It sounds like the plot of a sci-fi film: poison plant goes on a rampage made possible by the careless habits of the very public that demonized it for so long.

There are reports that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing poison ivy to thrive: making the plant bigger, hardier, faster-growing, and increasing the power of its urushiol - the stuff that makes you itch.

An experiment by Duke University researchers exposed poison ivy plants to carbon-dioxide levels 200 parts per million higher than the current norm, says the National Geographic News.

The growth rate of the poison ivy plants increased by about 150 percent as a result, the story says.

The really scary part? The story also says that most global warming models predict that the carbon-dioxide levels used in the experiment will be a reality by 2050.

Scott Crowder, an archaeologist with the Rochester Museum & Science Center, says that not only is poison ivy becoming more "muscular," but it's also spreading.

Liz Berkeley, a lab diagnostician-educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension, says the global warming-poison ivy connection is plausible because plants take in carbon dioxide in order to manufacture their sugars.

"It is everywhere," Berkeley says. "It is a very common weed here. It produces a seed berry that is ingested into, particularly, birds, and as it passes through the bird, it drops and it starts to grow. And so it's easily spread."

Poison ivy is easy to miss because it looks like many other plants, she says, and its appearance can change depending on where it's growing.

"Hey, everybody's got to survive somehow," Berkeley says.

To avoid a reaction, she says, wash thoroughly with soap and cold water within 20 minutes of coming inside after any activity that may have exposed you to poison ivy.

"There are some people that are not affected by the chemical that's in it," Berkeley says. "And there are some people that are extremely allergic to it. So it just really depends on whether you have the propensity."