Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Technology To Support Deepwater Crustal Drilling
Scientists have engineered an ultra-deepwater drilling technology for use by drilling vessels in scientific research. Originally developed for shallow-water oil and gas exploration, the "riserless mud recovery" technology holds great...
Sustainable Agriculture: Perennial Plants Produce More; Landscape Diversity Creates Habitat For Pest Enemies
Advances in ecology increasingly reveal that conventional agricultural practices have detrimental effects on the landscape ecology, creating problems for long-term sustainability of crops. Ecologists are exploring how our agricultural practices...
Project helps protect some of the world's rarest and most fragile coral reefs
Some of the world's rarest and most fragile coral reefs and the economies that depend on them will be better protected thanks to a major international marine project led by...
Sick Fish May Get Sicker Due To Climate Change And Other Stresses
Entire populations of North American fish already are being affected by several emerging diseases, a problem that threatens to increase in the future with climate change and other stresses on...
Higher carbon dioxide may give pines competitive edge
Pine trees grown for 12 years in air one-and-a-half times richer in carbon dioxide than today's levels produced twice as many seeds of at least as good a quality as...
Oysters Are on the Rebound in the Chesapeake Bay
After decades of overharvesting along the Virginia shore, large experimental reefs are now home to more than 180 million native oysters, scientists say.
Vancouver firm makes fertilizer out of human sewage
A small Vancouver company has developed a process for turning human sewage waste into valuable fertilizer for crops.
Amazon Kindle rival is paper-thin e-reader
CAMBRIDGE, England, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- The screen of a forthcoming Amazon Kindle e-book rival is so thin it can be rolled up and flattened out like a sheet...
Trans-Atlantic Glider Passes Spot Where Predecessor Sank
(PhysOrg.com) -- On July 31, 2009, the submersible robot glider RU27, also known as the Scarlet Knight, passed east of the spot in the Atlantic Ocean where its predecessor, RU17,...
Artificial Leaves Generate Power by Pumping Water
(PhysOrg.com) -- Natural leaves constantly lose water through evaporation, as the water in their veins is pumped up to the top of the tree. This process, called transpiration, could also...
Quake Strikes Gulf of California
A powerful earthquake measuring magnitude 6.9 struck the Gulf of California today.
Calif. resumes methyl iodide peer review
SACRAMENTO, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A peer review of the pesticide methyl iodide has been reinstated after complaints that California officials were rushing its approval, officials say.
Piping plover plan 3 years behind schedule
It could be another six months before a recovery plan for the piping plover in Eastern Canada, which was due in 2006, is finally finished.
A 'super sensor' for cancer and CSIs
Like the sensitive seismographs that can pick up tremors of impending earthquakes long before they strike, a similar invention from Tel Aviv University researchers may change the face of molecular...
Metal Immobilization using Plant and Poultry Waste Can Revive Soil Ecosystems
New research highlighted in the latest issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality shows that even very contaminated shooting range soils can be remediated by using poultry waste and revegetating...
Senate Under Pressure to Extend "Clunkers"
Administration, Dealers Want Program Extended, But Many Senators Might Be Cool to the Idea
Solving the Mystery of Deep Sea Coral Reefs; Professor Leads Unprecedented Research Efforts in the Atlantic
Scientists are delving into the mysteries of deep sea coral reefs in a race against time to protect these magnificent ecosystems and to better understand their benefits to the environment....
Urban Stream Pollution Can Be Good For Mosquitoes
Sewage overflows are a fact of life in urban areas, and in many cities, excess sewage water enters streams and lakes with rain runoff. Although this pollution is harmful to...
Lakeshore Development Reduces Food Supplies For Fish
Freshwater fish, especially stream fish, rely on terrestrial insects as a portion of their food supply. But little is known about their importance to fish in lakes, where the size...
California Must Prep for Climate Change
State Report: Rising Sea Levels, Hotter Weather Inevitable
Opinion: Water restrictions are tough politics
The policy of water restriction in urban and rural areas across Australia is as much a political decision as an environmental one, writes Lin Crase.
Newly Discovered Faults Illuminate Earthquake Hazard Along San Andreas
Researchers have discovered new faults that reveal how earthquake-induced stress is transferred below Southern California's Salton Sea.
Sage grouse unlikely focus of Wyoming wind wars
CARBON, Wyoming (Reuters) - They used to mine coal in the abandoned town of Carbon. Now this patch of southern Wyoming is a battleground in the debate over what many...
Scientists Develop 'Gas Gauge' For Placenta Aimed To Prevent Pregnancy Loss
To combat the many fetal deaths that occur annually because the placenta is too small, researchers have developed a method to measure the volume of the placenta, which provides nourishment...
King salmon vanishing in Alaska, smokehouses empty
(AP) -- Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon - long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through...
Video: Fast Draw: Lessons Of Sand
For millions, summer means heading to the beach, feeling the sand between our toes, but there are serious lessons to be learned from all that sand. The Fast Draw's Mitch...
Small Fossils Provide Key Clues For Interpreting Environmental Changes
The concentrations of microfossils and the composition of their shells can provide much information about the conditions of life thousands or even millions of years ago.
Utility Raises Cleanup Cost in Tennessee
The Tennessee Valley Authority gave a new estimate for cleaning up a coal ash spill to $1.2 billion and partly blamed its third-quarter loss on that cleanup.