Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Natural Resource Conservation Service to use monitoring technique for stream assessments

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Baylor University researchers have created and tested several new treatment systems to see if they could be part of the next generation of residential treatment systems.

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Dalhousie University has developed a new best practices guide for industrial parks on how to reduce water consumption.

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In the latest installment of The Researcher's Perspective, the new podcast series by Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), Dr. Josh Hamilton discusses the potential implications of his recent mouse study on arsenic exposure and immune response to influenza A/H1N1.

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Climate researchers show intense hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean over the last 1,500 years were closely linked to long-term changes in the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and sea surface temperature. The finding, reported in Nature, could help with future hurricane modeling and prediction.

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While most Americans think climate change is an important issue, they don't see it as an immediate threat, so getting people to "go green" requires policymakers, scientists and marketers to look at psychological barriers to change and what leads people to action, according to a task force of the American Psychological Association.

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A period of global warming from 53 million to 47 million years ago strongly influenced plants and animals, spurring a biodiversity boom in western North America, researchers from three research museums report in a paper published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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A team of researchers are developing a means for protecting vital coral communities from an expanding frontier of thousands of oil platforms pushing deeper into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

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If the federal government implements a 2007 legal interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, the likely result will be a reduction in the number of species listed for protection, scientists say.

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An invasive shrub that is crowding out native species of plants and animals across the United States is being investigated this summer by three Valparaiso University students, whose research findings could help protect the native ecosystem. The research is taking place at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, an ecological field station in southwestern Michigan.

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While you probably hadn't noticed, the head shape and overall size of rodents has been changing over the past century. University of Illinois at Chicago ecologist Oliver Pergams has tied these changes to human population density and climate change.

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Marine ecologist Boris Worm and fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn go from rivals to friends and team on a global study that shows fisheries management is the key to saving global fish stocks.

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Plant biology expert is working with a joint venture of oil and gas companies in Alberta, Canada, to turn gigantic open sand pits created by the extraction process into a rolling, lush landscape.

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Regular time in nature is a critical tool that can be used to prevent obesity and encourage physical activity, at no cost. Getting kids outdoors can improve our nation's physical and mental health. Kids who spend time outdoors reap the benefits of greater school readiness, creativity, self-sufficiency, and confidence.

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After 12 years, an experiment focused on forest growth and climate change comes to an end, and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are eager to collect and analyze data to see if their predictions match results.

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ASME will bring diverse partners together to find multidisciplinary solutions to water management technology issues that protect public health and the environment, while conserving precious water supplies and the infrastructure for future generations

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A Baylor University study has found the weather patterns of El Niño and La Niña, which brings drier and wetter conditions to certain parts of the country, happened thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

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Babson College Fast Track MBA Program and Oregon Institute of Technology's Renewable Energy Engineering Program announce a partnership to explore business application for renewable energy technologies.

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The air in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics was cleaner than the previous year's, due to aggressive efforts by the Chinese government to curtail traffic, increase emissions standards and halt construction in preparation for the games, according to a Cornell study.

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Oklahoma State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources will receive $226,890 in national grant funding for research into eastern redcedar encroachment and the water cycle in the tallgrass prairie, two key elements of ecosystem health for Oklahoma.

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A rare April freeze in 2007 provided researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory with further evidence that climate change could have negative effects on stream and forest ecosystems.

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The new research study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego suggests that by improving overall ocean health, corals are better able to recover from bleaching events, which occur when rising sea temperatures force corals to expel their symbiotic algae, known as zooxanthellae. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that is expected to increase in frequency as global climate change increases ocean temperatures worldwide.

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Tufts professor of economics Gilbert Metcalf is a source for ongoing coverage of Climate Change. He's an expert on tax policy and climate change, particularly carbon emissions.

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Particulate pollution thought to be holding climate change in check by reflecting sunlight instead enhances warming when combined with airborne soot, a new study by researchers at the UC San Diego has found.

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Climate change is altering North American winter bird communities in ways that models currently favored by ecologists fail to predict. Based on patterns of animals found in different climate zones today, ecologists would expect that as habitats warm, numbers of species found there will increase, and that those species will be smaller in size and restricted to narrower geographic ranges. Ecologists at the University of California, San Diego have found that only one of those three predictions has held for North American birds over the past quarter century.

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UNC Charlotte biology professor Inna Sokolova studies what has caused the decimation of oyster populations off the Carolina coastline. Oyster restoration and protection has become a priority of N.C. state policy makers and universities. Sokolova and colleagues have demonstrated that marine organisms become more sensitive to pollution as ocean temperatures rise.

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Faculty from the Department of Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College offer expertise in climate change and are available for interviews on scientific and socio-political topics related to global warming.

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New research shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Niña and El Niño events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The findings may pave the way toward better weather predictions.

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Report contributor can discuss national, regional impacts of climate change.

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A study of oyster reefs in a once-pristine California coastal estuary found them devastated by invasive Atlantic Coast crabs and snails, providing new evidence of the consequences when human activities move species beyond their natural borders.

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Although the United States and European Union face common environmental and energy challenges, they often have taken different approaches to solving them, according to Stacy VanDeveer, associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire.

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By accurately modeling Earth's last major global warming "” and answering pressing questions about its causes "” scientists led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison climatologist are unraveling the intricacies of the kind of abrupt climate shifts that may occur in the future.

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Scientists at The Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) have developed a new computer model that they hope will predict with unprecedented accuracy how many hurricanes will occur in a given season.

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When it comes to air-quality advisories, city residents are no strangers, especially during the dog days of summer. But smog is made up of an array of air pollutants, including the mad hatter's muse, mercury. One Ryerson University researcher has found that summer is the peak season for this atmospheric toxin, and that higher levels of mercury species exist in the urban atmosphere as compared to rural regions.

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The Amazon rainforest may be the largest reservoir of soil microbes on Earth, yet most are unknown to science, according to microbiologist Klaus Nüsslein. But it's clear the area is under great threat. He leads a project to identify, collect and preserve microbe-rich soils before it's too late.

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The global composite temperature during June 2009 was flat, according to figures from The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Northern Hemisphere experienced a slight increase "” +0.03 C (about 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for June. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere was cooler by the same amount "” -0.03 C (about 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) below 20-year average for June.

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The withdrawal of Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a potential nuclear waste repository has reopened the debate over how and where to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste.

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A Valparaiso University researcher, Dr. Gary Morris, and two undergraduate students are traveling to Japan to study the impact of China's steps to reduce air pollution and shed light on how emissions from China affect other nations.

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Knowing the past shows how present deforestation is tipping the scales toward extinction for some Southeast Asian plants and animals already in danger.

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Prairie lakes are more likely to carry elevated mercury levels during wet cycles that can affect fish caught in them & subsequently consumed by people.

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Associate Professor Jennifer Turner of the University of Maryland releases her annual list of great summer reads for children of all ages. This year's theme is "Be Green and Be Healthy!"

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In an era in which the individuality and vitality of small towns are under threat from globalization, and city planning discussions tend to center on topics such as metropolitan regions, megaregions, and global cities, two Virginia Tech professors reflect on the potential of small towns.

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Carl DiSalvo and Jonathan Lukens show their piece, "Smog is Democratic" in the CDC's art show "Consequential Matters" through September 11, 2009.

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A team of three Iowa State University researchers contributed to a study that found average wind speeds across the country have decreased by an average of .5 percent to 1 percent per year since 1973.

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House members and supporters rally for passage of historic clean energy bill.

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Germany's effort to replace coal- and nuclear-fired electricity generation with renewables hinges on completing a large number of offshore wind farms--which are being developed at a troublingly slow pace.

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1) Research facility is the only building in the United States to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects' 2009 International Award; 2) Award spokesperson says the building "might be claimed as perhaps the most environmentally efficient building to-date" in the U.S.

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The sustainability of fisheries depends on the transparency with which coastal states incorporate scientific advice into policies, reports a study published in the journal Plos Biology.

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A Baylor University researcher has explored various means by which individuals and communities are responding to weather and climate change.

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Planning that dream summer vacation but looking for some eco-friendly options? Looking for ways to make your home more "green"? Ryerson University experts are available to provide their expertise on sustainable housing, eco-tourism, alternative energy and more.