Scientists have done it again! They have proven the obvious. This time though they've done it with trees and carbon dioxide. Nature.com has a report about an experiment where extra CO2 was pumped into the branches of trees to see if they would grow more and/or faster. In the process they have disproved a misconception of people who have claimed that extra CO2 in the atmosphere would spur plant growth.
Reading through Nature's report, I was thinking of the obvious: I don't grow any faster or more if I'm placed in a room with nothing but oxygen. I suppose I might be able to run for a few more feet before I'm huffing and puffing, or I might just feel a little giddy in such a room. I definitely wouldn't gain any super powers like super-human growth, and I sure as hell won't use any more oxygen than I normally do.
So this one goes out to science for discovering common sense once more. Some of us could use a lot more of it.
