Research into biodiversity, infectious disease, land-use, and hydrological forecasting merit immediate investment by the U.S. government, says a new study. The National Research Council report will be used to guide funding for the National Science Foundation. (National Academy of Sciences release)

Anticipated increases in urban air pollution will not have a big effect on global temperature change in the 21st century. While there may be temperature increases in certain regions, global mean surface temperature will not go up significantly because of urban air pollution, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. (American Geophysical Union release)

The last decade and the last 50 years were the warmest in 1,000 years, according to new research based on ice cores from a Himalayan glacier. The ice cores yielded a highly detailed record of the last 1,000 years of Earth's climate. (National Science Foundation release)

A survey of rivers and lakes in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 150 years shows they have been thawing earlier and freezing later each year, an indication that the temperate regions of the world have been warming. (University of Colorado release)

New studies by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography show that warm, nutrient-depleted waters ushered in during the 1997-1998 El Niño resulted in a reduction in the plants that are the base of the marine ecosystem. (American Geophysical Union release)