Current Editorial
On Beginning My Second Career: Dr. Sherwood Idso expresses his thoughts about his nearly 35-year tenure with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and his new assignment as President of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change.

Subject Index Summaries
Little Ice Age – Arctic: Earth's polar regions are supposed to be harbingers of future climate.  Like the canary in the coal mine, they are expected to warn us of dangerous changes in our environment.  So what is the story from the "top of the world" with respect to global warming?

Nonstructural Carbohydrates: In a near universal response to atmospheric CO2 enrichment, practically all of earth's plants increase their production of nonstructural carbohydrates, which provide the stimulus, i.e., raw material, for increasing plant growth and enhancing vegetative development.

Current Journal Reviews
The Little Ice Age in the Arabian Sea: Was there really an anomalous Little Ice Age-era cooling of the climate as far removed from northern Europe as Karachi, Pakistan?  Yes, we once again repeat the almost monotonous story of the Little Ice Age's global extent, along with the similar extent of the prior Medieval Warm Period.

Cyclone Frequency "Down Under": As the world has experienced ups and downs in air temperature over the past several millennia, one would expect - especially if you believe in the claims of political climatologists - that storm characteristics would have varied somewhat in phase with these climatic oscillations or at least responded to the long-term trend in climate.  Apparently, however, nature does not take its marching orders from our modern climate alarmists.

How Elevated CO2 Influences Grain Production in Rice at Different Levels of Soil Nitrogen Availability: The authors measured root uptake of nitrogen and final grain yield under different soil nitrogen regimes in rice plants exposed to ambient and CO2-enriched air under field conditions in a FACE study in Japan.  As always, the results were very encouraging.

Effects of Increases in Atmospheric CO2 Concentration and Air Temperature on Apple Seedlings: Elevated CO2 enhanced leaf photosynthetic rates and fruit production in dwarf apple saplings more at elevated than at ambient air temperature.  It also increased the optimum temperature for photosynthesis.  The end result for fruit production was truly astounding.

Effects of Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment on Photosynthesis in Norway Spruce Trees: In an experiment that utilized plastic bags to alter the atmospheric CO2 concentration around branches of Norway spruce trees, elevated levels of CO2 increased needle photosynthesis rates while simultaneously increasing the temperature at which the needles photosynthesize at their optimum.