A new study using ocean data from the 135 year old HMS Challenger oceanographic expedition combined with modern measurements of ocean temperatures reveals that warming of the planet can be clearly detected since 1873 and that our oceans continue to absorb the great majority of this heat. A new NASA and university analysis of ocean [...]

Scientists at the University of Georgia have discovered a way to transform carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products, possibly allowing scientists to make biofuels from CO2 in the atmosphere. Athens, Georgia – Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving [...]

A new study from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory found that 700,000 square kilometers of forest in southwestern Amazonia is still suffering from a megadrought that began 2005. Pasadena, California – An area of the Amazon rainforest twice the size of California continues to suffer from the effects of a megadrought that began in 2005, finds [...]

A new comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the role of black carbon, aka soot, in the climate system found that the direct warming effect of black carbon could be about twice that of previous estimates. Soot is the second largest man made contributor to global warming and its influence on climate has been greatly underestimated, [...]

A new cash settlement will be given to the Gulf of Mexico science and restoration project, due to the federal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The company that operated the drilling rig for BP, Transocean Deepwater, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for the [...]

Last year, in Sotang, Nepal, the Dzi Foundation helped build over 1,000 toilets for the nearly 6,500 residents of the village. The villagers were given the option of using a regular squatting pan or a dual-hole pan, which allowed for the collection of urine to be used as a fertilizer. Urine is mostly water, mixed [...]

The worst drought in 50 years has brought water levels in the Mississippi River close to historic lows, and could potentially shut down all shipping in a matter of weeks. This is the second extreme event on the river in 18 months, after the flooding in the spring of 2011 forced people to flee their [...]

The US EPA is initiating a new effort to see whether low doses of hormone-mimicking chemicals can harm human health and whether chemical testing should be changed. According to the EPA website, in a response to a report published by 12 scientists last March, they will collaborate with other federal agencies to assess whether the [...]

New research indicates that an invasive species of grass is making wildfires in the western USA larger, hotter and more frequent. A variety of grasses called cheatgrass dries out quickly, and burns more rapidly that other vegetation. The scientists published their findings in the journal Global Change Biology. The researchers believe that it has fueled [...]

A new study indicates that slowing down vessels near coastlines by 10 to 15 miles per hour can dramatically reduce air pollution from the ships. However, only a few US ports have initiated efforts to apply this. The scientists published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. A speed limit of 14 mph, [...]

Human medications are ending up in waterways and affecting fish and other aquatic organisms. However, researchers are only beginning to compile the effects that those drugs have on the ecosystem. Rebecca Klaper, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Great Lakes Water Institute, presented her results at the 2012 meeting of the North American division [...]

In Boulder, Colorado, local cattle have developed immunity against the poisonous larkspur flowers that grow amongst the more edible grasses, making decisions to sell cattle a tough one. A rancher culling a herd he can’t afford to feed faces a problem restocking once economics improve, the replacements may die if they binge on the larkspur. [...]