Climate change 'will cost Andes US$30 billion'

The effects of climate change could cost the Andean countries' economies around US$30 billion, researchers predict.

Protecting Polar Bears Must Include Mitigating Global Warming, Group Argues

Following a three-year legal battle to protect the polar bear from extinction due to global warming, three environmental groups won protection for the species with the announcement May 14 that...

Ocean Acidification: Another Undesired Side Effect Of Fossil Fuel-burning

Up to now, the oceans have buffered climate change considerably by absorbing almost one third of the worldwide emitted carbon dioxide. The oceans represent a significant carbon sink, but the...

Monitoring Aftershocks in China

Texas Tech geophysicist Hua-wei Zhou touched down in Beijing just 40 minutes before the devastating Sichuan province earthquake struck. He and his colleagues were planning to embark on a project...

"Brittle Star City" Found on Antarctic Seamount

Tens of millions of the starfish-like animals occupy a shallow undersea mountain range, say scientists conducting a lengthy survey of ocean life.

Global Warming Has Little Impact In Tropical Storm And Hurricane Numbers, NOAA Reports

A new model simulation of Atlantic hurricane activity for the last two decades of this century projects fewer hurricanes overall, but a slight increase in intensity for hurricanes that do...

Ancient deep-sea coral reefs off southeastern US serve as underwater 'islands' in the Gulf stream

Largely unexplored deep-sea coral reefs, some perhaps hundreds of thousands of years old, off the coast of the southeastern U.S. are not only larger than expected but also home to...

Marine Metropolis

Global Earthquake Fatalities Expected To Rise This Century, Says CU-Boulder Geologist

Earthquake expert and geological sciences Professor Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado at Boulder says unprecedented human fatalities from earthquakes will occur around the globe in the coming century...

Rice grown in United States contains less-dangerous form of arsenic

Rice grown in the United States may be safer than varieties from Asia and Europe, according to a new global study of the grain that feeds over half of humanity....

Earthquake Preparedness in the Midwest Is Topic of August Conference

Two minor earthquakes that rocked central Missouri this spring demonstrate the importance of earthquake preparedness in the region. Preparation for a significant quake along the New Madrid Fault is the...

Dosage Of Fertilizer Helps To Enhance Quality Of Wheat

Breaking up the dosage of fertilizer into three phases of application enhances the quality of wheat and limits its negative effects on the environment. Wheat yields have increased over the...

Life discovered on ocean mountain

Researchers have discovered an unlikely colony of Brittlestars atop an underwater summit, fed and protected soley by the detour of an ocean current.

Proof: humans have damaged Earth

A study has proved for the first time that human-caused climate change has led to the shrinking of glaciers and damage to many ecosystems across the planet.

NASA Team Studies Pollutants' Effect on Arctic Climate Change

Airborne, space-based sensors will show pollutants' impact on the Arctic.

Western Experts Monitor China’s Nuclear Sites for Signs of Earthquake Damage

China’s main centers for making and storing nuclear arms lie in the earthquake zone, leading Western experts to look for signs of any damage that might allow radioactivity to escape.

Los Angeles Eyes Sewage as a Source of Water

Persistent drought and the threat of tighter water supplies prompted Los Angeles’s plans to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies.

Scientists Aim To Unlock Deep-sea 'Secrets' Of Earth's Crust

Scientists will use robots to explore the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to study the growth of underwater volcanoes that build the Earth's crust. During the five-week expedition they will...

Ireland to hunt nightmare fishing nets in north Atlantic

Ireland is to tackle the growing problem of so-called "ghost nets" that are destroying fish stocks in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board said Sunday.

Feature: Population - the lost priority

Australian authorities on population growth warn that it is the fundamental sustainability priority being perilously overlooked. Graeme O’Neill reports.

Claim: Obese people cause global warming

LONDON, May 17 (UPI) -- Some British experts say fat people are contributing to global warming more than those who are thin because they require more food and...

Plastic bag policy 'a diversion'

Plans to tackle use of plastic bags are a diversion from the real environmental issues, a government adviser says.

Study Warned of China Quake Risk a Year Ago

The Sichuan quake's epicenter was practically pinpointed in a decade-long fault study, which warned last July that the region was ripe for a shock.

New clean air rules may endanger parks

WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- National parks and wilderness areas may soon have neighboring power plants under a proposed set of air quality rules from U.S. officials, scientists...

China Quake Zone Jolted by Strong Aftershock

A 5.5.-magnitude tremor set off landslides Friday near the epicenter of this week's massive quake, while the search for survivors took on an added urgency.

Italian Satellites Monitor Earthquake Damages In Sichuan

COSMO-SkyMed, the Italian satellite system for Earth observation, is being used to help the Chinese areas hit by the devastating earthquake of May 12. By request of the Chinese Government,...

Pioneering landscape-scale research releases first findings

The May issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research presents the preliminary findings of 23 scientists involved in one of the first landscape-scale experiments on how forest management affects...

Agri-biotech firms committing 'intellectual property grab'

Agri-biotech firms are seeking patents on 'climate crops', which could hinder developing country farmers, says a report.