Necessary Roughness

The New York Times reports (link dead) that in the journal Nature (subscription required for Nature article), researchers report finding “huge amounts of organic material” that could mean undiscovered oil deposits.

Several of the researchers said they were reluctant to focus on that aspect of the work, saying it would be unfortunate if their climate studies prompted new oil exploration that could liberate more greenhouse gases and further warm the climate.

Gee, thanks for the concern. How much does fuel count in your research costs, anyhow?