Why Canada's scientists need our supportrt | Alice Bell | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Scientists seem to be forever complaining they're marginalised so, it might be tempting to roll your eyes. When a group from the UK drove a coffin down Westminster last May they were described as "childish". This recent Canadian action might look similar, but it was far from childish.

They weren't simply sticking up for their pay cheques, they were sticking up for the right to ask difficult questions and provide uncomfortable knowledge, in particular when it comes to the Arctic. They were sticking up for the things they research as well as the right to keep doing their research. They were sticking up for the planet. The Canadian scientists who spoke to the Guardian were keen to stress this is less about research budgets versus the rest of the economy, and more simply evidence versus ideology.

Richard Branson: Galactic spaceship to blast off in 2013

But Branson insisted his chief aim was to open space to researchers studying the "global crisis" of climate change.

"In America you've got a lot of skeptics about global warming, what you need is the scientific evidence that it is there one way or the other," he said.

"The majority of scientists believe we have a problem, we need to know that conclusively and we need to work towards resolving it and I think LauncherOne will make it clear one way or the other, and sadly I think it'll be the other."

New cars in Europe may have to cut carbon [dioxide] emissions by one-third | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Twitter / rupertmurdoch: Climate change very slow b

Climate change very slow but real. So far all cures worse than disease. Shale gas huge breakthrough for US. Half carbon of coal and oil.