A 'naughty child' warming the world

El Niño, meaning "little boy" in Spanish, is an innocuous name for a geographical phenomenon that can make half the world swelter while sending the other half scrambling for sandbags to control floods.

The name has an interesting origin. Centuries ago, fishermen off the northern coast of Peru noticed that around Christmas, a southward warm current appeared near shore, briefly reversing the usual cold flow.