New Ice Age Film Reportedly Worries NASA

A new Hollywood disaster film dramatizing global warming effects that set off an instant ice age has sparked concern at NASA.

The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., a division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, issued an e-mail earlier this month ordering personnel not to talk about The Day After Tomorrow, the New York Times reported Monday, saying media representatives must contact non-NASA officials to discuss science fiction vs. science fact, the memo said.

In The Day After Tomorrow, opening May 28, global warming from smokestack and tailpipe gases sets off an instant ice age by disrupting warm ocean currents.

Few experts believe the film presents a realistic theory, especially in the near future, but some NASA scientists told the Times the agency fears moviegoers may blame the Bush administration for de-emphasizing climate change issues.