OK4me2

Scarlet tanagers are more than 2% smaller today than in the 1960s.
(R. Mulvihill / Powdermill Avian Research Center)

Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause.

A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings.
This [...]

Tokyo

Following the success of a half-price subsidy for CO2-busting fuel-cell heat and energy generators for homes, Japan is now poised to ship its attention to supplying the UK and Germany with this hi-tech next-generation energy source.

With over 5,000 fuel cells providing heat and energy for conventional homes up and down Japan, the BBC has learnt [...]

A newly developed method harvests small amounts of waste energy and harnesses them to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel. (Credit: iStockphoto/Mustafa Deliormanli)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2010) — Materials scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a way to harvest small amounts of waste energy and harness them to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel.

The [...]

Canopy of the Amazon rain forest. A new study has concluded that Amazon rain forests were remarkably unaffected in the face of once-in-a-century drought in 2005, neither dying nor thriving, contrary to a previously published report and claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Credit: iStockphoto/Warwick Lister-Kaye)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2010) — A new NASA-funded [...]

ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2010) — Researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have succeeded in making a significant leap forward in the production of biochemicals and biofuels from waste wood. They discovered that the bacterium Cupriavidus basilensis breaks down harmful by-products which are produced when sugars are released from wood. They also managed [...]

Redtide

The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" along the world's coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced [...]

In the March issue of BioScience, researchers present a sophisticated new analysis of the effects of boosting use of maize-derived ethanol on greenhouse gas emissions. The study, conducted by Thomas W. Hertel of Purdue University and five co-authors, focuses on how mandated increases in production of the biofuel in the United States will trigger land-use [...]

The reddish glow from the city lights of Boulder, Colo., is the result in part of the light being scattered by haze particles. UW scientists have discovered unexpected chemistry involving the pollutants that make up the haze. (Credit: Phil Armitage)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2010) — The smell of sea salt in the air is a romanticized [...]

A can of bear spray sits in a chamber where its contents will be removed and the canister crushed. (Credit: MSU photo by Kelly Gorham)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2010) — Visitors to national parks and forests are encouraged to use bear spray when they encounter grizzlies, but disposing of the bear spray canisters is a problem [...]

'NoMix' toilets, like the one shown here, collect urine and feces separately. They have gained wide support by consumers in Europe as a way to reduce pollution and conserve water. (Credit: Yvonne Lehnhard)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2010) — People in seven European countries have positive attitudes toward a new eco-friendly toilet that could substantially reduce pollution [...]