Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Climate summit under way in Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Delegates from 192 countries have two weeks to broker a globe-saving treaty at a crucial climate conference that opened Monday in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen Climate Conference: What You Need to Know
World leaders will gather next week to hash out a new game plan for tackling climate change. Learn what they hope to accomplishand why experts are saying humankind has a...
Decision soon on closing lock to stop Asian carp
(AP) -- A decision could come within days on whether to temporarily close a vital Chicago area shipping waterway in an increasingly desperate bid to stop the invasive Asian...
BP has more problems in Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Officials from BP said they discovered another leak from a pipeline in Alaska as crews struggle to clean up a separate oil-contaminated site.
Gazprom, Eni welcome EDF to South Stream
ROME, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Italy's Eni signed a memorandum of understanding in Rome supporting a French decision to join the South Stream pipeline.
United Nations to probe climate e-mail leak
LONDON (AP) -- The United Nations will conduct its own investigation into e-mails leaked from a leading British climate science center in addition to the probe...
Amazon is best site for forest carbon investments
Forest Carbon Index maps climate opportunities.
Strong regional climatic fluctuations in the tropics
Climatic fluctuations close to the equator show a different pattern to climate change in the Arctic and Antarctic. In the tropics, distinct 11,500-year fluctuations between wet and dry periods can...
Ancient animals escape warming in Antarctica
Antarctica served as a climatic refuge for animals during the world's largest known, and probably global warming-fueled, mass extinction event, according to new research that focused on one scrappy survivor. ...
Climate policy: technology not targets
Governments must centre climate policies around technology development, not emissions targets, say Isabel Galiana and Christopher Green.
Ted Turner gets OK for Yellowstone bison on ranch
(AP) -- The head of Montana's wildlife agency has given preliminary approval to a plan calling for 74 bison from Yellowstone National Park to go to billionaire Ted Turner's...
For Clean Energy, Britain Looks to Sea
SKEGNESS, England - Humans have left many landmarks across central England's Lincolnshire county over the past two thousand years: Roman roads, medieval castles, World War II airfields. The newest stand...
Ancient coral has climate data
Researchers have collected samples from massive, 500-year old corals on Australia’s west coast, for the climate record inside.
Discovery of the Jekyll-and-Hyde factors in 'coral bleaching'
Scientists are reporting the first identification of substances involved in the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation that changes harmless marine bacteria into killers that cause 'coral bleaching.' Their study appears in ACS' Environmental...
Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Ford study simulated car crashes involving pregnant women
Although states are not required to report foetal deaths in accident data, between 300 and 1,000 unborn babies die in car accidents each year. This accident fatality rate is about...
Deadline extended for Jason funds
European nations are given a few more weeks to find the money to fund a key Earth observation satellite.
How To Not Get Blinded With Science
From The Times, a journalist global warming skeptic changes his tune: I thought global warming was all bog-standard, apocalyptic nonsense when it first emerged in the 1980s. People, I knew, like...
Fund family planning 'to cut CO2'
Improving family planning in poor nations is a more effective way to cut CO2 emissions than wind turbines, a new initiative claims.
Climate science: Inconvenient truths
Blinded or at least baffled by science, the uninitiated majority imagine it as the sort of impersonal process a robot might carry out. Days before the Copenhagen climate conference – where scientific reasoning...
Quebec health officials denounce asbestos
Public health officials in Quebec have joined their voices to those calling on the Canadian government to end its support for the mining and use of asbestos.
May All Your Christmas Trees be 'Green'
Going 'green' for the first time this Christmas? Climate change expert Clint Springer, Ph.D., of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, suggests live trees are a great way to begin.
The Green Dream Gets a Third Floor
It finally looks like a house! Here's a look at the final push to the get the dry box up before the snow flies I can't believe it, but the entire box...
Mercury source ID'd in Virginia rivers
RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist says riverbank and floodplain soils are the major source of mercury in fish from several Shenandoah Valley rivers.
International effort to drain dangerous Bhutan lake underlines costs and risks of climate change
The first phase of an international project to reduce the risk to a Bhutan valley from the threatening bursting of a growing and increasingly unstable glacial lake is emphasising the...
The Sun's Cycle and Climate Change
Science has only just begun to understand how cyclical changes in the Sun effect Earth's weather and climate. But the more technological human society grows, the more vulnerable we may...
Economist ups cost of climate change fight
LONDON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Britain shouldn't let the current strain on public finances delay efforts to fight global warming, a top climate change economist said.
Alberta puts $285M toward coal gasification project
Alberta has signed a letter of intent with Swan Hills Synfuels to put $285 million over 15 years towards a carbon-capture and storage project northwest of Edmonton.
Opinion: Coal at what price?
Even with the threat of climate change, the Victorian government is entering a minerals extraction boom with a major focus on coal, writes Dr Chris James.