Nature & Environment : Science World Report

Apr 22, 2012 02:52 PM EDT

Coral Links Ice to Ancient â€˜Mega Floodâ€™

Coral off Tahiti has linked the collapse of massive ice sheets 14,600 years ago to a dramatic and rapid rise in global sea-levels of around 14 metres.

Apr 22, 2012 02:41 PM EDT

Climate Change May Create Price Volatility in the Corn Market, Say Stanford and Purdue Researchers

By the time today's elementary schoolers graduate from college, the U.S. corn belt could be forced to move to the Canadian border to escape devastating heat waves brought on by rising global temperatures.

Apr 22, 2012 01:54 PM EDT

Exclusive: UK Has Vast Shale Gas Reserves, Geologists Say

Britain may have enough offshore shale gas to catapult it into the top ranks of global producers, energy experts now believe, and while production costs are still very high, new U.S. technology should eventually make reserves commercially viable.

Apr 22, 2012 01:48 PM EDT

Africa Sitting on Sea of Groundwater Reserves

Huge reserves of underground water in some of the driest parts of Africa could provide a buffer against the effects of climate change for years to come, scientists said on Friday.

Apr 21, 2012 03:17 PM EDT

Virginia Tech Spin-off Company MiserWare Offers Free Product to Measure Carbon Footprint

MiserWare, a spin-off company of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, is launching a free product that allows companies or individuals to measure their carbon footprint in terms of total power usage.

Apr 21, 2012 07:35 AM EDT

History Is Key Factor in Plant Disease Virulence

The virulence of plant-borne diseases depends on not just the particular strain of a pathogen, but on where the pathogen has been before landing in its host, according to new research results.

Apr 20, 2012 04:33 PM EDT

Accelerating Climate Change Exerts Strong Pressure on Europe's Mountain Flora

A pan-European study published in Science shows that mountain plants across the continent are moving to higher altitudes. This often results in raised species numbers on mountain tops, when colonizers from lower down start to dwell on the summits. This study, however, also shows that upward shifts c...

Apr 20, 2012 04:19 PM EDT

NCEAS Researchers Offer New Ecological Model for Deep-water Oil Spills

On the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform blowout, a national panel of researchers is providing new insight into what happened in the disaster, as well as a guide for how to deal with such events in the future, and why existing tools were inadequate to predict what lay before t...

Jan 05, 2012 12:28 PM EST

Carbon Capture and Storage -- New Research from UKERC Shows Tough Road Ahead to Realize Potential

Government plans to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to reduce carbon emissions received a cautious welcome today. A new report concluded that most of the uncertainties facing these technologies can - in principle - be resolved.

Jan 05, 2012 11:15 AM EST

NASA Sees Slow-developing System 99P Dogging Northern Australia

NASA satellites have been monitoring the slow-to-develop low pressure area called System 99P for four days as it lingers in the Arafura Sea, north Australia's Northern Territory. Satellite data indicates that System 99P is likely to continue struggling because of weak organization and nearby dry air...

Apr 20, 2012 01:00 PM EDT

Most Detailed Maps Yet of Africa's Groundwater

A scattergun approach to borehole drilling in Africa is likely to be unsuccessful. This is the message from a group of UK researchers who have, for the first time, quantified the amount, and potential yield, of groundwater across the whole of Africa.

Apr 20, 2012 11:16 AM EDT

Warning Signs from Ancient Greek Tsunami

In the winter of 479 B.C., a tsunami was the savior of Potidaea, drowning hundreds of Persian invaders as they lay siege to the ancient Greek village. New geological evidence suggests that the region may still be vulnerable to tsunami events, according to Klaus Reicherter of Aachen University in Ger...