NPR Environment Podcast
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NPR: 05-16-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear 2) Vietnam's Appetite For Rhino Horn Drives Poaching In Africa 3) 'Dangerous Territory': Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach Milestone 4) College Divestment Campaigns Creating Passionate Environmentalists 5) Atop A Hawaiian Mountain, A Constant Sniff For Carbon Dioxide 6) Frozen Lakes Cut Into Minnesota Fishing Tradition
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NPR: 05-09-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Living Inside the Box 2) A Splash Of 'Urban Ocean' On A Southern California Cruise 3) Filling In The Gap On Climate Education In Classrooms 4) Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops
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NPR: 05-02-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) He Helped Discover Evolution, And Then Became Extinct 2) Exploring Coffee's Past To Rescue Its Future 3) How Doctors Would Know If Syrians Were Hit With Nerve Gas
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NPR: 04-25-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) This Scientist Aims High To Save The World's Coral Reefs 2) This Building Is Supergreen. Will It Be Copied? 3) Mississippi River's Many 'Parents' Look To Unify 4) For Corn, Fickle Weather Makes For Uncertain Yields 5) Thirsty States Take Water Battle To Supreme Court 6) 43 Years Of Earth Day: What's Changed Since 1970
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NPR: 04-18-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Venezuela Oil Diplomacy: From Caracas To Cuba 2) Now Endangered, Florida's Silver Springs Once Lured Tourists 3) As Arctic Ice Melts, It's A Free-For-All For Oil ... And Tusks 4) Lionfish Attacking Atlantic Ocean Like A Living Oil Spill
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NPR: 04-11-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Colorado Farmers Scramble To Find Irrigation Water 2) Bees Emerging After A Hard Winter
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NPR: 04-04-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) German Prince Plans To Put Bison Back In The Wild 2) EPA Proposes New Rule To Clean Up Gasoline And Reduce Smog 3) State Gives Example Of New Federal Gas Standards 4) EPA's Push For More Ethanol Could Be Too Little, Too Late
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NPR: 03-28-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) A Hot Topic: Climate Change Coming To Classrooms 2) Are Agriculture's Most Popular Insecticides Killing Our Bees?
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NPR: 03-21-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) It's 'Birds Gone Wild' Out On Australia's Heron Island 2) Afghanistan's Forests A Casualty Of Timber Smuggling 3) Massive Sinkhole In Louisiana Baffles Officials 4) Environmentalists, Drillers Reach 'Truce' For Fracking Standards
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NPR: 03-07-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Wild Bees Are Good For Crops, But Crops Are Bad For Bees 2) Natural Gas Dethrones King Coal As Power Companies Look To Future 3) After Keystone Review, Environmentalists Vow To Continue Fight 4) Steamship Anchors A Community, But Its Days May Be Numbered 5) Obama's Pick For EPA Head The Most Likely To Cause Controversy
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NPR: 02-28-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) How Wood Smoke is Dirtying Alaska's Air 2) Boston Grapples With The Threat Of Storms And Rising Water 3) Trial Against BP To Begin Over 2010 Rig Explosion 4) Civil Trial Against BP Seeks To Place Blame For Gulf Oil Spill 5) Increased Humidity From Climate Change Could Make It Harder To Tolerate Summers
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NPR: 02-21-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Forecasting Climate With A Chance Of Backlash 2) After Sandy, Not All Sand Dunes Are Created Equal 3) Federal Charges Filed In Ohio Dumping Case
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NPR: 02-14-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Growing University Highlights Connecticut's Water Woes 2) Automakers Drive Towards Hydrogen Cars 3) Is The Earth Cooking Up Another Super Volcano? 4) U.S. Natural Gas Exports Stir Debate 5) Conditions Allow For More Sustainable-Labeled Seafood
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NPR: 02-07-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) The Inconvenient Truth About Polar Bears 2) Tsunami Debris On Alaska's Shores Like 'Standing In Landfill' 3) Wood Stork's Endangered Status Is Up In The Air 4) Environmentalists Oppose Shipping Fracking Waste By Barge
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NPR: 01-31-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) The Silver Lining In Drought: 5 Upsides To Rain-Free Weather 2) Focus On Fracking Diverts Attention From Horizontal Drilling 3) Months After Sandy, Mucking And Gutting 4) Cold Snap Shakes Up Winter Weather Outlook 5) In Arizona, Some Retirees Caught In Never-Ending Battle With Invasive Species 6) Bird, Plane, Bacteria? Microbes Thrive In Storm Clouds
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NPR: 01-24-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Connecting With Nature To Reclaim Our Natural 'Birthright' 2) Experts Urge Caution As $50 Billion In Sandy Aid Passes House 3) Stink Bug's Resurfacing May Squash Farmers' Hopes For A Strong 2013 4) Beijing Grapples with Record Air Pollution 5) Former Anti-GMO Activist Says Science Changed His Mind
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NPR: 01-18-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) The True Weight Of Water 2) This Butter Sculpture Could Power A Farm For 3 Days 3) How E-Waste Is Becoming a Big, Global Problem 4) From Corn Belt To Main Street: The Drought's Far-Reaching Grasp 5) From Corn Belt To Main Street: The Drought's Far-Reaching Grasp 6) Could Some Midwest Land Support New Biofuel Refineries?
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NPR: 01-10-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) From Canada To Latin America, The Christmas Bird Count Is On 2) Budget Deal Provides Tax Breaks For Green Energy 3) iPads, China: Twin Threats To Wisconsin's Paper Industry 4) 'Black Gold Boom' Brings New Life To North Dakota 5) Drilling Rig's Thick Hull Helps Prevent Oil Spill 6) Deep In Canadian Lakes, Signs Of Tar Sands Pollution
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NPR: 01-04-2013 Environment
Stories: 1) Administrator Lisa Jackson To Leave EPA 2) A Busy And Head-Scratching 2012 Hurricane Season 3) Is It Morally Wrong For U.S. To Export Coal? 4) 2013: A Tipping Year For Climate Change? 5) Shell Faces New Questions After Rig Runs Aground 6) Transocean To Pay $1.4 Billion In Gulf Oil Spill Settlement
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NPR: 12-27-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Drought, Economics And Your Holiday Feast 2) An Urban Tree Farm Grows In Detroit 3) Extreme Weather Was Front And Center In 2012 4) Texas Man Takes Last Stand Against Keystone XL Pipeline 5) An Abundance Of Extreme Weather Has Many On Edge 6) Climate Change Gets Real For Americans
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NPR: 12-20-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) 'Miracle' Tree Stands Tall In Japan After Tsunami 2) EPA Targets Deadliest Pollution: Soot 3) Photo Project Tracks Climate Change On Everest
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NPR: 12-14-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) World Bank Issues Alarming Climate Report 2) Blue Whale Barrel Roll Caught On Camera 3) Unlocking A Frozen Lake's Bacterial Secrets 4) At Doha Climate Talks, Modest Results At Best 5) Saving Ancient Trees With Clones 6) Latest Climate Talks Wrap Up In Doha
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NPR: 12-06-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) The Sight Of Roadkill Makes A Pretty, Data-Rich Picture 2) In Arid West, Cheatgrass Turns Fires Into Infernos
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NPR: 11-30-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) To Fight Tick-Borne Disease, Someone Has To Catch Ticks 2) An Arbor Embolism? Why Trees Die In Drought 3) Can Shellfish Adapt to More Acidic Water? 4) Overrun By Otters, Illinois Reinstates Trapping Season
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NPR: 11-22-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Al Gore: Most Americans Still Agree Climate Change Is Getting Worse 2) Sandy Stirs Up Superfund Site In New Jersey 3) Why Greek Yogurt Makers Want Whey To Go Away
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NPR: 11-16-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Loophole Lets Toxic Oil Water Flow Over Indian Land 2) Hurricane Sandy Claims Thousands of NYU Lab Mice 3) Weighing The Prospects Of The Keystone XL Pipeline 4) Calif. To Begin Rationing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 5) A 'Green' Gold Rush? Calif. Firm Turns Trash To Gas
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NPR: 11-09-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) How Obama And Romney Differ On Climate Change 2) Seeing Sandy From Space 3) Norfolk, Va., Puts Flooding Survival Plan To The Test 4) Protection From The Sea Is Possible, But Expensive 5) Can Dumping Iron Into The Sea Fight Climate Change?
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NPR: 11-02-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) In A Shift From 2008 Race, Obama's Hush On Climate 2) What's A Lake Doing In The Middle Of The Desert? 3) Sandy Restored To Category 1 Hurricane 4) Hurricane Sandy Roaring Up East Coast 5) The Science Of Why Sandy Is Such A Dangerous Storm 6) Sandy Raises Questions About Climate And The Future
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NPR: 10-26-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Winter Weather Predictions 2) Despite Protest, College Plans To Slaughter, Serve Farm's Beloved Oxen 3) Algae As Car Fuel: Possible, But Not Sustainable?
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NPR: 10-18-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Tracking The Ozone Hole, As It Waxes And Wanes 2) On The Campaign Trail, Regulations Dominate The Environmental Debate 3) Climate Politics: It's Laugh Lines Vs. 'Not A Joke' 4) Scientists Solve Mystery Of Disappearing Salt Marshes
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NPR: 10-12-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Starfish Blamed For Great Barrier Reef Coral Loss 2) Restore The California Delta! To What, Exactly? 3) Scientists Watch Antarctica, Arctic Sea-Ice Levels
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NPR: 10-05-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) A Tiny Ocean World With A Mighty Important Future 2) 'Paul Revere Of Ecology' Sounded Alarms On Pollution 3) The Cost Of Saving Lives With Local Peanuts In Haiti
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NPR: 09-27-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Vt. Town Hires Livestock To Save Money, Go Green 2) Printing Solar Panels In The Backyard 3) Chimney Rock Becomes Newest National Monument 4) As Arctic Ice Melts, So Does The Snow, And Quickly 5) Bolivia's Cerro Rico: The Mountain That Eats Men 6) Tourists Banned From India's Tiger Reserves
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NPR: 09-20-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Field Trip To A Fungi Foray 2) What Drove Early Man Across Globe? Climate Change 3) Shriveled Mich. Apple Harvest Means Fewer Jobs, Tough Year Ahead 4) Hungry Snakes Trap Guam In Spidery Web
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NPR: 09-14-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Oregon Power Project Needs The Motion Of The Ocean 2) When Heat Kills: Global Warming As Public Health Threat 3) Arctic Sea Ice Melt Sets Record 4) Officials Combat Big Stink In Southern California 5) 'Astonishing' Arctic Ice Melt Sets New Record 6) Arctic Ice At Lowest Level In Decades
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NPR: 09-06-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) As Temps Rise, Cities Combat 'Heat Island' Effect 2) Vanishing Vultures A Grave Matter For India's Parsis 3) Nesting Loons Help Researchers Track Toxins
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NPR: 08-30-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) 'Torture Lab' Kills Trees To Learn How To Save Them 2) Is It Too Late To Defuse The Danger Of Megafires? 3) In Southwest, Worst-Case Fire Scenario Plays Out 4) 'Carbon Nation' Tackles Climate Change, By Ignoring It 5) Methane Making An Appearance In Pa. Water Supplies
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NPR: 08-23-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Solar Toilet Disinfects Waste, Makes Hydrogen Fuel 2) Wood Energy Not 'Green' Enough, Says Mass. 3) How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires 4) How A Biofuel Dream Called Jatropha Came Crashing Down 5) Why Forest-Killing Megafires Are The New Normal 6) The City As Engine: Energy, Entropy And The Triumph Of Disorder
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NPR: 08-16-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) When This Oil Spills, It's 'A Whole New Monster' 2) Some Idaho Farmers Pray, Others Turn On The Water 3) Joplin's New Trees Struggle To Survive Amid Drought 4) Germans Confront The Costs Of A Nuclear-Free Future 5) Scorching Phoenix Plans For An Even Hotter Future
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NPR: 08-10-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Building For Birds: Architects Aim For Safer Skies 2) A Clear And Present Danger: How Glass Kills Birds 3) No Space, Mate: Koalas' Habitat Under Threat 4) Changing Views About A Changing Climate 5) This Drought's No Dry Run: Lessons Of The Dust Bowl
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NPR: 08-02-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) America's 'Most Polluted' Lake Finally Comes Clean 2) Thank The Simple Wasp For That Complex Glass Of Wine
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NPR: 07-26-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Rifts Emerge Amid 'Frac Sand' Rush In Wisconsin 2) Summer Science: Clothes Keep You Cool, More Or Less 3) Greenland Ice Sheet Melts At Abnormal Blazing Speed 4) In Drought-Stricken Midwest, It's Fodder Vs. Fuel
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NPR: 07-20-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) 'Sunny Chernobyl': Beauty In A Haze Of Pollution 2) Climate Change Ups Odds Of Heat Waves, Drought 3) Apple's Change Of Heart On Green Certification 4) Miners Weather The Slow Burn Of Coal's Demise 5) From Coal To Gas: The Potential Risks And Rewards
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NPR: 07-13-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Dead Reefs Can Come Back To Life, Study Says 2) Parts Of U.S. Still Gripping With Record Heat 3) How One Drought Changed Texas Agriculture Forever 4) Rising Shale Water Complicates Fracking Debate 5) Firm Blamed In The Costliest Onshore Oil Spill Ever
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NPR: 07-05-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) A Tale Of Two Coastlines, Skirted By Swelling Seas 2) Bidding Farewell to Lonesome George 3) The Trickiness Of Tracking Severe Weather 4) Climate Change Buoying Wildfires Across Country
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NPR: 06-28-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Alaska Glacier Studied For Clues On Water Supply 2) Rio+20 Summit Sustains Little More Than Sentiment 3) Tropical Storm Debby Saturates Florida 4) A Nation Of Meat Eaters: See How It All Adds Up
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NPR: 06-21-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Is Density Our Destiny? 2) Famous Cave Paintings Might Not Be From Humans 3) Desktop Diaries: Sylvia Earle 4) Chanticleer: A Botanical Distraction From Daily Life 5) Rio Environment Meeting Focuses On 'Energy For All'
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NPR: 06-15-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Is Japanese Dock A Noah's Ark Or A Trojan Horse? 2) 40 Years After Killer Flood, A Reshaped City Reflects 3) A Damned Dam On The Penobscot River 4) Thinner Arctic Ice Sparks Massive Algae Bloom 5) Colo. Fire Now One Of The Biggest In State History
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NPR: 06-07-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) The Many Lifestyles Of Muck-Dwelling Microbes 2) Lightning Bug Of A Different Color
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NPR: 05-31-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) Forget Big-Box Stores. How About A Big-Box House? 2) Soft-Shell Lobsters So Soon? It's A Mystery In Maine
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Mongolia's Dilemma: Who Gets The Water?
Story: Mongolia is now tapping huge natural resources. But they're in the Gobi region, where traditional nomadic herding is under assault and desertification is a major problem. Herders are worried the mines will siphon off already dwindling water supplies, while trucks and roads destroy pastureland.
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NPR: 05-17-2012 Environment
Stories: 1) With Gas Boom, Pennsylvania Fears New Toxic Legacy 2) Town's Effort To Link Fracking And Illness Falls Short 3) Medical Records Could Yield Answers On Fracking 4) Sick From Fracking? Doctors, Patients Seek Answers 5) Pennsylvania Doctors Worry Over Fracking 'Gag Rule' 6) 'Close Encounters' With Gas Well Pollution
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Drilling Boom Strains State Regulatory Agencies
Story: Cash-strapped states are embracing the millions of dollars in new tax revenue coming from shale oil and gas development. But there aren't enough inspectors to make sure the sites aren't polluting. The problem seems especially apparent in Colorado, which now has more than 47,000 active oil and gas wells but the state employs just 17 inspectors.
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Is Thorium A Magic Bullet For Our Energy Problems?
As the search for cheap, safe and non-carbon emitting sources of energy continues, a band of scientists say the answer may be nuclear reactors fueled by thorium. Others caution that thorium reactors pose waste and proliferation risks. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the pros and cons of thorium reactors.
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Gauging Public Opinion on Climate Change Policy
Majorities of Americans say that global warming and clean energy should be among the nation's priorities, according to a new survey. Will those feelings translate into any action in the government? Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication discusses the survey's findings.
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Greenland's Ice Melting More Slowly Than Expected
While the glaciers hold enough water to raise sea level feet by 20 feet, a new study says the runaway meltdown of Greenland's ice isn't happening as some had feared. This means a "worst-case scenario" of 6 feet of sea level rise by the end of this century is unlikely, a polar researcher says.
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Drama Amid Indonesia's Disappearing Mangroves
Indonesia has the largest share of the world's mangroves — coastal forests that have adapted to saltwater environments. They play important environmental and ecological roles. The challenge is convincing locals that they benefit more from protecting the trees rather than cutting them down.
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Countries Losing Steam On Climate Change Initiatives
The International Energy Agency warned energy ministers around the world that they are falling behind in their efforts to wean the world from dirty sources of energy. Nations are nowhere near being on track to avert significant climate change in the coming decade, and just about everything is conspiring to make it harder to clean up the world's energy supply.
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Following Garbage's Long Journey Around The Earth
Americans generate more trash than anyone else on the planet: more than 7 pounds per person each day. Journalist Edward Humes explores how that happened in his new book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash.
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After Backlash, Ethanol Industry Is Thriving
After being hyped as a homegrown remedy to America's dependence on foreign oil, the federally supported corn-based fuel ended up under attack as an environmental and economic failure. Now the smoke has cleared, and U.S. ethanol producers are booming.
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First Criminal Charges Filed In BP Gulf Oil Spill
The first criminal charges were filed on Tuesday in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. An engineer for BP was charged with obstruction of justice for deleting hundreds of text messages after the spill. Carrie Johnson talks to Robert Siegel.
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Melt Or Grow? Fate Of Himalayan Glaciers Unknown
A few years ago, the U.N.'s climate panel warned that the Himalayas' glaciers were quickly disappearing. The claim was dead wrong. The true picture of how the ice in those glaciers is responding to a warming world is far more complex. "There are so many uncertainties that it's really hard to predict the future of the glaciers," says one scientist.
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How Making Food Safe Can Harm Wildlife And Water
After an outbreak of E. coli in spinach killed several people in 2006, farmers clamped down on every possible source of contamination. Those safety efforts have also pushed out wildlife, destroyed sensitive habitats and increased pollution in waterways.
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Expedition Seeks To Save Florida's 'Terra Incognita'
Four adventurers are coming to the end of a 1,000-mile trek across the state. That might have been the easy part. Their goal: Document the disconnected and disappearing wildlife in Florida's interior and promote a continuous natural corridor the length of the state.
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Frozen Cows Present Dilemma In Rockies
Six dead cows, likely part of a herd of 29 cattle that went missing last fall, were recently found frozen solid in a cabin high in the Rocky Mountains. Melissa Block talks to Scott Snelson, district ranger for the Aspen-Sopris District for the White River National Forest, about how the forest service plans to dislodge the cows.
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Two Years Later, BP Spill Reminders Litter Gulf Coast
It's been two years since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 rig workers and unleashing the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The oil has long stopped flowing and BP has spent billions of dollars cleaning up beaches and waterways — but the disaster isn't necessarily over.
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Exploring The Deepest, Darkest Spots On Earth
Very few people will ever visit the ocean's depths. This hour, Ira Flatow talks with a few who have, like divers Sylvia Earle and John McCosker, who've discovered flashing fish and spotted sharks in the deep. And filmmaker James Cameron joins to discuss his dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
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Designing A Bridge For Earthquake Country
Scientists estimate a more than 60 percent chance of a major earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area within 30 years. Marwan Nader, lead design engineer for the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge, discusses features that give the bridge the flexibility to withstand the 'Big One.'
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2 Years On, Gulf Families, Businesses Holding On
On April 20th, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and set off the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Host Michel Martin speaks with researcher Irwin Redlener, who found that children suffered mental and physical stress from the spill. Martin also checks in with Byron Encalade, whose oyster business is struggling.
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Open Season On Spain's King After Luxe Hunting Trip
As Spaniards grapple with severe austerity measures and record unemployment, their king is dealing with a different kind of pain. Public outrage is running high over an elephant hunt in Africa that King Juan Carlos took recently. It cost nearly $60,000 — more than twice the average salary in Spain.
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Your Salad: A Search For Where The Wild Things Were
Tracing the source of contamination in fresh foods grown in the ground is hard work, and companies spend a lot of money trying to keep Salmonella and other bugs out while allowing nature to run its course. But it's not easy.
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How A 'Western Problem' Led To New Drilling Rules
New EPA rules would control air pollution coming from wells being drilled by the oil and natural gas industries. The rules are a result of a lawsuit by an environmental group that sued the agency to clean up the drilling industry after communities in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming complained about air pollution.
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New Rules To Curb Pollution From Oil, Gas Drilling
The federal rules announced Wednesday will, among other things, soon require oil and natural gas drillers to limit air pollution from drilling operations. Though the requirements stand to save companies money long term, producers say pollution regulations should be left to the states.
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Greenpeace: How Clean (And Green) Is Your Cloud?
A report issued Tuesday by the environmental advocacy group found fault with Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. Greenpeace ranked the companies according to the efficiency of their cloud facilities, as well as where they get their electricity.
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Storms Threaten Great Plains With Hail, Tornadoes
Major storms have reached a swath of the Great Plains from Oklahoma City up through central Kansas and into Nebraska. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with Chance Hayes, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Wichita, Kansas.
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Federal Government To Pay Indian Tribes $1 Billion Over...
The U.S. government will pay more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits filed by 41 American Indian tribes, who had accused federal agencies of mismanaging tribal money and resources. The agreement ends nearly two years of negotiations; some claims date back more than 100 years.
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Calif. Study: Nail Products Contain Toxic Chemicals
A new study indicates some of the products used in nail salons, which claim to be free of certain toxic chemicals, actually contain them. Representatives of the nail care industry say the study is nonsense. Worker safety groups have long been concerned about nail salon employees who work with the products.
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From Pa. Waste To Ohio Quakes
Much of the waste that results from Pennsylvania's drilling for natural gas is being shipped to Ohio, where it's injected deep underground. Some of these injections are suspected of causing earthquakes in the Buckeye State.
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Wind At Sea Is Strangely Van Goghish, Says NASA
Sea surface currents look uncannily like a van Gogh sky. In this visualization, watch how wind dances on the ocean's surface, twisting and turning around the continents.
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Sunny Days Are Here Again — But Is That Good?
Temperatures around the nation have been unusually warm this spring. While it might be time to lie on a blanket in the park, climate scientists are worried. They say all these sunny days are actually an extreme weather event, one with local and global implications.
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How Murdoch's Aussie Papers Cover Climate Change
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sells an overwhelming majority of all newspapers read in his native Australia and holds a controlling interest in the leading cable news channel. With such dominance, the Murdoch press there draws careful scrutiny of how it covers sensitive issues.
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Early Spring Has Farmers Battling Frost At Night
The early spring has been great for recreation and those with cabin-fever, but it's been a headache for farmers and other growers. In Wisconsin, orchard and vineyard owners have trees and vines in early bloom, but are now up at night battling frost.
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Coyotes Come To The Big Apple
Coyotes were first spotted in New York City in the 1990s. Now they are thought to be permanent residents of the Bronx, and have been seen in Queens and Manhattan. Wildlife biologist Mark Weckel, of the Mianus River Gorge Preserve, is documenting their immigration through camera traps in New York City parks.
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Taking A Walk On New York's Wild Side
New York City has been referred to as a concrete jungle. But researchers say it is more 'jungle' than you might think. A panel of experts discuss the plant and animal life found in city waters and green spaces. They also discuss the impact of urbanization and climate change on a city's biodiversity.
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How Homo Sapiens Became 'Masters Of The Planet'
The first Homo sapiens appeared on the planet some 200,000 years ago. But even though they looked fully human, they didn't act fully human until they began creating symbolic art, some 100,000 years later. Paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall discusses those human origins in his book Masters of the Planet.
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Bears Stuffing Themselves Near Massachusetts Homes
The mild New England winter means that more black bears are up and about, looking for food — and not just in the woods. In Northampton, Mass.,they're also exploring urban backyards and residential cul-de-sacs, where finding food scraps is a lot easier than berry-picking.
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Early Spring Means Bugs — Lots Of Bugs
There seem to be a lot of bugs in certain parts of the country this spring. Richmond, Virginia reports an unusual amount of cankerworms this spring; Iowa experienced surprisingly thick swarms of fungus gnats about two weeks ago; and then there's the increasing issue of stinkbugs in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish talk about what people are seeing, and what experts think is going on.
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Feds Interview New Witnesses In Polar Bear Probe
The interviews are part of an ongoing investigation of government scientists who described seeing dead polar bears in Arctic waters in 2006. Investigators were apparently interested in archived aerial surveys, suggesting their probe remains focused on the scientific integrity of the 2006 paper.
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Link Between Extreme Weather And Climate Change
2011 brought exceptionally mild winters in most of the U.S., deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and extended drought in the West and Southwest. Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, discusses the correlation between climate change and extreme weather.
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Shake It Off: Earth's Wobble May Have Ended Ice Age
Some 20,000 years ago, the Earth wobbled on its axis. That happens periodically. But according to a new scenario, this particular time, that wobble sparked a chain reaction of events that melted glaciers and led to a gradual warming of the planet.
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Pollution Playing A Major Role In Sea Temperatures
Tiny particles from power plants and fires help create new clouds, which shade the oceans from the sun. This means changes in sea-surface temperatures. And that has profound effects on weather, influencing the time and amount of rainfall in West Africa, and even the number, strength and path of hurricanes.
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Polar Bears' Melting Habitat Forces Zoos To Act
Polar bears live on sea ice but that habitat is slowly disintegrating. Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post, and Dr. Jeffrey Bonner, President and CEO of the St. Louis Zoo, talk to David Greene about a push to preserve polar bears. The idea is to keep a number of them in captivity to preserve the gene pool .
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Gold Miners Dig Deep — To The Ocean Floor
Next year, an Australian company plans to start drilling deep underwater off the coast of Papua New Guinea to extract deposits rich with copper, gold, silver and zinc. The firm says the operation is much less messy than mining on land, but some scientists worry about the impact on deep-sea life.
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Oil Scare Turns FedEx On To Energy Efficiency
When Fred Smith started FedEx in 1971, the company nearly didn't make it because of the spike in fuel costs related to the Arab oil embargo. That experience led Smith to turn FedEx into one of the leaders in looking for alternatives to power its vans, trucks and jets.
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Half A Century Later, A Return To Challenger Deep
The film director James Cameron has just completed a dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth at nearly 36,000 feet under the sea. His manned descent is the first in 52 years, since the oceanographers Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard explored the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste.
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Studies Show Why Insecticides Are Bad News For Bees
Two new studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, suggest that one class of insecticides poses a more serious threat to bees than government regulators realized.
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Battling 'Red Tide,' Scientists Map Toxic Algae To...
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working to prevent outbreaks by tracking when and where red tide in Puget Sound will happen next.
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Raindrops In Rock: Clues To A Perplexing Paradox
Ancient fossilized raindrops may offer clues to a paradox that's perplexing scientists: the Earth's atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago was similar to the way it is now, even though the sun was younger and dimmer.
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EPA Plan Targets New Coal-Fired Plants
The Environment Protection Agency released a draft rule Tuesday that puts new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from any future coal-fired power plants. The technology required to meet the new limits on carbon dioxide is currently so expensive that the rule effectively would put an end to the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
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Exxon Valdez Heads To Scrap Heap
The Exxon Valdez appears headed for a scrap heap. In the 23 years since it spewed oil across Alaska's Prince William Sound, the tanker has changed names, owners and purpose. Melissa Block and Robert Siegel look back at what the infamous ship has been up to since the 1989 environmental disaster.
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Cherry Blossoms As Botanical Diplomacy
Spring has sprung and thousands of tourists are flocking to the nation's capital for the annual Cherry Blossom festival. But there is a rich story behind the famous tree that connects the United States to Japan. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks with Adrian Higgins about his feature article "Hidden Zen" in this week's Washington Post Magazine.
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Pipe Down! That Noise Might Affect Your Plants
Aside from urban legends about talking to your flower pots, is there any reason to study the effect of noise on plants? One ecologist says yes — because noise pollution can disrupt the behavior of birds and other animals that plants rely on.
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Archaeologists Revisit Iraq
One of the first American archaeological teams to work in Iraq in 20 years has recently returned from a dig on the outskirts of Ur. Team leader Elizabeth Stone discusses the team's findings, and what the artifacts tell us about life in the region thousands of years ago.
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Making the Shift To Electric Vehicles
Though the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf entered the market to fanfare, the battery-powered cars haven't been selling as quickly as hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius. Industry experts discuss electric car technology, from batteries to charging stations, and what it might take to encourage drivers to make the shift.
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Supreme Court: Property Owners Can Challenge EPA
The court ruled unanimously in favor of an Idaho couple who were prevented from building their dream home after the Environmental Protection Agency barred them from building on their land. The agency claimed the property was protected wetlands under the federal Clean Water Act.
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When James Cameron Hits Bottom, We Will Hear Him
What do you say when you've just done a dangerous, remarkable deed? When people first saw the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960, they didn't say anything: "I'm afraid we didn't have any profound words that could be written down somewhere," a diver recalls.
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Native Alaskans Divided On State's Oil Drilling Debate
As Shell Oil prepares to drill in the Arctic Ocean this summer, Native Alaskans are visiting Washington, D.C., to make their case for — or against — drilling. Some Inupiats argue that oil and gas exploration puts their traditional lives at stake, but others say the economy of the North Slope needs new oil and gas revenues.
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Wyoming Tribe Wins Right To Hunt Two Bald Eagles
The Northern Arapaho tribe in Wyoming has won a permit to hunt two bald eagles for religious purposes. It's the first time federal authorities have granted such approval for bald eagles. The move comes in the wake of a lawsuit that alleged that refusing such permits violated tribe members' religious freedom.
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Startup Converts Plastic To Oil, And Finds A Niche
Only 7 percent of plastic waste in the United States is recycled each year, according to the EPA. A startup company in Niagara Falls says it can increase that amount and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil at the same time.
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Mount Everest Still Holds Mysteries For Scientists
On his upcoming trip to Mount Everest, mountaineer Conrad Anker will team up with geologist Dave Lageson to remeasure the peak's exact altitude--a stat scientists still dispute. Physiologist Bryan Taylor will also be in Nepal to monitor how Anker's blood, brain and muscles respond to the thin Himalayan air.
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What's The Impact Of Early Blooms?
The weather has been unseasonably warm in the Northeast and plains states — so warm that some plants are blooming early. Melissa Block talks with Jake Weltzin with the U.S. Phenology Network about what that means.
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Tornado Tech: What If Dorothy Had A Smartphone?
Forecasters are looking to next-generation technologies to get the word out to the public about tornado dangers. Programmable weather radios and apps that use GPS data are giving alerts on much smaller geographical areas where bad weather is expected.
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F. Sherwood Rowland, Warned Of Aerosol's Danger
The Nobel Prize-winning chemist made the link between man-made chemicals used in spray cans and the depletion of the Earth-insulating ozone later. His scientific work and advocacy for a ban on these chemicals, called CFCs, led to a public appreciation for humans' impact on the planet. He was 84.
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Power Grid Must Adapt To Handle Renewable Energy
Grid operators constantly match what power plants are producing with what people and their TVs, microwaves and air conditioners need. But when the electricity comes from unpredictable sources, like wind or solar power, balancing the grid is a challenge, a new study finds.
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Can An Early Spring Confuse Nature's Clock?
It's been an unusually warm winter in some parts of the country, with springtime temperatures and very little snow. How is nature responding? Purdue entomologist Tom Turpin and horticulturalist Kristin Schleiter of the New York Botanical Garden discuss how an early spring affects flower buds, beetles and bees.
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One Year Later: Japan's Wreckage And Recovery
Interactive photos show continuity and change in Japan since the tsunami struck one year ago.
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Trauma, Not Radiation, Is Key Concern In Japan
Experts say health effects from the radiation released by last year's nuclear disaster will be minimal. But the lasting psychological trauma from the tsunami, including the loss of life and livelihoods, will be an ongoing struggle.
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Farmers Face Tough Choice On Ways To Fight New Strains...
In large sections of America's farmland, new strains of weeds are making life miserable for farmers. They've developed resistance to the country's No. 1 weedkiller, Roundup. Now farmers face a choice: Do they go for yet another kill-all-the-weeds chemical, or go back to more complicated, labor-intensive ways of fighting weeds?
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Antarctica Visitors Unwittingly Bring Invasive Species
The far reaches of Antarctica are no longer visited only by scientists and their support staff. Adventure tourists and curiosity seekers from Europe, North America and beyond now come by the boatful — and they're bringing some souvenirs from home. Ecologist Steven Chown tells Robert Siegel that visitors unknowingly carry seeds on their clothes and bags. He says they've helped spread dozens of invasive plant species on the continent and risk permanently changing Antarctica's ecology.
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Pigweed: A Genetically Diverse Monster
Pigweed is a weed that's changed life for practically every cotton farmer in Georgia. One expert says if you can't manage it, you won't be picking your cotton field.
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Sustainable Sushi: See The Video. But Don't Eat The Eel
Can sushi be sustainable? Yes, says one Oregon restaurant. It's selling that message in a popular new video. But most sushi purveyors aren't on the sustainability bandwagon.
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Meteorite Hunter Scours The Ground For Bits Of Sky
Every so often, pieces of heaven crash into Earth, and Ruben Garcia is looking for them. Aboard his trusty Jeep, the meteorite hunter rides the Arizona landscape, searching for space rocks with a magnetic golf club.
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Settlement Only The First Step In BP's Legal Woes
After a deal was announced late Friday, a federal judge in New Orleans postponed a trial set for next week. The proposed settlement covers only private plaintiffs; BP still faces lawsuits from other companies involved in the disaster, and from the federal and state governments.
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Michael Mann, From The Trenches Of The 'Climate War'
In his book The Hockey Stick And The Climate Wars, Michael Mann discusses what he calls a well-funded campaign to discredit climate change. He describes efforts by opponents with ties to the fossil fuel industry to harass climate scientists and create doubt about climate change.
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Judge Dismisses Organic Farmers' Case Against Monsanto
The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and several other plaintiff growers do not use Monsanto seeds, but had hoped that the federal judge would agree that Monsanto should not be allowed to sue them if pollen from the company's patented crops happened to drift into their fields.
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Ranchers' Land Becomes Ground Zero In Energy Fight
Landowners in Nebraska were offered large sums of money to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to cross their land on its way from Canada to the Gulf Coast. For some, the proposed pipeline symbolized new jobs and energy independence, but others saw it as environmentally dangerous.
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Who's A Park For? Dog Owners Fight Park Service
Golden Gate National Recreation Area is expanding, but the relationship between the National Park Service and locals is off to a rocky start. New rules say people can't walk dogs off-leash anymore, and the community is furious.
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Powering Up...With A Microbial Fuel Cell
Reporting in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers write of harvesting electricity from microbe-rich river sediments--enough to power a small LED bulb. Grant Burgess, a marine biotechnologist at Newcastle University, discusses the hunt for electron-burping bugs.
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Mild Winter May Be Keeping Flu Bugs At Bay
Flu season usually peaks around February. But this year it's missing in action, with the CDC reporting the slowest start to the flu season on record. Peter Palese, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, discusses whether unseasonably warm winter weather may be to thank.
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Can Gardening Help Troubled Minds Heal?
Psychiatrists have long claimed that gardens hold healing powers for mental illness. Now, scientists are exploring a new field called horticultural therapy for everyone from troubled youth to veterans. But just how gardens affect the brain remains mainly a mystery.
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From Waterfall To Lavafall: Yosemite's Fleeting...
If you head to Yosemite National Park this time of year and stop by Horsetail Fall at just the right time, you might see something awesome: As the sun sets, the waterfall glows with streaks of gold and yellow — and it looks just like molten lava.
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'If A Tree Falls' Traces Earth Liberation Front's Rise
In the documentary If A Tree Falls, director Marshall Curry tells the story of the rise and fall of the Earth Liberation Front, a group that the FBI once described as America's number one domestic terrorism threat. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award.
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Nature Has A Good Beat, But Can You Dance To It?
Rhythm in music is about timing — when notes start and stop. And now scientists say they've found a curious pattern that's common to musical rhythm. It's a pattern also found in nature.
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As Bear Population Grows, More States Look At Hunts
Wildlife officials don't usually base hunting policy on the public's view about an animal. But the black bear seems to be different — it has bounced back from near-extinction to being a nuisance in some areas. Now the question is, would people rather live with bears, or keep their numbers in check?
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Building A Village Starts With Building The Tractor
Do-it-yourselfers have made everything from bamboo bicycles to 3-D printers, but nothing as ambitious as the Open Source Ecology project. On a farm in northwest Missouri, tractors and other industrial machines are made from scratch, with detailed plans on how to do it yourself shared online.
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6 Miles Of Silver Ribbon: Locals Protest Christo
The artist famous for works measured in miles wants to drape long, billowing panels of silvery fabric over sections of a Colorado canyon. Not everyone is excited; some residents say art is no excuse for the damage it could cause.
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Air Pollution Ups Risk Of Stroke, Impaired Memory
Two studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggest short and long-term exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of stroke and cognitive declines. Study author Jennifer Weuve discusses the results, and why particulate matter and gases like ozone may harm the body.
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Desert Military Bases Could Be Boon To Solar
Military bases in the California desert could host seven gigawatts of solar power installations--roughly equivalent to the output of seven nuclear plants--according to a study commissioned by the Department of Defense. Study director Robert Kwartin discusses the report.
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Japanese Whalers Lose Bid To Block U.S.-Based 'Sea...
A group of Japanese whalers has failed to win an injunction against U.S. anti-whaling activists, as a federal judge refused their request for protections from boats owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The ruling was made in Seattle, where the whalers, known as the Institute for Cetacean Research, had filed suit.
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Yes, There's Arsenic In Your Rice. But Is That Bad?
Toddler formula and other organic rice products have surprisingly high amounts of arsenic, according to a new study. But since there's no federal standard for arsenic in food, it's impossible to say how much is OK.
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Billions Of Dollars At Stake In BP Oil Spill Trial
The first phase of the trial for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is scheduled to begin on Feb. 27. Billions of dollars are at stake for BP, the other companies involved, and the states, companies and individuals harmed by the disaster. Negotiations between all parties are continuing and some observers believe the case could be settled before opening arguments even begin.
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Methane, Soot Are Targets Of New U.S. Climate Initiative
The United States and five other nations are embarking on a new program to limit pollutants connected to global warming. But they're not targeting carbon dioxide with this effort — instead, they're looking at methane gas, and soot.
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BP's Oil Slick Set To Spill Into Courtroom
Testimony in one of the most complex environmental lawsuits ever to reach trial is scheduled to begin at the end of the month. Shrimpers, waiters, housekeepers and others have joined in a federal lawsuit to determine who is responsible for the 2010 Gulf oil spill and how to compensate those affected.
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Why California Almonds Need North Dakota Flowers (And A...
This month, the bees from 1.6 million hives — many of them trucked in commercially from as far away as North Dakota — will pollinate California's almond orchards. Then beekeepers will pack up their colonies and drive them back to the northern Plains, where bees can graze for the summer. But scientists says that floral feast in the Great Plains is shrinking because of high corn prices.
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Is That A Starfish On My Face?
Unappointed and spontaneously in their different ways, artists from all over the world are trying to remind us that coral reefs are in trouble and keep us from making things worse.
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Digging Deeper Into Obama's 2013 Budget
President Obama laid out his proposed federal budget for 2013 at a community college in Virginia on Monday. The $ 3.8 trillion plan calls for new government spending, including stimulus-style spending on roads. It also seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade
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U.S. Watches Closely As Oil Drilling Begins Off Cuba
A Spanish company has begun drilling for oil in the Caribbean north of Cuba, just 80 miles from the Florida coast. Researchers and response crews in Florida are already making contingency plans for a possible spill.
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Natural Gas Boom Energizing The Chemical Industry
Chemical companies are the latest beneficiaries of natural gas drilling booms across the country, especially near the Marcellus Shale region in the Northeast. The ethane-rich gas there is providing a cheap resource, prompting chemical companies to build new plants, expand existing ones and even reopen shuttered facilities.
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Washington Nuclear Cleanup Project Under Scrutiny
The federal government's largest nuclear cleanup project is being called into question by some key players. Managers for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's waste treatment plant say the design is deeply flawed and could endanger workers or the public. The plant in south central Washington state is designed to treat 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge.
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Battling The Bottle: Students And Industry Face Off Over...
Colleges are pulling bottled water off campuses as students argue the products hurt the environment and aren't well regulated. But the industry fired back this week with a YouTube video it hopes will sway students to keep buying bottles of water.
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As Gray Wolves Return, So Does Debate Over Hunting
Back from near-extinction, the gray wolf will soon be removed from the endangered species list. Now, Wyoming has struck a deal with the federal government to allow trophy hunting of the predator in certain parts of the state. But the move has drawn the ire of environmentalists.
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Saved From Extinction, Darwin's Crocs Are Now King
Australia's Northern Territory is home to the cunning, powerful and deadly saltwater crocodile — the world's largest. And in the territory's capital, Darwin, the crocodile is both feared and beloved.
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Time Travel And Photos Of Earth's 'Oldest' Animals
What if a dinosaur was found in Africa? Would you consider it worthy of conservation? If so, why — and why not a horseshoe crab species that's even older? That's what photographer Piotr Naskrecki wants to know.
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Drilling Team Finally Hits Antarctica's Liquid Lake
After years of trying, Russian scientists say they have drilled into an Antarctic lake that is buried beneath more than two miles of ice. They are looking for signs of life that haven't been exposed to sky in 20 million years.
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20 Million Years Later, Russians Work To Drill Into Lake
Russian researchers in Antarctica are on the verge of piercing a hole through two miles of ice into an ancient lake, untouched by the light of day for some 20 million years. But it'll be a delicate process to break through without disturbing the pristine waters. Guest host David Green speaks with Antarctic researcher John Priscu about the process.
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Sturgeon Scarcity Affects More Than Caviar
Sturgeon have been swimming around for more than 200 million years, but their eggs are sought after for caviar. This week, the National Marine Fisheries Service placed the Atlantic sturgeon on its endangered species list. Guest host David Greene speaks with Dr. Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University.
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'Arctic Oscilliation' Behind Season's Mixed Winter...
For snow fans in the contiguous US, this winter has left much to be desired. The warm and mild season in the lower 48 and the wild snow dumps and cold weather up north in Alaska can be blamed largely on a weather pattern called "arctic oscillation." Audie Cornish gets an explanation of the weather phenomenon from meteorologist Jeffrey Masters.
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New USDA Map May Mean Earlier Planting In North
A new map from the USDA has some northern gardeners hoping to grow plants that used to be considered too fragile for cold weather zones. The hardiness zone chart is about a half zone warmer than the last one issued in 1990. The USDA says the changes are not due to global warming, but to more sophisticated mapping methods. Seed sellers and buyers say that, whatever the reason, the warmer temperatures expand possibilities for planting this spring.
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Tick Tally Reveals Lyme Disease Risk
Researchers counted more than 5,000 ticks to calculate the risk of Lyme disease in the Eastern U.S. Turns out the risk is high in the Northeast and nearly zero in the South.
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Is Today's Beef Better For The Environment?
A new study wants to rectify beef's image as an environmental miscreant. It says modern beef production is a lot kinder to the environment than it was 30 years ago.
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Pacific Mackerel Stocks That Feed Farmed Salmon In...
At current rates of overfishing, jack mackerel stocks in the southern Pacific could collapse soon, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reports.
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Invasive Pythons Put Squeeze On Everglades' Animals
Burmese pythons have been slithering around south Florida for decades, but scientists now say the invasive constrictors are so bad, they're eating their way through the swamps. The snakes have decimated populations of mammals like raccoons, possums and white-tailed deer.
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Wolves Attract Tourists, But Reality Lurks
A niche industry of tour companies is taking people into wolves' habitat at Yellowstone National Park. Montana Public Radio's Dan Boyce went on an expedition with a man who recognizes the problems wolves bring to the landscape even as he makes his living off of them.
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Ancient Skull Holds Clues to Dog Domestication
A 33,000-year-old skull of a "wolf on the way to becoming a dog" was found in a Siberian cave. Evolutionary Biologist Susan Crockford, co-author of a study about the skull in PLoS ONE, discusses why the discovery challenges common beliefs about dog domestication.
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How 'Space Weather' Affects Planes And Power Grids
This week solar flares sent a huge blast of X-rays and charged particles screaming towards the Earth. Solar astronomer David Hathaway and physicist Doug Biesecker discuss the sun's explosive behavior, and how that 'space weather' affects satellites, airplanes and the electric grid.
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Magnetic Soap May Help Clean Up Spilled Oil
BP released millions of gallons of dispersants to break up oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But what if dispersants could be sucked up again after doing their job? Chemist Julian Eastoe talks about an iron-containing soap he's created that can be recaptured using a magnet.
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How To Find A New Nuclear Waste Site? Woo A Town
Community opposition helped sink plans for a nuclear waste repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Meanwhile, thousands of tons of radioactive waste are piling up at temporary storage sites around the country. As the U.S. once again looks for a new permanent storage site, an expert panel says local buy in will be key.
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Gardening Map Of Warming U.S. Has Plant Zones Moving...
Gardeners: Take heed. An updated plant map shows that the United States is getting warmer. That means spring planting may come earlier and some plants can tolerate new northern latitudes.
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Obama: 'I Will Not Walk Away From The Promise Of Clean...
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama called for more domestic oil and gas production, saying that "a future where we're in control of our own energy" is within reach, where the nation's security and prosperity would not be so closely linked to unstable parts of the world.
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Common Chemicals Could Make Kids' Vaccines Less Effective
Researchers found that children whose blood contained high levels of chemicals used in nonstick coatings and stain-resistant fabrics were less responsive to vaccination. The finding suggests, but doesn't prove, that these chemicals may make some children more vulnerable to infectious diseases.
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Op-Ed: The Verdict Is In On Climate Change
California became the only state to implement greenhouse gas emission controls in January 2012, but the debate there over climate change continues. University of California history and science professor Naomi Oreskes says the time for bickering over whether or not climate change is real is over.
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One Man's Quest To Capture America's Endangered Zoo...
For Joel Sartore, it's a race against the clock to photograph as many animals as he can — before it's too late.
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One Man's Quest To Capture America's Endangered Zoo...
For Joel Sartore, it's a race against the clock to photograph as many animals as he can — before it's too late.
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Extreme Weather Rips Through The South
Bad weather moved across the South Sunday night and into Monday morning. Tornadoes were reported in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. In Alabama, some of the worst damage occurred in areas that had already been hit by heavy storms before.
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Op-Ed: Canada Must Change XL Pipeline Debate
President Obama rejected Wednesday a proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast — generating intense debate in both countries. Murray Mandryk, political columnist for the Leader-Post of Sasketchewan, offers a Canadian perspective on the controversy.
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Geoengineered Food? Climate Fix Could Boost Crop Yields,...
Climate simulations show that massive technological interventions, known as "geoengineering," could protect food crops from some of the damaging effects of global warming. But researchers say local effects are hard to predict, so geoengineering may not be worth the risk.
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Feeding The World Gets Short Shrift In Climate Change...
Weather changes wreak havoc on the global food supply. But efforts to reduce the impact of climate change on agriculture haven't gotten much attention in climate change talks.
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Cheap Chinese Panels Spark Solar Power Trade War
U.S.-based solar panel manufacturers say inexpensive panels from China are hurting their business and want a tariff slapped on the imports. But other parts of the industry, such as installers, say the cheaper panels are driving a solar power boom in the U.S.
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Rejected Pipeline Becomes Hot-Button Election Issue
The Obama administration has rejected a Canadian company's permit request to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The president said he turned down the proposal because congressional Republicans gave him a 60-day deadline that did not allow for a thorough review of the project.
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Keystone: Dead Pipeline Lives On As Election-Year Issue
Now that President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline, an obvious question is what will it mean for the 2012 presidential election? The key to Keystone is which side will have the most success in framing its case to enough voters for it to make a difference.
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Snowstorm Pummels Northwest U.S.
A major snowstorm is blowing through the northwest U.S. Wednesday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some places. Seattle only got a few inches. But that's enough to close much of the city down.
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The Man Who Studies The Fungus Among Us
Botanist Nicholas Money's book Mushroom takes readers inside the world of the fungal organisms that appear overnight on lawns, are occasionally poisonous and appear in everything from Alice in Wonderland to some lifesaving medications.
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Cleaner Air In L.A. Ports Comes At A Cost To Truckers
The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have some of the dirtiest air, thanks to thousands of old diesel cargo trucks that pass through each day. But new emissions standards just went into effect banning those old trucks. Neighboring communities are breathing a sigh of relief, but the restrictions are taking a toll on low-wage truck drivers.
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New Recycling Company Springs From Old Mattresses
Old mattresses are among the worst kinds of household waste — recyclers don't want them, and neither do most landfills. A new business that started as a college project hopes to move mattress recycling into the mainstream, employing former convicts in the process.
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Blocking Keystone Won't Stop Oil Sands Production
Oil from the Canadian north is already making its way into the U.S. market through existing pipelines and tanker shipments. Energy experts say even if President Obama blocks the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, it may already be too late to stop Americans from relying on this dirty source of fuel.
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Ski Resorts Blow Fake Snow For A 'Brown' Winter
Normally at this time of year, about 50 percent of the U.S. is snow-covered.These days, the figure is now more like 20 percent. It's hurting ski resorts and the local economies that thrive on seasonal winter tourism.
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Cordova, Alaska, Still Snowed In
Cordova, Alaska, continues to accumulate piles of snow. Melissa Block talks with resident and innkeeper Wendy Rainey.
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Talking Science With Arianna Huffington
The new year marks the creation of a science section at The Huffington Post. The Internet newspaper's editor-in-chief, Arianna Huffington discusses the story selection and vetting process. And why the launch coincides with what she calls the explosion of medieval thinking.
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Get Inked For Science
Writer Carl Zimmer became an "unintentional curator" of science-themed tattoos after noticing a double helix on a friend's arm. Sensing a trend, he asked his blog readers to send photos of their science tattoos. Some of those images are gathered in his new book Science Ink.
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New Tuberculosis Strain Thwarts All Antibiotics
Physicians in India have discovered a strain of tuberculosis they call 'TDR' for 'Totally Drug-Resistant'--meaning there is no antibiotic available to fight it. Maryn McKenna, author of Superbug, discusses the possible origins of the strain, and what options--if any--doctors have to treat it.
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Mild Winter Could Hurt Western States Water Supply
Across much of Colorado, Utah, Montana and northern California, the snowpack is at less than half the average. There are concerns the skimpy snowpack won't fill the reservoirs and rivers. Millions of people depend on melting snow for their drinking water and farms.
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Pro-Pipeline Canada To Americans: Butt Out, Eh?
Canada's environmental organizations are working hard to block a proposed oil pipeline to its west coast. But the country's conservative-led government is pointing to American support and accusing those groups of being lackeys of nefarious foreign interests.
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Heavy Lobbying Before Keystone Oil Pipeline Decision
As the deadline for a decision on a controversial oil pipeline approaches, lobbying is intensifying. The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf Coast. President Obama is caught in the middle of a jobs-vs.-environment debate.
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To Slow Climate Change, Cut Down On Soot, Ozone
While carbon dioxide is indisputably a significant factor in the planet's changing climate, scientists and policy experts have faced major troubles in limiting production of the greenhouse gas. Now, some are focusing on other things that warm the planet, especially ozone and black carbon. And the tools to fight them are familiar.
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Project's Promise Of Jobs Has Appalachia Seeing Stars
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are waiting to hear which state Shell Oil will pick to host a huge new chemical refinery. The project would turn ethane gas, produced through "fracking," into ethylene, which is used to make plastics. The venture could be the biggest investment in the region in decades.
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EPA Creates Website To ID Biggest Emitters Of Greenhouse...
Ever wondered who the big greenhouse-gas emitters are in your neck of the woods? The answer is now just a click away.
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Coast Guard Tries To Lead Fuel Tanker To Nome
Melissa Block speaks with Capt. Beverly Havlik, from the Coast Guard ice-breaker Cutter Healy, who talks about the challenges of helping a Russian tanker make its way through the Arctic ice to Nome, Alaska.
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Interior Announces Grand Canyon Mining Moratorium
The U.S. Department of the Interior is placing a 20-year moratorium on new mining claims in and around the Grand Canyon. Environmentalists say the ban is crucial to protecting the region. However, the mining industry and some Republicans say the moratorium will be harmful to Arizona's economy and the nation's energy independence.
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20-Year Ban Put On Mining Claims Near Grand Canyon
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the Grand Canyon must be protected, even if uranium deposits nearby could be important to the nation's energy strategy. Critics say the decision will eliminate jobs and that mining can be done responsibly.
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FAA Rules May Interrupt Endangered Crane Migration
Operation Migration uses ultralight planes to guide whooping cranes in migration from Wisconsin to their winter home in Florida. But a Federal Aviation Administration investigation has grounded a flock of whooping cranes and an ultralight guiding plane.
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