Latest science news in Earth & Climate
3 Questions: Henry Jacoby on Copenhagen
Delegates from around the world began meeting this week in Copenhagen to try to work out a new U.N. pact to address global climate change. Henry Jacoby, co-director of the MIT Joint...
Talk About Hot Flashes: Warmer Waters Might Make Fish More Aggressive
Climate change may have a previously unforeseen impact on coral reefs: it may make some fish more aggressive. At least that is the finding of a new study to be...
Ed Miliband: climate change deniers are 'profoundly irresponsible'
As the Copenhagen summit begins, climate change secretary attacks those who claim the science of global warming is in doubtEd Miliband, the climate change secretary, today said critics who argue that climate change...
Earth more sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously thought
In the long term, the Earth's temperature may be 30-50% more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide than has previously been estimated, reports a new study published in Nature Geoscience this...
Top 10 Craziest Solutions to Global Warming
Here are some of the wackiest solutions proposed to curb Earth's global warming.
Deep structure imaged under Hawaii
Seismic experiment gives best evidence yet for mantle plumes.
Transneft reopens Druzhba pipeline
MOSCOW, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Oil flow through a section of the Druzhba pipeline in western Russia resumed Friday following the closure from an oil spill, pipeline monopoly Transneft...
Study measures ocean's CO2 uptake
There are substantial variations in the amount of carbon being absorbed by the North Atlantic Ocean, a study shows.
Novel carbon-trading scheme could stop large-scale extinctions
A new strategy for saving tropical forest species was published in the leading journal Science on the eve of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark,...
Quake prediction model developed
The third in a series of papers in the journal Nature completes the case for a new method of predicting earthquakes. The forecasting model developed by Danijel Schorlemmer, of the...
Elevated CO2 levels may mitigate losses of biodiversity from nitrogen pollution
Rising levels of carbon dioxide may overheat the planet and cause other environmental problems, but fears that rising CO2 levels could directly reduce plant biodiversity can be allayed, according to...
Turbulence around heat transport
Not only in the Earth's mantle, in the atmosphere and in the outer layers of the Sun, but also in a chemical reactor, the exchange of heat may not be as effective...
CCNY professor foresees rising Antarctic snowmelt
The 30-year record low in Antarctic snowmelt that occurred during the 2008-09 austral summer was likely due to concurrent strong positive phases for two main climate drivers, ENSO (El Nino...
A window that washes itself? New nano-material may revolutionize solar panels and batteries, too
Researchers have developed a method to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. These "peptide forests" repel dust and water...
The end of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?
A new article in the December 4 issue of Science addresses how the combined efforts of government commitments and market transition could save forest and reduce carbon emissions in Brazil.
Opinion: Satellites can help monitor and manage droughts
Kenyan MP and remote sensing expert, Wilbur Ottichilo, argues the time is ripe for using satellites to spot developing African droughts.
Tadpoles Used to Rapidly Detect Water Pollution
(PhysOrg.com) -- Research conducted by University of Wyoming Professor Paul Johnson and others demonstrates that genetically modified tadpoles work well as sensitive monitors for rapidly detecting water pollution.
Sea Level Is Rising Along U.S. Atlantic Coast, According to New Data Analysis
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise along the Atlantic Coast of the United States was 2 millimeters...
Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery
Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers...
Carbon and oxygen in tree rings can reveal past climate information
Scientists working in Canada's North used isotope analysis to look at past temperatures. Not only is the method accurate, fewer trees are required than the number needed when using tree...
New weapon against climate change on verge of completing first transatlantic voyage
Battery-powered underwater glider known as the Scarlet Knight tracks temperature variations in the most inhospitable locationsWhen a shiny, winged yellow tube touches land in Spain this weekend it will be completing a transatlantic...
Scientist hopes warming summit will fail
NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A top U.S. climate change scientist denounced next week's U.N. summit on global warming in Denmark as a farce and said he planned...
Moscow Has Warmest December Day Ever
Bears Won't Hibernate as Temperatures Reach 50 Fahrenheit
Prairie chickens on rebound in Missouri
EAGLEVILLE, Mo., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The prairie chicken population in Missouri appears to be increasing after enduring a couple of minimal breeding seasons, experts said.
Study Predicts Warming In Antarctica As Ozone Layer Recovers
Thanks to compliance with the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer is beginning to recover and that means Antarctica is about to experience more warming and an increase in snowmelt, a...
Tahoe faces new development battle: green vs. green
As snow begins to blanket Lake Tahoe, the region finds itself facing a new kind of development battle: green vs. green.
CO2 levels rising in troposphere over rural areas
Spanish researchers have measured CO2 levels for the past three years in the troposphere (lower atmosphere) over a sparsely inhabited rural area near Valladolid. The results, which are the first...
ARS Explores Ways to Keep Carbon in the Soil
(PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are testing out alternative ways of tilling the soil and rotating crops to see if they can help wheat farmers in Oregon sequester...