Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Saudis extend BlackBerry ban reprieve: agency
Saudi Arabia's telecoms regulator has extended indefinitely a reprieve on a BlackBerry messenger ban as a solution is sought that allows authorities to monitor the service, SPA news agency said...
BP looks to relief after cementing process
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Relief wells to stop the oil leak permanently in the Gulf of Mexico are on schedule for mid-August following a cementing procedure, BP...
NASA Drone Will Fly Into Hurricanes to Look at Lightning
Linking lightning to changes in storm intensity could lead to better forecasts.
Air Canada fixes dying boy's busted wheelchair
A terminally ill boy whose specialized wheelchair was broken on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to New York has been given it back after the airline had it fixed.
Increased destruction of bird populations are predicted with rise in global temperatures
In 2003, a massive heat wave struck and killed some 30,000 people in Europe in an area where heat was not considered a major threat. Similar mass die-offs occur in...
Lancaster Sound seismic tests go to court
A Nunavut Inuit group is hoping a court injunction will halt federal scientists from conducting seismic tests in Lancaster Sound.
Fires and Smoke in Russia
Intense fires continued to rage in western Russia on August 4, 2010. Burning in dry peat bogs and forests, the fires produced a dense plume of smoke that reached across...
DOE Designates Center for Ocean Energy Technology a National Center
The U.S. Department of Energy has designated the Center for Ocean Energy Technology at FAU as a national center for ocean energy research and development. The new Southeast National Marine...
Ecuador preserves park from oil drilling
QUITO, Ecuador, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A trust fund for Ecuador will hold $3.5 billion as part of an effort to protect its Yasuni National Park from the drilling...
World's rarest coral found in remote Pacific atoll
Pacific elkhorn coral (Acropora rotumana) — with branches like an elk's antlers — was found during an underwater survey of the Arno atoll in the Marshall Islands ...
Human noise could threaten reef fish
BRISTOL, England, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Increasing human noise pollution in the world's oceans could be leading fish away from good habitats to their deaths, U.K. researchers say. ...
Bee 'pastures' could help agriculture
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Human-tended "bee pastures" of wildflowers are an environmentally friendly way to produce generations of healthy bees to aid agriculture, U.S. researchers say.
Deepwater Horizon: A scientist at the centre of the spill
Vernon Asper was one of the first researchers in the Gulf of Mexico to study the oil gushing out from the BP well. But it has not all been smooth...
July Cooler Than Expected - If The Year Is 2050
Boston had 8 days of above-90 degree Fahrenheit heat temperatures last month, while New York City had 14, Philadelphia had 17 and Washington, DC had 20. While those numbers are above...
Heat wave kills clams, crabs in Japan
TOKYO, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A heat wave has caused mass deaths of large quantities of clams and crabs in Tokyo Bay, ecological researchers say. ...
Ray of Hope for a Soiled Canal
One of New York City's most polluted waterways has become a bit less off-putting.
Kangaroo evolution linked to climatic change
(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolution of kangaroos is intricately tied to Australia's changing climate, according to new research.
Chilean agriculture 'must adapt to climate change'
A study shows the main impacts and challenges that Chilean agriculture will face due to a temperature increase of up to 3°C by the end of this century.
Obama administration seeks seismic testing for oil drilling in Arctic Ocean
Officials ask a judge in Alaska to narrow a recent ruling against such activities. The move, following White House efforts after the Gulf of Mexico spill to curb exploration, shocks environmentalists. In a...
Gulf oil spill threatens survival of an isolated village
In Grand Bayou, La., wiped out by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the spill is the latest catastrophe to strike its Atakapa-Ishak people, who have long struggled against oil companies' intrusion. The Atakapa-Ishak people...
Climate Policy is Paralyzed, But the Climate Isn't
A scientist who studies past warm times describes the need to adapt to rising seas.
Another Recession Casualty
An increase in a state's unemployment rate decreases Google searches for "global warming," the authors report.
Hatchlings rescued from oil released
MERRITT ISLAND, Fla., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- More than 2,000 sea turtle hatchlings moved from beaches along the Gulf of Mexico have been released into the Atlantic off Florida...
Fire, Brimstone and Sympathy: The New Drilling Czar
A former prosecutor acknowledges that his background could be "disorienting and maybe a little scary" to employees of the former Minerals Management Service.
Double-Blade Helicopter Breaks Rotary Wing Speed Record
Sikorsky's X2 helicopter sped past 249 miles per hour to become the world's fastest helicopter.
WHOI To Mark New Lab with Groundbreaking Celebration
Equipped with an $8.1 million federal Recovery Act grant and a shovel, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will celebrate the groundbreaking of its new Laboratory for Ocean Sensors and...
Estrogen Throws Cold Water On Fish Courtship
Water Pollution: When exposed to estrogen early in their life, female fish give dominant males the brush-off.
Trawl fishing surviving through sale of previously discarded fish
Fishermen barely eking out a profit because of overfishing of their target stock, shrimp, are now surviving by selling their bycatch (the low-value fish also caught in the large, indiscriminate...