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A scientist in the middle of the climate change fight
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Getting hotter: global temperatures have risen sharply in the past century
from “climate sceptic” bloggers, he works, though the university even as further studies confirmed refused to cancel. that his graph was basically Given this constant pressure, correct. A lot of the criticism it’s no wonder that New York rested on arcane statistical Times’ columnist Andrew Revkin arguments, which Mann delves describes Mann as “prickly and into in some detail. These sections defensive”. In his book, as in can make for challenging reading, everything else, Mann takes no but will be invaluable for anyone prisoners. As he recently put it, confused by the many claims and “Mann has been accused counterclaims found online. of incompetence and Much of the rest of the book is devoted to climate change politics dishonesty and had his and the movement funded by the emails hacked” fossil fuel industry to cast doubt on climate science. Mann also climatologists “have to recognise discusses the “climategate” affair that they are in a street fight”. in which his and his colleagues’ A pure scientist at heart, Mann emails were hacked from a server nevertheless works hard to at the University of East Anglia explain his results to the wider in the UK and released online. world, but his technical style The crusade against him makes the book a difficult read continues. In early February, an at times. Still, it is an admirable anonymous Facebook campaign attempt to tell the behind-thetried to block Mann from giving scenes story of one of today’s a talk at the university where most vicious scientific battles. n
understood our inability to resist temptation. Brain scans tell us that habits usually start with a simple sensory cue – the smell of a cigarette, for instance – which sets up a craving in the brain’s reward centres. This yearning overrides the regions involved in self-control, so that nothing will satisfy you except the momentary pleasure of a fix. The million-dollar question is whether you can to break this cycle to forge newer, healthier
habits in the messy conditions of real life. It is here that Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit excels. From nail-biting to alcoholism, Duhigg offers astute insights into the triggers that set people on a downward spiral, and proven ways to fight those urges. He has set his sights far beyond the individual, however. Habitual behaviours can propagate through an organisation or society, he argues, offering convincing anecdotes that cover
Graph fight Michael Marshall gets a closer look at the man many vilified for his climate research the past millennium (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 26, p 759). Both studies showed the same thing: the 20th century was the warmest for 1000 years. The “hockey stick” graph, showing fairly steady temperatures for 900 years and then a sharp rise, became an icon of climate change. The graph said nothing about what caused the temperature rise, but that didn’t stop the onslaught. Mann’s methods came in for unrelenting criticism, particularly
FEW scientists have had as hard a time as Michael Mann. In the last 15 years, the climatologist has been accused of incompetence and dishonesty, subjected to Congressional inquiries and had his emails hacked and released online for all the world to see. In The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, Mann sets out to tell his side of the story. Part autobiography, part furious exposé, this book is for anyone interested in the science – and filthy politics – of climate change. Mann first became famous, and a target for those who do not believe in man-made climate change, in 1998. Using data from tree rings, he and his colleagues reconstructed how global temperatures had changed over the previous 600 years (Nature, vol 392, p 779). A year later he extended the analysis to cover
Breaking habits The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, William Heinemann /Random House, £12.99/$28 Reviewed by David Robson
WHO can deny ownership of a single bad habit that they have tried, and failed, to kick? Neuroscientists have long
Justin Sullivan/Getty
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the front lines by Michael E. Mann, Columbia University Press, £19.95/$28.95
everything from the success of Starbucks to the civil rights movement. Most compelling, though, is his explanation of the way advertising hijacks your brain’s reward centres to set off a new, irresistible habit. Whether Duhigg’s book will lead you to change your behaviours is another matter: no amount of understanding is going to make up for willpower. But his lucid writing is sure to persuade you to give it a try. n 3 March 2012 | NewScientist | 51
Getting hotter: global temperatures have risen sharply in the past century
from “climate sceptic” bloggers, he works, though the university even as further studies confirmed refused to cancel. that his graph was basically Given this constant pressure, correct. A lot of the criticism it’s no wonder that New York rested on arcane statistical Times’ columnist Andrew Revkin arguments, which Mann delves describes Mann as “prickly and into in some detail. These sections defensive”. In his book, as in can make for challenging reading, everything else, Mann takes no but will be invaluable for anyone prisoners. As he recently put it, confused by the many claims and “Mann has been accused counterclaims found online. of incompetence and Much of the rest of the book is devoted to climate change politics dishonesty and had his and the movement funded by the emails hacked” fossil fuel industry to cast doubt on climate science. Mann also climatologists “have to recognise discusses the “climategate” affair that they are in a street fight”. in which his and his colleagues’ A pure scientist at heart, Mann emails were hacked from a server nevertheless works hard to at the University of East Anglia explain his results to the wider in the UK and released online. world, but his technical style The crusade against him makes the book a difficult read continues. In early February, an at times. Still, it is an admirable anonymous Facebook campaign attempt to tell the behind-thetried to block Mann from giving scenes story of one of today’s a talk at the university where most vicious scientific battles. n
understood our inability to resist temptation. Brain scans tell us that habits usually start with a simple sensory cue – the smell of a cigarette, for instance – which sets up a craving in the brain’s reward centres. This yearning overrides the regions involved in self-control, so that nothing will satisfy you except the momentary pleasure of a fix. The million-dollar question is whether you can to break this cycle to forge newer, healthier
habits in the messy conditions of real life. It is here that Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit excels. From nail-biting to alcoholism, Duhigg offers astute insights into the triggers that set people on a downward spiral, and proven ways to fight those urges. He has set his sights far beyond the individual, however. Habitual behaviours can propagate through an organisation or society, he argues, offering convincing anecdotes that cover
Graph fight Michael Marshall gets a closer look at the man many vilified for his climate research the past millennium (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 26, p 759). Both studies showed the same thing: the 20th century was the warmest for 1000 years. The “hockey stick” graph, showing fairly steady temperatures for 900 years and then a sharp rise, became an icon of climate change. The graph said nothing about what caused the temperature rise, but that didn’t stop the onslaught. Mann’s methods came in for unrelenting criticism, particularly
FEW scientists have had as hard a time as Michael Mann. In the last 15 years, the climatologist has been accused of incompetence and dishonesty, subjected to Congressional inquiries and had his emails hacked and released online for all the world to see. In The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, Mann sets out to tell his side of the story. Part autobiography, part furious exposé, this book is for anyone interested in the science – and filthy politics – of climate change. Mann first became famous, and a target for those who do not believe in man-made climate change, in 1998. Using data from tree rings, he and his colleagues reconstructed how global temperatures had changed over the previous 600 years (Nature, vol 392, p 779). A year later he extended the analysis to cover
Breaking habits The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, William Heinemann /Random House, £12.99/$28 Reviewed by David Robson
WHO can deny ownership of a single bad habit that they have tried, and failed, to kick? Neuroscientists have long
Justin Sullivan/Getty
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the front lines by Michael E. Mann, Columbia University Press, £19.95/$28.95
everything from the success of Starbucks to the civil rights movement. Most compelling, though, is his explanation of the way advertising hijacks your brain’s reward centres to set off a new, irresistible habit. Whether Duhigg’s book will lead you to change your behaviours is another matter: no amount of understanding is going to make up for willpower. But his lucid writing is sure to persuade you to give it a try. n 3 March 2012 | NewScientist | 51