Lab notes: sporty and sweary, potty-mouthed and powerful – it's this week's science

I really hate running, but for various, doubtless misguided reasons, I'm currently training to run a 10K charity race. Needless to say it's awful: I'm slow and overweight; during training I look like a tomato on the verge of explosion and would do almost anything to make it all stop. However, one thing I do enjoy is a good swear. So imagine my joy at finding that introducing a bit of swearing into my training could actually help boost my performance. Researchers at Keele have confirmed that in cycling and hand-grip tests, people who repeated a swear word performed more strongly than those repeating a neutral word. Now to find a child-free park to run/swear in. Sadly the "exercise pill" that scientists believe could deliver the benefits of fitness in tablet form isn't going to be ready in time for my race, so running and swearing it is for now. Some of you have been swearing for very different reasons: "Dark Knight employees" are on the rise, a new study claims. These workplace vigilantes are keen to report colleagues for minor misdemeanours - and while a minor irritant for some, they can be a costly issue for organisations. And finally, climate sceptics are more than a minor irritant, what with the fate of the planet being at stake, but at least one argument has now been laid to rest. An apparent 'hiatus' in global warming from 1998 to 2012 has repeatedly been cited by climate sceptics as a sign that the climate is less sensitive to greenhouse gases than previously thought - or even that global warming has stopped. A new study rejects this view, and suggests that there was ultimately no meaningful deviation between what climate models predicted and what was observed. The real take-home is that the science needs to be better communicated - and that it's time to stop debating and start acting.