New Toxin Detected in Forest Fire Smoke
April 30, 2009Scientists have discovered a new class of chemicals -- known for their ability to alter human DNA -- emitted from burning pine trees, which could change the way we look at the impact of forest fires on public health. (Discovery News) more...
Experts Probe Species' Climate Change Vulnerability
April 29, 2009A scientist in Queensland, Australia says work is being done to identify which plant and animal species are most at risk from climate change. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Safe Climate Means 'No to Coal'
April 29, 2009About three-quarters of the world's fossil fuel reserves must be left unused if society is to avoid dangerous climate change, scientists warn. (BBC News) more...
CO2 Must Be Slashed More to Limit Warming
April 29, 2009If the world is going to limit global warming to just a few degrees, it has to slash carbon dioxide pollution much more than now being discussed, two new scientific studies say. (Associated Press/Discovery News) more...
Weather is not Climate, Even as Some U.S. Cities Near Record Temps
April 28, 2009As the temperature climbs in the Northeast and summer wilt sets in before trees have even budded out, it's worth remembering that weather is not climate. (Scientific American) more...
The Best Pictures of Earth: Reader Picks of NASA Shots
April 28, 2009Dueling cyclones, tropical atolls, and solar loops are among the top ten images of Earth and its neighbors, as picked by readers of a NASA Web site. (National Geographic News) more...
Hurricanes Reduce Ability of Forests to Store Carbon
April 27, 2009Destruction wreaked by hurricanes over the past 150 years has severely affected the ability of U.S. forests to store carbon, say ecologists. (New Scientist) more...
Ocean Gases not a Contributor to Climate Change
April 24, 2009There are fears that stores of the gas trapped at the bottom of the ocean could be awakened by warming temperatures, but researchers are helping to show that might not be the case. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Can Trees Save us From Climate Change?
April 24, 2009Trees do a lot for us: provide wood, improve health, even clean up the air by chemically converting CO2 to carbohydrates, but the answer to climate change is not as simple as planting more trees. (Scientific American) more...
Ozone Layer Faces Bumpy Return to Health
April 23, 2009The Earth's ailing ozone layer will probably recover, but it will never look exactly like it used to, according to a new study that found that greenhouse gasses are interfering with ozone's rebound in complicated ways. (Discovery news) more...
Pollution Fights Global Warming
April 23, 2009Air pollution may be helping the fight against global warming by enhancing the ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide, scientists say. (BBC News) more...
The Lost Forests of America
April 23, 2009As deforestation leveled native trees, so too have infestations of disease and insects decimated forests. (Live Science) more...
Giant Space Tornadoes Create Earth's Auroras
April 23, 2009On the dark side of the Earth, space is riddled with giant plasma tornadoes that power shimmering auroras, new observations reveal. (New Scientist) more...
River Levels, Climate Change Linked in Study
April 22, 2009Scientists say water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have fallen sharply in recent decades, according to a study that highlighted the contribution of climate change, saying that rising temperatures were altering rainfall patterns and increasing rates of evaporation. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Owls Getting Redder as Climate Warms
April 22, 2009Like a living thermometer, a species of owl in Europe is turning a deep shade of red as climate change pushes temperatures ever higher, according to a new study. (Discovery News) more...
On Earth Day, a Bird's-Eye View
April 22, 2009Earth-observing satellites offer a fresh window to the planet's changing landscape. (Discovery News) more...
Antarctic Ice Growth Linked to Ozone Hole
April 22, 2009An expansion of sea ice around Antarctica is linked to a hole in the ozone layer high in the atmosphere, according to a study that helps clear up a mystery about global warming. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Reuters) more...
Video: Polar Trek Shows Ice Loss
April 22, 2009Braving long walks across frigid Arctic terrain, a group of British explorers is gathering vital ground-based data about the extent of sea ice shrinkage. (National Geographic) more...
Volcano Poses Tsunami Threat in Caribbean
April 21, 2009Tsunami waves unleashed by the collapse of an unstable volcano on the Caribbean island of Dominica would hit the highly populated coast of nearby Guadeloupe within minutes, according to a new study. (Discovery News) more...
Days to Stretch Longer with Climate Change
April 21, 2009Climate change will make the day longer by the end of the century, according to a new study that describes how Earth's days will lengthen by an average of a millisecond in the future if carbon dioxide doubles compared to preindustrial levels. (Discovery News) more...
Complex Life Pushed Back in Time
April 21, 2009Multicellular organisms existed on Earth more than 400 million years earlier than previously thought, an international team of geologists has revealed. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
More Rain Means Cooler Summers, at Least in the U.S. Southeast
April 21, 2009Increasing rainfall in Mays and Junes in parts of the southeastern U.S. appear to be keeping down average high temperatures, according to a study of thousands of readings from weather stations in the Global Historical Climatology Network Daily system. (Scientific American) more...
Ice Cover Increasing in East Antarctica
April 20, 2009New research has found that the amount of ice may actually be increasing across much of Antarctica, though west Antarctica is losing more ice than the east is gaining. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
World's Land Slipping in Quality
April 20, 2009Nearly 25 percent of land around the world is in bad shape and getting worse, and human activities are to blame, according to the first study to directly measure the extent of human-induced global land degradation. (Discovery News) more...
Jerry Melillo: Documenting Climate Impacts in U.S.
April 20, 2009Ecologist Jerry Melillo and colleagues are working to document climate change impacts already occurring in the United States. (Earth & Sky Radio) more...
Hurricanes Shoot Water Ice into the Stratosphere
April 20, 2009Hurricanes and other tropical cyclones inject ice far into the stratosphere, possibly feeding global warming, researchers now say. (Live Science) more...
Rainy Weather Forecasts Misunderstood by Many
April 20, 2009To bring an umbrella or not to bring an umbrella -- only half the population understands what a precipitation forecast means well enough to make a fully informed answer, a new study finds. (Live Science) more...
Could Soil Speed Earth's Warming?
April 19, 2009Listen to Charles Rice talk about the complex relationship between soil and our warming world. (Earth & Sky Radio) more...
Surprising Clouds Forming Due to Lead in Air
April 19, 2009Lead in the air is causing clouds in odd conditions -- in conditions typically too warm and dry for cloud formation -- according to scientists who've "bottled" clouds and even grown their own. (National Geographic News) more...
Key Role of Forests May be Lost
April 18, 2009Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is "at risk of being lost entirely", according to a report compiled by 35 leading forestry scientists that provides what is described as the first global assessment of the ability of forests to adapt to climate change. (BBC News) more...
Bacteria Found Thriving Beneath Antarctic Glacier
April 16, 2009Scientists investigating the flow of blood-red water from beneath an Antarctic glacier discovered a colony of bacteria, which has survived for millions of years, living on sulfur and iron compounds. (Associated Press/ABC News) more...
West Africa Faces Megadroughts
April 16, 2009Severe droughts lasting centuries have happened often in West Africa's recent history, and another one is almost inevitable, researchers say. (BBC News) more...
Stephen Schneider: Avoidable and Unavoidable Climate Impacts
April 16, 2009Climate scientist Stephen Schneider of Stanford spoke about avoidable and unavoidable climate impacts. (Earth & Sky Radio) more...
Strange 1761 Atmospheric Phenomenon Explained
April 15, 2009Unusual atmospheric phenomena were recorded worldwide in 1761, unexplained at the time, and now an independent astronomer says he's figured out the cause -- and he credits Benjamin Franklin with a conceptual assist. (Live Science) more...
Driller Thriller: Antarctica's Tumultuous Past Revealed
April 13, 2009Researchers are extracting columns of stone from the sea floor off the coast of Antarctica, providing a record peering 19 million years into the region's history, and historical perspective that could help us to predict the future of sea level rise. (New Scientist) more...
Breathing Easy Thanks to Great Oxidation Event
April 13, 2009A new study reveals one of the reasons why Earth's atmosphere went from oxygen-poor to habitable 2.4 billion years ago -- a drop in oceanic nickel killed microbes that produce methane. (Scientific American) more...
Hurricanes Peak a Day after Lightning
April 11, 2009A global analysis of lightning during hurricanes has bolstered observations that the worst winds come a day after the bolts strike. (New Scientist) more...
Beached Trash Tells a Story about the Oceans
April 10, 2009Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer charts currents by tracking merchandise lost at sea -- from sneakers to rubber duckies. (National Public Radio) more...
Deadly Pacific Quake Keeps Surprising Scientists
April 9, 2009Quakes often occur in areas where one of the plates that make up the crust of the Earth is moving downward, beneath another section of crust, but researchers report that in the 2007 Solomon Islands quake there were actually three sections of crust involved. (Associated Press) more...
Edge of Space Found
April 9, 2009With data from a new instrument, scientists confirmed that space begins 73 miles (118 kilometers) above Earth's surface. (Space.com) more...
Americas on Alert for Sea Level Rise
April 8, 2009Climate change experts in North and South America are increasingly worried by the potentially devastating implications of higher estimates for possible sea level rises. (BBC News) more...
Stalagmites Reveal Rapid Sea Level Change
April 8, 2009Ancient stalagmites from a submerged Italian cave have revealed sea level rises caused by global warming more than 200,000 years ago, according to a new study. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Dramatic Image Shows Volcano's Lightning
April 8, 2009For the first time, scientists have been able to "see" and trace lightning inside a plume of ash spewing from an actively erupting volcano. (Live Science) more...
Arctic Ice Shows Winter Thinning
April 7, 2009Arctic ice reached a larger maximum area this winter than in the last few years, scientists say, but the long-term trend still shows it declining. (BBC News) more...
Hurricane Forecast 2009: 6 Expected in "Average" Season
April 7, 2009Only six Atlantic hurricanes are likely to form this summer, making the 2009 hurricane season a little less active than recent years, according to forecasters at Colorado State University. (National Geographic News) more...
Listening to the Earth's Deepest Secrets
April 7, 2009A seismological project called USArray aims is to run what amounts to an ultrasound scan over the 48 contiguous states of the United States, building up an unprecedented 3D picture of what lies beneath North America. (New Scientist) more...
Gravity Satellite Feels the Force
April 6, 2009Europe's innovative Goce satellite has switched on the super-sensitive instrument that will make ultra-fine measurements of Earth's gravity. (BBC News) more...
Solid Earth Tide Triggers Quakes
April 6, 2009This high tide is bound to wash away more than just your sand castle; a new study has found that bulges in Earth's crust -- solid Earth tides -- trigger about 1 percent of earthquakes. (Discovery News) more...
Science Studies to Determine Climate Choices
April 6, 2009National Academy of Sciences president Ralph Cicerone talked about America’s choices in response to climate change. (Earth & Sky Radio) more...
Complex Geology behind the Italian Earthquake
April 6, 2009The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy in the wee hours of Monday morning has a complicated geological story behind it, because several tectonic processes are active in the region. (Live Science) more...
Ice Bridge Ruptures in Antarctic
April 5, 2009An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped, and scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and providing further evidence of rapid change in the region. (BBC News) more...
Elephant Seals Help Monitor Climate Change
April 5, 2009Into the Antarctic enigma, the puzzle of a place with too few researchers chasing too many climate mysteries, slowly waddles the elephant seal -- plunging to its usual frigid depths these days in the service of climate science, and of scientists' budgets. (MSNBC) more...
Hurricane Speed Reveals Where Storm Surges Will Strike
April 5, 2009The speed at which a hurricane progresses across the ocean may help forecasters predict which areas are at risk from flooding by storm surges. (New Scientist) more...
Arctic Ice Melting Faster Than Believed
April 3, 2009Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years, according to a new analysis of changing conditions in the region that used complex computer models of weather and climate. (ABC News) more...
Mud and Boulder Flows to Threaten Northwest
April 2, 2009According to a new study, the glaciers on Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. Rainier in Washington are melting, regional rain storms are getting bigger, and the change in climate appears to be increasing the risk of large debris flows and massive flooding on rivers that drain the mountains. (Discovery News) more...
Natural Mechanism for Medieval Warming Discovered
April 2, 2009Though it has long been debatable as to why Europe basked in unusually warm weather in medieval times, a natural climate mechanism that may have caused the mild spell has been pinpointed. (New Scientist) more...
Climate Change 'Fans Nepal Fires'
April 1, 2009The forest fires that flared unusually viciously in many of Nepal's national parks and conserved areas this dry season have left conservationists worrying if climate change played a role. (BBC News) more...
Rainforests May Pump Winds Worldwide
April 1, 2009A controversial new theory of what drives the weather suggests that vast forests generate winds that help pump water around the planet, which could explain how the deep interiors of forested continents get as much rain as the coast, and how most of Australia turned from forest to desert. (New Scientist) more...