How to get rid of a lot of carbon dioxide, quick? Some scientists are saying we need to take emergency action to slow global warming. In this hour, we'll hear from scientist James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis, about his idea to spur the oceans to capture large amounts carbon. Under the plan, large vertical tubes placed in the ocean would bring nutrient-rich water from the ocean depths closer to the surface, feeding algal blooms that would absorb excess carbon dioxide. But can clever engineering help the Earth to heal itself? We'll talk about it in this segment.

At a U.N. meeting earlier this week, more than 80 heads of state met to focus on the problem of global warming. President Bush did not participate in that meeting, choosing instead to convene a separate two-day conference in Washington on global warming. "Climate change is a global problem and we are contributing to it," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. "Therefore, we are prepared to expand our leadership to address the challenge." Under the U.S. plan, countries would work together to set voluntary targets for greenhouse gas reductions, rather than the mandatory targets that would have been put in place by the Kyoto Protocols. Will the new round of talks lead to any changes in U.S. climate policy?

Plus, one team of scientists thinks it knows what killed the woolly mammoth and other ice-age creatures. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they say they have evidence that a comet or other low-density space object exploded in the upper atmosphere of the Earth about 13,000 years ago, possibly leading to the extinction of mammoths and the decline of Stone Age people. We'll talk about their findings. Another research team has managed to extract DNA from a strand of mammoth hair. What can the findings tell us about how mammoths lived -- and can the technique be used to learn more about other prehistoric animals? We'll talk about the life and death of the mammoth in this hour.

Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
James Lovelock
Geophysiologist
Honorary Visiting Fellow
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom

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Elliot Diringer
Director of International Strategies
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Arlington, Virginia

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Peter Schultz
Professor, Geological Sciences
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

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Tom Gilbert
Assistant Professor, Biological Institute
Centre for Ancient Genetics
University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark

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This segment produced by Karin Vergoth