Using clever chemistry, a Scripps Research team has pinpointed the enzyme target of a drug group that stops the progression of the devastating disease Friedreich's ataxia in mice and may do the same for humans. The findings, developed in collaboration with scientists from Repligen Corporation, help advance this treatment approach one step closer toward human clinical trials, which will be a welcome event for disease sufferers who currently have few treatment options.

The world's peak ocean science body has adopted a new definition of seawater developed by Australian, German and US scientists to make climate projections more accurate.

Climate researchers have shown that big volcanic eruptions over the past 450 years have temporarily cooled weather in the tropics—but suggest that such effects may have been masked in the 20th century by rising global temperatures.

A study reported in today's issue of Nature disputes a longstanding picture of how ice sheets influence ocean circulation during glacial periods.

Ice core and ocean deposit comparisons show complex links between carbon dioxide levels, ocean currents and climate; may help explain past, present and future climate trends

A class of powerful, invisible waves hidden beneath the surface of the ocean can shape the underwater edges of continents and contribute to ocean mixing and climate, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have found.

Were the past glacial ages wetter or dryer? Though it is often asked, this question does not actually make much sense because temperature and precipitation do not oscillate with the same rhythm. Glacial ages (periods of globally low temperature and a larger volume of polar ice) typically recur at 100,000 year intervals.

Assessing human impact on climate and ecosystems and predicting future climate evolution require knowledge of climates from past centuries.

Increasing summer temperatures could mean some parts of southern England are too hot to grow vines for making wine by 2080, according to a new book launched today (26 May 2008).

The prediction of future climate is, undoubtedly, one of the main challenges of our time, marked by the concern about climatic change and its effects, such as drought and natural disasters, poles thaw, rise of the sea level, diseases, etc. Climatic change poses different scientific challenges to researchers from all over the world, which must be tackled with new ideas, reliable data and advanced instruments.

A new study of possible links between climate and geophysics on Earth and similar planets finds that prolonged heating of the atmosphere can shut down plate tectonics and cause a planet's crust to become locked in place.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have helped to identify that the presence of large amounts of seaweed in coastal areas can influence the climate.