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Thursday, 26 July, 2001, 12:12 GMT 13:12 UK Disaster that struck the ancients The pharaohs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom had built the mightiest legacy of the ancient world - the pyramids at Giza. But after nearly a thousand years of stability, central authority disintegrated and the country collapsed into chaos for more than a 100 years. What happened, and why, has remained a huge controversy. But Professor Fekri Hassan, from University College London, UK, wanted to solve the mystery, by gathering together scientific clues. His inspiration was the little known tomb in southern Egypt of a regional governor, Ankhtifi. ...

The wines keep rolling in from that sizzling 2003 vintage in Europe, offering further proof that even if it's melting the polar ice caps and threatening us with inundation, global warming may not be all bad. It hit 104 in Paris, 107 in Frankfurt and triple digits throughout French wine country in the summer of 2003, prompting winemakers to crow about a "vintage of the century," even though the century was only 3 years old. The point is that, in often-chilly European vineyards, grapes often don't get fully ripe before fall rains set in. It's why Europeans always say their...

Bitterly cold air spread across the Rockies and Midwest on Wednesday, closing schools, crippling cars and sending volunteers into the streets looking for homeless people to rescue. In West Yellowstone, Montana, a hamlet on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park and a frequent icebox, the mercury plummeted to 45 below zero, shattering the old record for December 7 of 39 below set in 1927. Schools in the Colorado Springs area were closed and many others statewide opened late. The cold extended south to the Texas Panhandle, where Lubbock had a record low of 6 degrees. At Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, officials...

The 11th annual meeting of global warming enthusiasts in Montreal isn’t turning out to be a very happy event. Even though this is the first opportunity for the burgeoning global climate bureaucracy to celebrate the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the realities of science, economics and politics are raining on its parade. First, a new study published this week in the journal Nature turns global warming alarmism on its head. British researchers reported that the ocean current responsible for the tropical winds that warm Europe’s climate has decreased by an estimated 30 percent since 1957. The headline of the...

The ocean current that gives western Europe its relatively balmy climate is stuttering, raising fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age. The dramatic finding comes from a study of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which found a 30% reduction in the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream. The slow-down, which has long been predicted as a possible consequence of global warming, will give renewed urgency to intergovernmental talks in Montreal, Canada, this week on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Harry Bryden at the Southampton Oceanography Centre...