Science Headlines

Use of wind energy expected to grow dramatically

AP - Monday, May 12, 2008 6:01 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two decades from now Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants, according to a government report that lays out a possible plan for wind energy growth....

McCain urges free-market solution on warming

AP - Monday, May 12, 2008 3:37 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes capping carbon-fuel emissions....

Genetically modified human embryo stirs criticism

AP - Monday, May 12, 2008 3:25 p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) -- News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it\'s a step toward creating "designer babies."...

Mo. biologists to study snake movement, mortality

AP - Monday, May 12, 2008 1:58 p.m.

PUXICO, Mo. (AP) -- Snakes wouldn\'t be at the top of most people\'s favorite critter list. They\'re feared and misunderstood and often, killed. That\'s a shame, said Jason Lewis, a wildlife biologist at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Puxico. The refuge is a major migration and wintering area for migratory waterfowl....

Scientists probe recent coyote attacks in California

AP - Monday, May 12, 2008 1:54 p.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The coyote was limping as it approached a girl in a sand box at a public park - but it was still dangerous. It snapped its jaws on the girl\'s buttocks and her nanny had to pry the toddler from the wild animal....

Artificial reef near Miami is cemetery, diving attraction

AP - Saturday, May 10, 2008 3:06 a.m.

MIAMI (AP) -- About 45 feet beneath the ocean\'s surface lies a cemetery with gates, pathways, plaques and even benches....

Data from Columbia disk drives survived the shuttle accident

AP - Friday, May 9, 2008 10:03 p.m.

Jon Edwards often manages what appears impossible. He has recovered precious data from computers wrecked in floods and fires and dumped in lakes. Now Edwards may have set a new standard: He found information on a melted disk drive that fell from the sky when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003....

A crash course in true political science

AP - Friday, May 9, 2008 3:11 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Daniel Suson has a doctorate in astrophysics and has worked on the superconducting super collider and a forthcoming NASA probe. Now he\'s heading back to school to take on an even trickier task - getting elected to public office....

Seaweed provides clues to earliest inhabitants of Americas

AP - Friday, May 9, 2008 2:41 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Remains of meals that included seaweed are helping confirm the date of a settlement in southern Chile that may offer the earliest evidence of humans in the Americas....

New idea in mortuary science: Dissolving bodies with lye

AP - Friday, May 9, 2008 2:41 p.m.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest - dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain....

Oldest gorilla in captivity turns 55 at Dallas Zoo

AP - Friday, May 9, 2008 4:34 a.m.

DALLAS (AP) -- A gorilla recognized as the world\'s oldest in captivity celebrated her 55th birthday by munching down a four-layer frozen fruit cake and banana leaf wrapped treats....

Western states rebuff plan for Italian nuclear waste in Utah

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 11:22 p.m.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Eight Western states on Thursday rejected a company\'s plan to ship tons of radioactive waste from Italy for disposal in Utah, saying importing foreign loads would violate the group\'s rules....

Conservationists, developer reach major Calif. land deal

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 8:38 p.m.

LEBEC, Calif. (AP) -- A group of environmentalists and the owners of a large stretch of wilderness have reached a deal that would set aside the largest parcel of land for conservation in California history....

Spain claims $500 million in sunken treasure

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 7:55 p.m.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain formally laid claim Thursday to a shipwreck that yielded a $500 million treasure, saying it has proof the vessel was Spanish....

Air pollution in Wyo. community rivals that of big cities

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 5:25 p.m.

BOULDER, Wyo. (AP) -- There isn\'t anything metropolitan about this tiny unincorporated town in southwest Wyoming, where a few single-family homes and a volunteer fire station stand against a skyline of snowcapped mountains....

Huge Texas sinkhole's appetite decreasing, officials say

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 5:21 p.m.

DAISETTA, Texas (AP) -- Geologists said a 260-foot-deep sinkhole that grew to the length of three football fields over just two days seemed to be slowing down Thursday, but that it could take months before it\'s clear whether surrounding areas are stable....

Scientists map the genetic makeup of the platypus

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 3:34 p.m.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- With a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and snake-like venom hidden in heel spurs, the platypus could be the result of some strange genetic experiment....

Overlooked in the global food crisis: A problem with dirt

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 3:07 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Science has provided the souped-up seeds to feed the world, through biotechnology and old-fashioned crossbreeding. Now the problem is the dirt they\'re planted in....

Federal judge in Montana rejects bid to delay wolf lawsuit

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 2:43 p.m.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- A federal judge in Montana has rejected a request by the government to delay a lawsuit seeking to place the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, saying he\'s "unwilling to risk more deaths."...

System uses sound to find whales, avoid ship strikes

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:54 p.m.

ON CAPE COD BAY, Mass. (AP) -- A spotter bangs three times on the boat\'s cabin roof, signaling the captain to cut the throttle - now. In the foggy gray of Cape Cod Bay, the reason for the abrupt stop soon becomes apparent: The research vessel is surrounded by rare North Atlantic right whales, their glossy black heads bobbing just above the surface as they feed on plankton slicks....

Chilean troops force volcano evacuations

AP - Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:47 p.m.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- Police and soldiers cleared the last remaining people from the shadow of a Chilean volcano on Thursday after a strong, overnight explosion spewed glowing-hot rocks from its crater....

Survey shows US honey bee deaths increased over last year

AP - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 12:22 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation\'s commercially managed hives lost since last year....

Australia's Koalas at risk from climate change

AP - Wednesday, May 7, 2008 12:22 p.m.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Koalas are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on, a researcher said Wednesday....

Fishermen suspected after 6 sea lions are killed in Oregon

AP - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 4:20 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- There\'s "protected" on paper and there\'s "protected" on the river....

Agencies issue plan to run Columbia dams, preserve salmon

AP - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 1:16 p.m.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The Bush administration Monday issued its final court-ordered plans for making Columbia Basin hydroelectric dams and irrigation projects safe for endangered salmon....

Scientists: Warming may greatest threat to tropical species

AP - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 1:14 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- While global warming is expected to be strongest at the poles, it may be an even greater threat to species living in the tropics, scientists say....

Reservoir larger than Manhattan planned to help Everglades

AP - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 1:07 p.m.

IN THE EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) -- Around South Florida\'s vast sugar cane fields, where turtles grow to the size of basketballs and alligators own the marsh, the silence of the swamp is broken by the sound of rumbling trucks and explosions....

Vog _ volcanic smog _ kills plants, casts a haze over Hawaii

AP - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 2:39 a.m.

OCEAN VIEW, Hawaii (AP) -- For eight years, Tony and Sam Bayaoa have grown thousands of bright red, yellow and pink protea flowers on their farm. Then in March, Kilauea volcano opened a new vent and began spewing double the usual amount of toxic gas....

Caution urged in choosing gene tests

AP - Monday, May 5, 2008 5:48 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Everyone\'s genes spell out a risk for some disease, and a coming anti-discrimination law is about to give genetic testing a boost....

Idaho team readies artificial beak for wounded bald eagle

AP - Monday, May 5, 2008 5:45 p.m.

ST. MARIES, Idaho (AP) -- She has been named Beauty, though this eagle is anything but. Part of Beauty\'s beak was shot off several years ago, leaving her with a stump that is useless for hunting food. A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to the disfigured bird, in an effort to keep her alive....

Santa Monica High School team wins National Science Bowl

AP - Monday, May 5, 2008 1:37 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four California high school students used a complex mathematical function called a Maclaurin series to come up with the correct answer - "two-thirds" - Monday to win the Energy Department\'s annual National Science Bowl....

Beetle-ravaged forests prompt campground closures in Rockies

AP - Sunday, May 4, 2008 6:53 p.m.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Vacationers will have fewer places to pitch their tents this summer in Colorado and Wyoming, and they can place the blame on bugs....

DNA tests reveal mystery surrounding playwright Schiller

AP - Sunday, May 4, 2008 10:07 a.m.

BERLIN (AP) -- Who is buried in Friedrich Schiller\'s tomb? Several people, apparently, but none of them the famous poet and playwright, according to new research....

Obama: Change in ethanol policy might be needed

AP - Sunday, May 4, 2008 9:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices, a stance similar to Republican John McCain\'s but at odds with farm states considered important to the November election....

Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power

AP - Sunday, May 4, 2008 12:38 a.m.

MILTON, Ontario (AP) -- The glowing amber dot on a light switch in the entryway of George Tsapoitis\' house offers a clue about the future of electricity....

Chilean volcano town nearly deserted

AP - Saturday, May 3, 2008 3:07 p.m.

CHAITEN, Chile (AP) -- The Chaiten volcano spewed light ash on a nearly deserted village Saturday, two days after its first eruption in thousands of years....

Mechanical squirrels, robot lizards jump into research

AP - Saturday, May 3, 2008 4:26 a.m.

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) -- One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby. It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns....

Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 6:12 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists said Friday....

Scientists to capture DNA of trees worldwide for database

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 6:12 p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Botanical Garden may be best known for its orchid shows and colorful blossoms, but its researchers are about to lead a global effort to capture DNA from thousands of tree species from around the world....

The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 1:13 p.m.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Akhenaten wasn\'t the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he was a bit of an egghead....

Scientists share $500,000 prize for biomedical research

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 9:57 a.m.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The nation\'s richest prize in medicine and biomedical research was awarded Friday to two researchers for work that has improved disease treatments and may lead to new ones for degenerative and other age-related disorders....

Federal agency declares West Coast salmon fishery a disaster

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 4:40 a.m.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Federal authorities have declared the West Coast ocean salmon fishery a failure, opening the way for Congress to appropriate economic disaster assistance for coastal communities in California, Oregon and Washington....

South Korea begins imports of biotech corn

AP - Friday, May 2, 2008 3:28 a.m.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Major South Korean corn processors have begun importing genetically modified varieties of the crop because of shortages of conventional corn on the world market since China began limiting its exports, officials said Friday....

Treasure trove found in 500-year-old shipwreck off Africa

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:46 p.m.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The ship was laden with tons of copper ingots, elephant tusks, gold coins - and cannons to fend off pirates. But it had nothing to protect it from the fierce weather off a particularly bleak stretch of inhospitable African coast, and it sank 500 years ago. Now it has been found, stumbled upon by De Beers geologists prospecting for diamonds off Namibia....

Congress passes anti-genetic discrimination bill

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 5:29 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress sent President Bush a bill Thursday forbidding employers and insurance companies from using genetic tests showing people are at risk of developing cancer, heart disease or other ailments to reject their job applications, promotions or health care coverage, or in setting premiums....

Study: Warmer ocean water means less oxygen

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 2:03 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, researchers warn....

Scientist rediscovers rare plant unseen since 1985

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 1:32 p.m.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A scientist with the Missouri Botanical Garden has rediscovered and identified a rare parasitic plant that hasn\'t been seen by botanists in more than 20 years....

NASA: Hubble mission delayed until fall for fuel tank work

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 1:32 p.m.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA\'s final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed at least a month, until the fall, because of extra time needed to build the shuttle fuel tanks needed for the flight and a potential rescue mission....

Pittsburgh surpasses Los Angeles as nation's sootiest city

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 1:29 p.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A city outside California has for the first time been named the sootiest in the nation, one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country....

Baby birds babble just like human babies learning to talk

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 1:15 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The happy babbling that entertains parents as their babies try to mimic speech turns out to have a parallel in the animal world. Baby birds babble away before mastering their adult song, researchers report in Friday\'s edition of the journal Science....

California's farm belt plan to cut air pollution criticized

AP - Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:57 a.m.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Environmentalists say a new plan to clean up the soot-laden air in California\'s farm belt would fail to adequately regulate agricultural sources of pollution....

Delay in ruling on endangered right whales criticized

AP - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3:53 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An attempt to protect the endangered right whale from being killed by commercial ships has languished for more than a year in part because Vice President Dick Cheney\'s office and White House economists questioned the conclusions of marine scientists, according to internal documents....

Inspector General: Conflict of interest on NASA review board

AP - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3:15 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A board set up to review construction of the spaceship to return astronauts to the moon is loaded with employees of the very contractors they are supposed to scrutinize, breaking federal law, a government watchdog says....

Giant squid has world's largest eyes

AP - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3:08 p.m.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Marine scientists studying the carcass of a rare colossal squid said Wednesday they had measured its eye at about 11 inches across - bigger than a dinner plate - making it the largest animal eye on Earth....

Israel to display rarely seen scroll

AP - Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:55 p.m.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A rarely displayed segment of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be part of an exhibition for President Bush and other dignitaries attending Israel\'s 60th anniversary celebrations next month, a museum official said Wednesday....

Scientists seek clues as Reno earthquakes keep shaking

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:26 p.m.

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno are scrutinizing seismic readings and studying damage at residents\' homes to try to figure out what\'s happening beneath the earth\'s surface under a northwest Reno neighborhood rocked by a seemingly endless string of earthquakes....

Food scientists say stop biofuels to fight world hunger

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 2:27 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some top international food scientists Tuesday recommended halting the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, saying it would cut corn prices by 20 percent during a world food crisis....

Democrats say politics at work in toxic chemical decisions

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 2:03 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic senators accused the Bush administration Tuesday of injecting politics into the Environmental Protection Agency\'s assessment of health risks from toxic chemicals, citing a congressional investigation that concluded the assessments are being undermined by secrecy and White House involvement....

Idaho lab develops a quicker way to catch a thief

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:22 p.m.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Federal researchers say they\'ve developed a human identification test that\'s faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing....

Judge orders federal government to decide polar bear listing

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:15 p.m.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming....

Biologists say dozens of grizzlies reside in Anchorage

AP - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:02 p.m.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A study by state biologists has found parts of Anchorage are much more popular among grizzly bears than they previously thought....

Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind

AP - Monday, April 28, 2008 1:26 p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to dramatically improve sight in people with a rare form of blindness, a development experts called a major advance for the experimental technique....

Experts see impact of museums in science education efforts

AP - Monday, April 28, 2008 6:49 a.m.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Three or four times a day, a banana shows up at the Liberty Science Center and complains about a pain in its side. And that means it\'s time for some visiting kids to dress up like surgeons and scrub nurses, take a scalpel and go to work....

SKorea's 1st astronaut to help country develop space tech

AP - Monday, April 28, 2008 12:54 a.m.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea\'s first astronaut says she will do her best to help her country develop its own space technology....

EU's GPS satellite in orbit

AP - Sunday, April 27, 2008 2:52 a.m.

MOSCOW (AP) -- An experimental satellite for a much-delayed European Union rival to the United States\' GPS navigation system blasted into orbit Sunday after a successful launch atop a Russian rocket, the Russian and European space agencies said....

Reno urged to prepare for worse as earthquakes continue

AP - Saturday, April 26, 2008 6:33 p.m.

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada\'s largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors....

Protection weighed for bird in West's energy areas

AP - Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:01 p.m.

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- The fate of basic industries across the Intermountain West - grazing, mining, energy - soon could be at least partially tied to that of a bird about the size of a chicken....

Natural-gas vehicles hot in Utah, where the fuel is cheap

AP - Saturday, April 26, 2008 6:37 a.m.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Troy Anderson was at the gas pump and couldn\'t have been happier, filling up at a rate of $5 per tank. Anderson was paying 63.8 cents per gallon equivalent for compressed natural gas, making Utah a hot market for vehicles that run on the fuel....

Narwhals more at risk to Arctic warming than polar bears

AP - Saturday, April 26, 2008 6:37 a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The polar bear has become an icon of global warming vulnerability, but a new study found an Arctic mammal that may be even more at risk to climate change: the narwhal....

Canadian panel: Climate change is threat to polar bears

AP - Saturday, April 26, 2008 6:37 a.m.

OTTAWA (AP) -- A scientific committee that advises Canada\'s government on endangered species said Friday that climate change is a threat to the survival of the polar bear, but the species does not face extinction....

Agents trap salmon-eating sea lions in Ore.-Wash. river

AP - Friday, April 25, 2008 5:32 a.m.

NORTH BONNEVILLE, Wash. (AP) -- One by one, curious California sea lions checked out the open cage left invitingly on a platform in the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam and flopped inside to chill out on the nice flat surface....

Penguin's wetsuit puts him back in the swim of things

AP - Friday, April 25, 2008 4:43 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- What\'s black and white and warm all over? A penguin in a wetsuit, naturally. Sounds like a joke, but it\'s quite serious for biologists at the California Academy of Sciences, who had a wetsuit created for an African penguin to help him get back in the swim of things....

Smithsonian to open massive new 'Ocean Hall' in September

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:42 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The least understood two-thirds of planet Earth - the oceans - are soon to get needed attention from the Smithsonian Institution. "The oceans are a global system that is essential to all life in Earth, including you," acting Smithsonian Secretary Cristian Samper said Thursday at the construction site that will become Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History....

Study says near extinction threatened people 70,00 years ago

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:17 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday....

SKorea trains cloned drug-sniffing dogs

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:17 p.m.

INCHEON, South Korea (AP) -- The country that created the world\'s first cloned canine plans to put duplicated dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs and explosives....

Scientists study evidence modern birds came from dinosaurs

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:15 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It looks like chickens deserve more respect. Scientists are fleshing out the proof that today\'s broiler-fryer is descended from the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex. And, not a surprise, they confirmed a close relationship between mastodons and elephants....

Using chemicals to cut global warming may damage ozone layer

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:14 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The rule of unintended consequences threatens to strike again. Some researchers have suggested that injecting sulfur compounds into the atmosphere might help ease global warming by increasing clouds and haze that would reflect sunlight....

Scientist says New Zealand's biggest glacier shrinking

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:13 p.m.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand\'s biggest glacier is melting at its fastest pace in recent history, a scientist said Thursday. The Tasman Glacier on South Island was 18 miles long in 1990, with virtually no lake at its front edge, Massey University glacier expert Martin Brook said....

Desalting seawater to meet water needs may hold promise

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 3:10 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There\'s probably a place for desalted seawater in meeting the nation\'s future water needs, but research is needed to reduce the costs and impact on the environment, the National Research Council says....

Mom's diet may play role in whether baby is boy or girl

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 2:41 a.m.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Snips and snails and puppydog tails ... and cereal and bananas? That could be what little boys are made of, according to surprising new research suggesting that what a woman eats before pregnancy influences the gender of her baby....

China calls for help on climate change

AP - Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:56 a.m.

BEIJING (AP) -- China called on the international community Thursday to increase the flow of technology to developing countries to help them fight climate change....

Pine beetle outbreaks turn forests into carbon source

AP - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:24 p.m.

DENVER (AP) -- An outbreak of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia is doing more than destroying millions of trees: By 2020, the beetles will have done so much damage that the forest is expected to release more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, according to new research....

Scientists say accumulation of greenhouse gases accelerating

AP - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:35 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Major greenhouse gases in the air are accumulating faster than in the past despite efforts to curtail their growth....

Experts fear nation's waterways need rescuing _ from us

AP - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:59 a.m.

ALONG THE SANTA FE RIVER, N.M. (AP) -- Rosemary Lowe scoops up a shovel of dirt and dumps it into a hole around the base of a slender cottonwood tree....

UN official: Biodiversity loss could hurts medical research

AP - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 2:40 a.m.

SINGAPORE (AP) -- The world risks losing new medical treatments for osteoporosis, cancer and other human ailments if it does not act quickly to conserve the planet\'s biodiversity, a senior United Nations environmental official said Wednesday....

'Rocket City' shows little interest in moon, mars missions

AP - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 7:34 p.m.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- During the space race, engineers such as German scientist Wernher von Braun were treated like celebrities in this former cotton town nicknamed "Rocket City" because it is where the nation\'s first moon rockets were designed....

NASA not worried about Soyuz space capsule's bumpy ride home

AP - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 7:16 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American astronaut described her descent to Earth in a wayward Soyuz space capsule over the weekend as "pretty dramatic," in an audio recording released Tuesday by NASA....

Scientists study Arctic haze for clues to rapid melting

AP - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:31 p.m.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Visitors to Alaska often marvel at the crisp, clear air. But the truth is, the skies above the Arctic Circle work like a giant lint trap during late winter and early spring, catching all sorts of pollutants swirling around the globe....

Aviation heads to act on climate change, but set no targets

AP - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 1:34 p.m.

GENEVA (AP) -- Aviation chiefs pledged Tuesday to address the industry\'s impact on climate change but shied away from setting concrete targets for reducing emissions of global-warming gases....

Panel says link between smog and premature death is clear

AP - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:57 a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Short-term exposure to smog, or ozone, is clearly linked to premature deaths that should be taken into account when measuring the health benefits of reducing air pollution, a National Academy of Sciences report concluded Tuesday....

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