British University Expands ‘Climategate’ Probe of Researchers’ Conduct

The university at the heart of the “Climategate” scandal — in which leaked e-mail messages among climate scientists suggested that the researchers had exaggerated or suppressed data to strengthen their claims about global warming — has decided to broaden its internal investigation into its employees’ research practies. On Thursday the institution, the University of East Anglia, announced that it would expand its inquiry to include how the university’s climate unit handled data. To evaluate that matter, investigators will enlist the help of the Royal Society, Britain’s national science group, according to The Financial Times. “It is important that people have the utmost confidence in the science of climate change,” Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, said in the newspaper account.