In The News

World’s Sixth Mass Extinction May Be Underway

March 4, 2011
By over-hunting, over-fishing, over-heating the planet, humans may have triggered the sixth known mass extinction in the history of Earth, notes a paper in the journal Nature and reported on by the news agency AFP. In early mass extinctions, most animal species were destroyed. Mammal species, typically a rare event, are on a decline, struggling against human encroachment on their habitats. If...

Global Warming Blamed for Heavy Snowstorms, Record Floods

March 3, 2011
Melting polar ice, evaporating oceans and rising temperatures influence global weather patterns in volatile ways. Climate scientists warn that even as winters gradually shrink in length, Earth’s inhabitants can expect heavier rainstorms, snowfalls and flooding. Climate-change skeptics argue that heavy snows are evidence against global warming, but climate researchers point out that average...

Activists Go on Warpath Against Transgenic Crops—and Scientists

Richard Stone February 28, 2011
Chinese activists, restricted from political protests, lash out with ferocity in other areas such as the environment. Activists known as Wu You Zhi Xiang, or Utopia, are influenced by international organizations like Greenpeace, writes Richard Stone Science Magazine. Claiming to protect the rural poor in the tradition of Mao, the activists reject government tests and policies on safety...

The Looming Food Crisis

David Dapice February 18, 2011
In wealthy nations as well as in poor ones, consumers express alarm about fast-rising food prices, and their governments are well aware that shortages can quickly translate into unrest and political crisis. Complaints today may be mild compared with those looming ahead unless governments take steps to curb policies that encourage speculation, warns economist David Dapice. Subsidies that divert...

Butterflies Make Partial Comeback in Mexico

Mark Stevenson February 16, 2011
Year after year, generations of monarch butterflies migrate the stretch of North America from Mexico to Canada and back again. No single animal makes the entire trip, but descendents follow the trail. Every year, hundreds of volunteers create way stations, report sightings and even tag the vivid copper and black insects. Butterflies east of the Rockies head to Mexico, and “This winter, there are...

Germany Sells Vision for “Green Toys” to World

Melissa Eddy February 9, 2011
Germany leads the world in developing a range of renewable-energy products – and its toymakers are no exception. They are creating products to prepare children for a future requiring new energy sources. Designed to direct children’s focus on energy conservation and sustainability, the green toy “make up only a sliver of the nearly $84 billion international toy market, but their share is growing,...

Floods Hit Key Coal Area

Kris Maher, Robert Guy Matthews January 14, 2011
Intense rains and flooding in northwest Australia are expected to shorten coal supplies for manufacturers and utilities. “The impact of the production halts is greatest in China and the rest of Asia, which depends heavily on coal from Australia to make steel and feed electric utilities,” notes a report from the Wall Street Journal. “Also affected will be buyers around the world who rely on Asian...