Latest science news in Earth & Climate
A look back at Louisiana's great 1812 hurricane
Nearly 200 years before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, a major storm hit the coast of Louisiana just west of the city.
Video: Sand Dunes of Southern Colorado
This "Sunday Morning" moment of nature takes you to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and preserve in southern Colorado.
Russia to open ancient secrets of Antarctic lake
For 15 million years, an icebound lake has remained sealed deep beneath Antarctica's frozen crust, possibly hiding prehistoric or unknown life. Now Russian scientists are on the brink of piercing...
Microbiologists at TU Muenchen aim to optimise bio-ethanol production
Food versus fuel - this rivalry is gaining significance against a backdrop of increasingly scarce farmland and a concurrent trend towards the use of bio-fuels. Researchers at the Technische Universitaet...
2 severe Amazon droughts in 5 years alarms scientists
New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region's rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100...
New discoveries improve climate models
New discoveries on how underwater ridges impact the ocean's circulation system will help improve climate projections...
Helping feed the world without polluting its waters
A growing global population has lead to increasing demands for food. Farmers around the world rely, at least in part on phosphorus-based fertilisers in order to sustain and improve crop...
Wolverine population threatened by climate change
The aggressive wolverine may not be powerful enough to survive climate change in the contiguous United States, new research concludes...
Oil in Gulf of Mexico: Biologists cite need for critical data to determine ecological consequences
Twenty years after biologists attempted to determine the ecological damages to marine life from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, scientists dealing with the BP disaster find themselves with the same...
Opposition to Nepal climate loan
A loan to be provided by multilateral banks to help Nepal fight climate change impacts has kicked off a controversy, it emerges.
Malaysian forests destroyed for palm oil
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Massive draining of Malaysia's peat swamp forests for palm oil production could lead to the complete loss of these forests in the...
Green: Could Prizes Emerge From the Gowanus Muck?
As they clean up debris from the once-teeming waterway before the real Superfund cleanup begins in earnest, federal officials plan to preserve anything they find that seems historically significant.
Analyzing long-term impacts of biofuel on the land
Scientists have analyzed five classical long term experiments. Using a process-based carbon balance model, researchers simulated experiments lasting from 79 to 134 years to predict the potential of no tillage...
New drought record from long-lived Mexican trees may illuminate fates of past civilizations
A new, detailed record of rainfall fluctuations in ancient Mexico that spans more than twelve centuries promises to improve our understanding of the role drought played in the rise and...
Strange floating 'blob' found off Florida
SARASOTA, Fla., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Scientists say an underwater blob of goo off the Florida Panhandle coast isn't oil, but rather a mass of dead plankton, algae and...
'Pollution' May be Key Ingredient in Concrete Mixtures
A researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology is leading a study to increase the amount of fly ash used in concrete. If successful, the effort could divert millions...
GSA supports new US call for improved nutrition and physical activity
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) -- the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging -- commends the federal government's recent release of...
New model by University of Nevada for how Nevada gold deposits formed may help in gold exploration
RENO, Nev. -- A team of University of Nevada, Reno and University of Nevada, Las Vegas researchers have devised a new model for how Nevada's gold deposits formed, which...
Polar bear's long swim illustrates ice melt
In one of the most dramatic signs ever documented of how shrinking Arctic sea ice impacts polar bears, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska have tracked a female...
Egypt sends troops to guard key oil line
CAIRO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Egypt's military has deployed troops to protect an oil pipeline linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean amid growing concerns the political upheaval sweeping...
Green: Psst... Groundwater and Surface Water Do Mix
Although California policy treats them as separate entities, a growing number of studies on their interrelationships lends momentum to calls for regulatory changes.
Advancing biocrop alternatives in the Pacific Northwest
Farmers could someday be filling up their machinery's tanks with fuels produced from their own fields, according to ongoing research.
Disasters on stage: why can't theatre hit mankind where it hurts?
Alien armies, incoming meteors, climate change ... Hollywood takes on global threats with gusto so why does theatre struggle?Under a vast black tarpaulin something is stirring. The plastic sheeting crackles like melting ice...
WHOI Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is now accepting applications for its annual Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship program, which will be held from September 11-16, 2011.
In the Light of Evolution: Essays from the Laboratory and Field
Jonathan Losos, Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America, edits this collection of essays by leading scientists, including Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman and Hopi Hoekstra, Harvard historian...
Research flights probe particulate impact on climate
In a winter of unpredicted weather, a multiyear project to investigate the possible effects of air pollution on California's precipitation launches a new phase with a series of research flights...
HCl's Overlooked Environmental Effects
Air Pollution: Hydochloric acid released from coal-burning power plants may have had larger effects on ecosystems than previously thought.
BP under fire for work in North Sea
LONDON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A British energy regulator blasted energy company BP for working in the North Sea despite evidence of significant operational risks.