Nature & Environment : Science World Report

May 18, 2012 09:03 AM EDT

Forest Diversity from Canada to the Sub-tropics Influenced by Family Proximity

How species diversity is maintained is a fundamental question in biology. In a new study, a team of Indiana University biologists has shown for the first time that diversity is influenced on a spatial scale of unparalleled scope, in part, by how well tree seedlings survive under their own parents.

May 18, 2012 08:21 AM EDT

Fresh Lava Flow on Bagana Volcano

Despite being one of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea, Bagana is poorly monitored. Located on the mountainous spine of Bouganville Island, it is both far from any cities or large towns and hard to reach due to the rough terrain.

May 18, 2012 07:50 AM EDT

Forest Recovering from Mt. St. Helens Explosion

Mt. St. Helens exploded 32 years ago on May 18. It began with a small series of earthquakes and culminated with the volcano erupting, a cataclysmic collapse of the flank of the mountain and the largest landslide in recorded history.

May 17, 2012 02:21 PM EDT

1,000 Years of Climate Data Confirms Australia's Warming

In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years.

May 17, 2012 10:27 AM EDT

Manmade Pollutants May be Driving Earth's Tropical Belt Expansion

Black carbon aerosols and tropospheric ozone, both manmade pollutants emitted predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere's low- to mid-latitudes, are most likely pushing the boundary of the tropics further poleward in that hemisphere, new research by a team of scientists shows.

May 17, 2012 08:55 AM EDT

UK Climate Experiment Canceled on Patent Concerns

British scientists have abandoned an experiment to test the possibility of spraying particles into the upper atmosphere to stem global warming, largely due to concerns over a patent for some of the technology, the project's leader said.

May 16, 2012 03:59 PM EDT

Sumatra Faces yet Another Risk -- Major Volcanic Eruptions

The early April earthquake of magnitude 8.6 that shook Sumatra was a grim reminder of the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in 2004 and 2005.

May 16, 2012 12:35 PM EDT

Ancient Tree-ring Records from Southwest US Suggest Today's Megafires Are Truly Unusual

Today's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests a new study that examined hundreds of years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods.

May 16, 2012 10:52 AM EDT

UMD Finding May Hold Key to Gaia Hypothesis

Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, an...

May 16, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

NOAA, Partners Kick off Multi-state Study of How Thunderstorms Affect Upper Atmosphere

Today marks the beginning of a large-scale, comprehensive field project to measure how thunderstorms transport, produce and process chemicals that form ozone, a greenhouse gas that affects Earth's climate, air quality and weather patterns.

May 16, 2012 05:59 AM EDT

World Living Beyond Its Resources, Summit Off-track: WWF

Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28 percent globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50 percent bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, conservation group WWF said on Tuesday.

May 16, 2012 05:54 AM EDT

First Pacific Tropical Storm of 2012 Forms Southwest of Mexico

The first tropical storm of the year formed in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico on Monday and was named Aletta, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.