UK: Climategate - Science not faked, but not pretty

E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled sceptics and discussed hiding data - but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press. The 1,073 e-mails examined by five AP reporters - about a million words in total - show that scientists harboured private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. But the exchanges do not undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

The scientists were keenly aware of how their work would be viewed and used, and, just like politicians, went to great pains to shape their message. Sometimes, they sounded more like schoolyard taunts than scientific tenets. The scientists were so convinced by their own science and so driven by a cause "that unless you're with them, you're against them," said Mark Frankel, director of scientific freedom, responsibility and law at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also reviewed the communications. Frankel saw "no evidence of falsification or fabrication of data, although concerns could be raised about some instances of very 'generous interpretations.'"

The e-mails were stolen from the computer network server of the climate research unit at the University of East Anglia in England, an influential source of climate science, and were posted online last month. The university shut down the server and contacted the police.
Full report on The Associated Press site