Did climate change cause witch hysteria? » Local News » SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Currently an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, Oster linked periodic outbreaks of violence against people accused of witchcraft with dramatic temperature drops.

"The most active period of the witchcraft trials (mainly in Europe) coincides with a period of lower-than-average temperature known to climatologists as the 'little ice age,'" Oster wrote. "The colder temperatures increased the frequency of crop failure, and colder seas prevented cod and other fish from migrating as far north, eliminating this vital food source for some northern areas of Europe."

When crops failed, "people would have searched for a scapegoat in the face of deadly changes in weather patterns," she wrote. Thus, desperate people traced their troubles to unpopular neighbors and outcasts allied to the devil.

US electric car drivers save cash, says study

The Union of Concerned Scientists (the bunch that believes in global warming) has calculated that electric car drivers in the USA can save $13,000 on fuel over the vehicle’s lifespan.