Latest science news in Earth & Climate
'Bottle-boat' ends Pacific voyage
A boat made from thousands of plastic bottles sails into Sydney Harbour, completing a four-month voyage that began in San Francisco.
CO2 reduction policies in Spain strengthen the services sector
A study by the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) has analysed the expected economic impact in Spain of the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) set by the Kyoto Protocol...
The healing effects of forests
'Many people,' says Dr Eeva Karjalainen, of the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Metla, 'feel relaxed and good when they are out in nature. But not many of us know that...
This Fracking problem: Chasing the solution to this controversial mining issue
Fracking ! Sounds like a curse word, and for some people along the Marcellus Shale regions between New York and West Virginia, it already is. Or, it may sound...
Video: Soap Ban Soap Opera
Phosphate chemicals have been banned from products in some areas over environmental concerns. Ben Tracy reports that some consumers are now hunting for outlawed, but effective, dishwashing soaps.
Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier Retreat Scaremongering
Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier Retreat Scaremongering A guest post by my friend Lai Ying at the Greenwich Institute of Toxicology. Global warming is a get-rich-quick scam invented by Al Gore when he was...
Supersonic air travel may come back
RENO, Nev., July 23 (UPI) -- Supersonic air travel, halted in 2003 with the retirement of trans-Atlantic Concorde service, may be coming back, one U.S. aerospace company says. ...
With Cap and Trade Sidelined, Obama and States Can Still Cut a Lot
On the day after hopes for a mandatory U.S. cap on greenhouse gases evaporated,...
Book examines the ups and downs of waves of every kind
Author Gavin Pretor-Pinney's 'The Wave Watcher's Companion' explores the undulations of everything from sound waves to stadium waves. "There's a regular rhythm to waves that calms us," says British author Gavin Pretor-Pinney, explaining...
Quake rattles Quebec City region
No serious damage is reported after a 4.1-magnitude earthquake hit the Quebec City region.
Qualified Good News on Subsea Dispersed Oil Plumes: Continued Low Oil Concentrations, No Dead Zones
A second report by a multiagency team of government and academic scientists, working on...
Paper mill blamed for polluting Baikal
Ecologists and non-governmental organisations are blaming the Soviet-era Baikalsk Pulp and Paper mill for polluting the world deepest and oldest lake, Lake Baikal in Siberia.
Trafigura found guilty on waste
A Dutch court finds multinational firm Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from the Dutch port of Amsterdam to Ivory Coast.
Heat wave warms frigid Baltic Sea waters
A heat wave searing the Baltic region has warmed the usually frigid waters of the Baltic Sea to temperatures usually seen in more tropical climes, experts said Friday.
Warming climate means harsher smog season for California
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rising temperatures from climate change will increase ozone levels in California`s major air basins, according to a new report to the California Air Resources Board from scientists at...
Ukraine's miners threaten strike
KIEV, Ukraine, July 23 (UPI) -- Ukrainian coal miners said they are about to go on strike unless the government comes forward with payments delayed since April, trade unions...
Staying wired in Canada's wilderness
The call of the loon could be drowned out by the click of the keyboard at some provincial parks in Ontario, and possibly at national parks across Canada.
Weather kite gets second wind
The red kite is now a commonly-seen bird of prey in the skies of the south-east, but a specially designed artificial blue kite promises a new way to make weather...
Antarctica Traced from Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Antarctica may not be the world's largest landmass -- it's the fifth-largest continent -- but resting on top of that land is the world's largest ice sheet. That...
China pinpoints cause of pipeline blast
BEIJING, July 23 (UPI) -- The improper use of a desulfurizing agent injected into a pipeline on the coast of China led to a cascading series of explosions, Chinese...
Wintershall finds oil in Norwegian Sea
KASSEL, Germany, July 23 (UPI) -- The latest oil discovery off the coast of Norway is one of the most significant finds in 2010, Germany energy company Wintershall announced. ...
'Super socks' help stem pollution runoff
Agricultural scientists have improved on an existing method for removing contaminants from storm water runoff. These findings could provide surface waters additional protection against runoff containing pollutants from point sources...
China's Three Gorges Dam water at record high
Record-high water levels at China's massive Three Gorges Dam have called into question Beijing's claims that the world's largest hydroelectric project has capacity to withstand a massive flood.
Gee Whiz: Human Urine Is Shown to Be an Effective Agricultural Fertilizer
The beets Surendra Pradhan and Helvi Heinonen-Tanski grew were perfectly lovely: round and hefty; with their skin a rich burgundy; their flavor sweet and faintly earthy, like the dirt from...
'Eternal plane' heads for landing
The record-breaking Zephyr unmanned solar-powered plane heads to Earth after two weeks of non-stop flight.
On Our Radar: Haiti's Vanishing Forests
Planting trees is "the key to rebuilding the country," a United Nations official says.
Passions on Display at E.P.A. Meeting
Recriminations were the order of the day at an E.P.A.-sponsored public meeting in Pennsylvania of a form of gas drilling known as hydraulic fracturing.
ATVs damaging fish habitat: DFO
Off-road vehicle enthusiasts that are driving their ATVs through rivers and streams are damaging fish habitats and polluting waterways, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.