Latest science news in Earth & Climate
Mountain Ranges Rise Much More Rapidly Than Geologists Expected
Mountains may experience a "growth spurt" that can double their heights in as little as two to four million years -- several times faster than the prevailing tectonic theory suggests.
Beaver's 'cruel' death in the sea
A beaver found dead on a beach in the Highlands ingested a large quantity of sea water, police say.
IBM aims to cool chips with water
A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, IBM researchers say.
No more flushing for fishermen
Starting July 1, when shell fishermen use the toilet at sea on P.E.I.'s oyster and mussel grounds, they will have to take the waste home with them.
RWJF gives $300 million for healthcare
WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said it will commit $300 million to improve healthcare in 14 U.S. communities.
Saguaro cactuses rescued along pipeline
PHOENIX, June 5 (UPI) -- Arizona conservationists are trying to save hundreds of cactuses from being destroyed during construction of a natural gas pipeline.
Antarctic Current Roils Deep Ocean Waters
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a prominent ocean current that flows around Antarctica, is an important component of global ocean circulation and climate. The current consists of a number of fronts....
Australian Dryness Linked To Sea Surface Temperatures
Since 1950, rainfall over southern and eastern Australia has decreased, significantly reducing inflows to the Murray and Darling rivers, Australia's longest river system. In particular, precipitation in late austral autumn...
Building On Pyramids Of Trash
A Dutch engineer has devised a simple solution to the growing amounts of waste society generates. He suggests solidifying waste in a concrete-type material and using the resulting slabs to...
Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean Dolphin Populations Improving
The numbers of Northeastern offshore spotted and eastern spinner dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are increasing after being severely depleted because of accidental death in the tuna purse-seine...
Rising temperatures leave puffins hungry
EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 5 (UPI) -- Scientists said the puffin population in Scotland has fallen 30 percent in the past five years because of rising sea temperatures.
Is Enough Done To Stop Explosive Dust?
A former government safety official tells 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that industry and government are not doing enough to stop deadly dust explosions. Sunday, June 8, at 7 p.m....
Pass the popcorn: Blockbuster sequels -- financial boom or bust?
Although movie sequels don't always do as well at the box office as the original, they tend to do much better than non-sequels, according to a new study in the...
Probing Question: Are water wars in our future?
Schoolkids know that over 70 percent of Earth's surface is washed in water. Yet very little of that abundance — less than two percent — is available for drinking and...
New study sheds light on mysterious 'supershear' quakes
A French-Turkish team of seismologists on Thursday said they had found evidence about the impacts of a rare but extremely violent earthquake called a supershear.
Feature: East Lake - on the road to urban renewal
Hitting the brakes on suburban sprawl means shifting developers’ focus to urban renewal, but rethinking city spaces is far from trivial. A project in Canberra’s East Lake area is testing...
African farmers 'adjusting to climate change'
Some African farmers are using innovative, locally-relevant methods to adapt to their changing environments, according to case studies.
Volcano taming
Could macro-scale chemical engineering be used to stop a volcanic lava flow in its tracks and save potentially thousands of lives and homes when the next eruption occurs? That's the...
Stolen laptop contained 32,000 farmers' financial data
About 32,000 Canadian farmers are on the alert after learning a laptop containing their financial information has been stolen.
RIM co-founder donates $50M to Waterloo physics centre
Research in Motion co-founder Mike Lazaridis has donated an additional $50 million to the University of Waterloo's Perimeter Institute, bringing his total contribution to the centre for theoretical physics to...
Plan for quake 'warning system'
Nasa scientists have said they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes.
US blogger released on bail in Singapore
A US-based blogger who allegedly accused a Singapore judge of "prostituting herself" was released on bail Thursday and had his passport confiscated.
Oil spill threatens Buenos Aires
Workers battle to dissolve an oil spill heading towards the coast of Argentina after two ships collide off Uruguay.
Forest Canopies Help Determine Natural Fertilization Rates
A newly identified factor that controls the natural input of new nitrogen into boreal forest ecosystems has been reported in Science. The researchers showed that this natural fertilization process appears...
Monitoring Antarctic Ice Movement Is a Sticky Business [News]
Ice streams and their smaller cousins, glaciers, don't just sit around looking frosty; they mosey along, albeit at different rates of speed. They also lose mass when snowfall cannot replace...
VIDEO: Green Roofs Are Nothing New
Plant-covered roofs may seem like cutting edge eco-architecture. But the practice is an old tradition on the remote Faroe Islands.
Government buffing Prentice's Wikipedia entry
The government has been editing Industry Minister Jim Prentice's Wikipedia entry, removing copyright controversy and replacing it with praise.
Quake Research to Provide Rare Glimpse of How Structures Collapse
Structural engineers at the University at Buffalo are conducting some of the most comprehensive experiments ever attempted to develop methods of evaluating and designing steel buildings so that they will...