STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The violent threats are not what bother Michael Mann the most. He’s used to them. Instead, it’s the fact that his life’s work – the effort to stop global warming – has been under siege since last fall. That’s when Mann suddenly found himself in the middle of the so-called ‘climategate’ scandal, in which more than 1,000 e-mails among top climate scientists – including Mann – were obtained illegally by hackers and published on the Internet. The e-mails showed some of the scientists sharing doubts about just how fast the Earth’s temperature is rising, questioning the work of other researchers and refusing to share data with the public. Critics, including Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., have seized on the e-mails as proof that Mann and his colleagues deliberately exaggerated the scientific case behind global warming. In a rare extended interview, Mann acknowledges ‘minor’ errors but says he has been bewildered by the criticism – including a deluge of correspondence sent to his Pennsylvania State University office that, he says, occasionally has turned ugly. ‘I’ve developed a thick skin,’ Mann says. ‘Frankly, I’m more worried that these people are succeeding in creating doubt in […]