What is it, then, when a scientist formulates a hypothesis that growth patterns follow temperature, and tests the hypothesis against data only to find that growth patterns do not follow temperature at all for 30% of the data and only partially for the rest?

ECONOMIST: Against the prevailing wind

For instance, the World Bank just released a report, "Turning Down the Heat, " which explores a world with four degrees Celsius of global temperature growth.

CNN: More voices needed in climate debate

Experimental models suggest a burst of shrub growth should have accompanied the temperature rise.

CNN: Shrub census shows Alaskan Arctic losing its cool

People are fleeing the cold: there is a strong correlation between the average temperature in January and population growth, notes Edward Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

ECONOMIST: The census

Tarragon is very temperature sensitive and cold temperatures slow growth and quite commonly causes leaf quality issues.

BBC: Who, What, Why: Where has all the tarragon gone?

The device, which resembles the sawed-off head of a driver golf club, uses its Plant Care Engine (or PCE as its literature so abbreviates) to detect such important plant growth criteria as water, fertilizer, humidity, temperature and light.

ENGADGET: Switched On: The fork, the ficus and the flandoodle

In an area of a few tens of square kilometres around this tower, the researchers will place further sensors in the soil and in local streams, to measure temperature, carbon-dioxide and nutrient levels, along with rates of root growth and the activities of microbes.

ECONOMIST: A 30-year plan to study America��s ecology is about to begin

For example, it is possible to check if two yeast strains were grown under the same experimental conditions (temperature, medium, etc.), and if the same methods were used to calculate growth parameters, etc.

FORBES: Chess, Art, Robots, and the Future of Science

The growth in the number of air-conditioned homes, which has made indoor TV viewing bearable regardless of the temperature outside, is among them.

FORBES: Magazine Article