Most people concerned about the climate know that trees can help slow global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but a recent study published in the journal Science shows that the climate-cooling benefits of planting trees may be overstated.

"Our study showed that strong cooling occurs from trees. However, this cooling may not be as strong as we thought," said Maria Val Martinová, a researcher at the University of Sheffield in Great Britain.

Darker forests can warm the Earth because they lower the albedo of the land they cover, meaning they absorb more sunlight and reflect less sunlight back into space. So more heat is held by the Earth's surface. (Moriah McDonald, insideclimatenews.org)