Wiping out all of Africa’s elephants could accelerate Earth’s climate crisis by allowing 7% more damaging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, scientists say. But conserving forest elephants may reverse the trend, providing a service worth $43billion in storing carbon, the academics found. The research, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that …
Contrary to expectations, a microscopic plant that lives in oceans around the world may thrive in the changing ocean conditions of the coming decades, a team of scientists reported on Thursday. The main threat to many marine organisms is not global warming but ocean acidification, as carbon dioxide from the …
Early diagnosis of a heart attack may now be possible using only a few drops of saliva and a new nano-bio-chip designed by John McDevitt, of the University of Texas. The nano-bio-chip assay, the size of a credit card, could be used to analyse a patient's saliva on board an …
The international team of climate change scientists that produced an influential series of reports last year will be doing things a little differently in the future. Government delegates to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), meeting in Budapest, Hungary, approved a plan for the 20-year, 100-nation enterprise that would …
Earth Day is a week away, so brace yourself for cuddly, hug-the-planet blubbering from the presidential candidates. John McCain will tell you we must be the "caretakers of creation." Hillary Clinton will talk of recycling and efficient light bulbs. Barack Obama will surely tell us we "cannot afford more of …
In his 1992 book How the World Was One, Sir Arthur C Clarke described a dream he once had: one day, cnn founder (and then owner) Ted Turner is offered the post of the President of the world, but he turns it down politely
David Sands, professor at the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University, usa, hypothesized that there is a link between rainfall and bacteria in 1982. He didn't find many takers then. He has recently proved that bio precipitation does actually happen. He talks to Kirtiman Awasthi about …
In the UK, political debate over stem cells continues to focus on whether scientists should be allowed to create hybrid humananimal embryos. This futuristic research may eventually lead to rewarding discoveries about incur-able diseases - and emotive arguments by some religious groups trying to ban it should be resisted. At …
Citizen scientists' record warming data , USA TODAY Project BudBurst, a national field campaign for "citizen scientists," is designed to help record how the planet is warming by tracking the dates that 60 plant species leaf and flower this spring and summer. Climate change is about more than endangered polar …
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, here comes along James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the world's most respected climate scientists (except in the White House), with an even more depressing assessment of how climate change will unravel over …
Nobel Scientist Issues Warning On Global Warming US: April 7, 2008 MIAMI - The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who rang the first alarm bells over the ozone hole issued a warming about climate change on Saturday, saying there could be "almost irreversible consequences" if the Earth warmed 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 …
Doomsday predictions are funny things. We are predisposed to pay attention to bad news, and the news industry thrives on disasters. Yet our fascination is fickle. If the warning is too scary or distressing, we attack the messenger as a doom-monger. Take the 1972 book The Limits to Growth, one …
"Agriculture can do more than just focus on production," says Bob Watson, director of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), the project that he hopes will change agriculture forever when the final draft of its report is published on 15 April. "Farming can help supply …
The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was set up to take stock of our knowledge, technology and policy, and help find a way to feed the world without destroying it . With $12 million funding from the World Bank, UN Environment Programme, UN Food and …
A potential new weapon in the battle against global warming - to remove carbon from the atmosphere by locking it up permanently in soil minerals - is being developed at Newcastle University in the UK. When plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, they use some of the …
A spring gale is lashing orthodox climate policy. This week, an article was published in Nature that should shake the certainty of anyone who assumes that the Kyoto protocol approach is the sensible way to go, and that signing the accord is a responsible step for the United States to …
Scientists today publish the first genetic clues to unravelling the mystery of why some smokers puff their way through life without developing disease while others die young of lung cancer. Three research teams have independently discovered a set of genetic variations that increase the risk of lung cancer and may …
Scientists have pinpointed a genetic link that makes people more prone to get hooked on tobacco, smoke more cigarettes longer, and develop deadly lung cancer. The discovery by three separate teams of scientists makes the strongest case so far for the biological underpinnings of the addiction of smoking and how …
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has grossly underestimated the challenges of reducing and stabilizing greenhousegas emissions, according to an influential group of climate-policy experts.
