Seeing terms like B次元官网网址減ost-truthB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渁lternative factsB次元官网网址� gain traction in the news convinces me that politicians, media workers and readers could benefit from a refresher course in how science helps us understand the world.

Reporting on science is difficult at the best of times. Trying to communicate complex ideas and distill entire studies into eye-catching headlines and brief stories can open the door to misinformation and limited understanding.

Recent headlines about a climate study, B次元官网网址淪hifting patterns of mild weather in response to projected radiative forcing,B次元官网网址� in the February 2017 issue of Climatic Change, illustrate the predicament. Some news outlets implied the study showed countries such as Canada and the U.K. would benefit from increasingly frequent B次元官网网址渕ild weather daysB次元官网网址� brought on by climate change.

Many failed to convey the true take-home message: Climate change will have devastating consequences for human civilization. Just ask the studyB次元官网网址檚 author, Karin van der Wiel, research scientist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

In her post-doctoral studies on the frequency of mild weather days, she found a few countries, mostly in the mid-latitudes, will experience slightly more frequent mild weather B次元官网网址� defined as days between 18 C and 30 C with less than one millimetre of rain and dew point temperature not exceeding 20 C. But thatB次元官网网址檚 not the whole story.

B次元官网网址淭he climate is changing in many places over the world,B次元官网网址� she said in an email. B次元官网网址淕lobally, mild weather is decreasing and in many locations, summers are going to be increasingly too hot and too humid to be considered mild. These are not desirable changes.B次元官网网址�

Van der Wiel examined climate change and mild weather rather than extreme events such as floods, wildfires and drought, to make it easier for people to relate to the issue and inspire them to learn more.

B次元官网网址淚 am happy the research was picked up so widely; that way more people hopefully will learn that climate is changing the weather near them and in the coming decades,B次元官网网址� she said, adding, B次元官网网址渕ild weather is not the only important thing in climate change, and therefore the other, more alarming, aspects of climate change should not be forgotten.B次元官网网址�

Van der Wiel points out that mild weather isnB次元官网网址檛 necessarily good, as it can also create negative conditions.

Although it might create more opportunities for outdoor recreation, it could also change snowmelt patterns and threaten water resources. Mild weather at the wrong time and place can be disastrous. The wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray last year reached city limits on a mild weather day, with an average temperature of 22.1 C and no precipitation, after several weeks of unseasonably warm and dry weather.

B次元官网网址淢ild weather is not good for everything,B次元官网网址� Van der Wiel wrote. B次元官网网址淚f you like skiing, increasing mild weather is bad. We havenB次元官网网址檛 investigated the coincidence of wild fires with mild weather, but such a link might exist and would indicate again that climate change is something the global community should try to mitigate as much as possible.B次元官网网址�

This research is an important piece of emerging narrative about the impacts of climate change, but we must consider it in the context of all the work on climate.

Science is the most useful tool we have to adapt to climate change and avoid its worst outcomes. But it requires critical thinking and a big-picture perspective to ensure we consider all available evidence. With so many scanning social media feeds for news rather than reading entire articles, facts and clarity can become elusive.

ItB次元官网网址檚 up to us all, media and consumers alike, to dig deeper for the full story.