Japan."

"Amid growing concern about global weather patterns, a rocket roared into space Saturday carrying a NASA satellite that will give scientists new tools to forecast weather, track drought and monitor climate change."

"A fierce debate is raging in West Virginia over a new set of science standards for public schools that would acknowledge climate change as real and man-made."

Congressional Republicans plan to re-launch some bills they fielded last year -- bills attacking the science on which environmental and health regulations are based. But this time, with GOP control of the Senate, the bills may clear Congress."

"A climate-change skeptic at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who has relied on grants from fossil-fuel energy interests apparently failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest in a newly released paper, according to a complaint by a climate watchdog group."

"Some forecasters have projected a record snowstorm for the Northeast in the coming hours, which isn't exactly the sort of thing that makes people think about global warming."

Since taking office, the Obama administration has vowed to restore science as the basis for health findings on the toxic chemicals in commerce. But politics -- based on strong lobbying and finagling by the chemical industry -- seems to have thwarted the administration's declared intentions. "In the past three years, the EPA has assessed fewer chemicals than ever. Last year, it completed only one assessment. Today, the agency has even embraced measures sought by the chemical industry that have led to endless delays."

"It is nearly 27 years now since a NASA scientist testified before the US Senate that the agency was 99% certain that rising global temperatures were caused by the burning of fossil fuels. And the Senate still has not got it – based on the results of three symbolic climate change votes on Wednesday night."

"Last year was the hottest on earth since record-keeping began in 1880, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring warnings about the risks of runaway greenhouse gas emissions and undermining claims by climate change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped."