Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Topsoil's Limited Turnover: A Crisis In Time
Topsoil does not last forever. Records show that topsoil erosion, accelerated by human civilization and conventional agricultural practices, has outpaced long-term soil production. Earth's continents are losing prime agricultural soils...
UK urged to fund climate project
Industry calls on the UK government to invest more in Kopernikus, the world's biggest environmental monitoring project.
Study Pushes Appearance of Northern Hemisphere Ice Sheets Back By 22 Million Years
(PhysOrg.com) -- Climatologist Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues at four institutions are reporting in the Oct. 2 issue of the journal Nature that their latest...
An a-maize-ing path out of poverty
(PhysOrg.com) -- Across Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa, processing the corn harvest is labor intensive: Families and friends gather to spend a day or two filling bags with the dried...
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, October 2008
1) Burnt bacon could become a thing of the past with new cookware that uses a patented graphite foam developed at ORNL; 2) Radiation detection monitors at more than a...
Study urges science-based biofuel policies
WOODS HOLE, Mass., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are calling for "sustainable practices" in the nation's biofuels production that will "reshape the Earth's landscape in a significant...
Experts agree: Environmental standards needed for biofuels
The United States lacks the standards to ensure that producing biofuels from cellulose won't cause environmental harm, says a distinguished group of international scientists. But because the industry is so...
Bays on US Gulf Coast vulnerable to flooding
The most comprehensive geological review ever undertaken of the upper U.S. Gulf Coast suggests that a combination of rising seas and dammed rivers could flood large swaths of wetlands this...
DOE outlines its CO2 estimate methodology
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has detailed the methodology it uses to produce geologic resource estimates for its carbon dioxide sequestration program.
More Females Due to Warming Won't Wipe Out Reptiles?
A temperature-driven trend toward more females and fewer males in Australia's spotted skink may increase populations in the short-term, a finding that contradicts previous studies.
CSIRO's UltraBattery goes global in the auto sector
The CSIRO-invented UltraBattery is set to have a global impact on greenhouse gas emissions after Japan's Furukawa Battery Company, which has already begun production of the UltraBattery, and US manufacturer,...
Group seeks protection for ugly New England fish
(AP) -- A ferocious-looking denizen of the deep that can gobble up whole urchins and crabs in a few swift chomps needs protection, according to a petition filed with...
Chernobyl Fallout? Plutonium Found In Swedish Soil
More than 20 years later, researchers from Case Western Reserve University traveled to Sweden and Poland to gain insight into the downward migration of Chernobyl-derived radionuclides in the soil. Among...
Warming to Spur Potato Famine in the Andes?
In South America's highlands warmer temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns are seriously affecting staple crops such as the potato.
Engineer texting 22 seconds before deadly train crash: safety board
The engineer of a commuter train sent a text message 22 seconds before a head-on collision with a freight train in suburban Los Angeles that killed 25 people, investigators said...
Trade and climate policies must be linked post-2012
Emissions from China's export industry are everyone's responsibility — future trade and climate policy must be linked, says Glen Peters.
Cincinnati wants to lead green roof movement in US
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Officials want to see more green roofs on building tops in Cincinnati....
Protection sought for Atlantic wolffish
BOSTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Conservation Law Foundation is leading an effort to put the Atlantic wolffish on the U.S. endangered species list.
Candy with chemical in Chinese milk found in Conn.
(AP) -- An industrial chemical blamed for sickening thousands of infants in China was found in candy in four Connecticut stores this week, a state official said Wednesday.
Experts warn species in peril from climate change
(AP) -- Climate change threatens to kill off up to a third of the planet's species by the end of the century if urgent action isn't taken to restore...
VIDEO: Amazon Burned, Forest Loss Up
Amazon forests in Brazil are shrinking three times faster than in 2007, officials say. A key culprit is the national government itself, according to reports.
Turkey products recalled in Chicagoland
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall of some ready-to-eat turkey products in the Chicago area due to possible contamination.
Review: Xpaper eases digitizing of paper documents
(AP) -- Promises of the paperless office have been circulating ever since the first IBM clones started showing up on desks in the early 1980s. Yet we're still tied...
Busy October hurricane period is forecast
FORT COLLINS, Colo., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. hurricane forecasters William Gray and Phil Klotzbach say their October forecast calls for three named storms, two of them becoming...
Nitrogen applied
Combating soil erosion is a primary concern for agricultural producers in the United States, and many have incorporated conservation tillage systems in their effort to maintain a profitable crop output.
Researchers track Chernobyl fallout
When a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1986 in what was then the Soviet republic of Ukraine, radioactive elements were released in the air and dispersed...
Nepal must be at the heart of regional climate plans
Home to most of the Himalayas, Nepal must be at the heart of any regional climate change initiative, says Murari Sharma.
VIDEO: Vatican Goes Solar
Workers recently began installing donated solar panels on the papal auditorium's roof, part of Vatican City's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.