In The News

America's First Climate Refugees

Suzanne Goldenberg May 14, 2013
Americans, particularly those in oil-rich and Republican-dominated states like Alaska, are very sensitive about any foreign threat to their way of life. Yet outrage wanes about the pressing need to address climate change even as Americans already lose homes to extreme weather. A series in the Guardian newspaper based in London focuses on climate change, including a warning from economist...

Scientists Map Global Routes of Ship-Borne Invasive Species

Matt McGrath May 8, 2013
Studying the logs of more than 3 million ocean voyages, a team of German and British researchers have mapped likely transit patterns for marine invasive species, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. “Marine species are taken in with ballast water on freighters and wreak havoc in new locations, driving natives to extinction,” he reports. “There has been a well-documented boom in global shipping over...

NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall

Kathryn Hansen May 6, 2013
A NASA-led study shows that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase risks of extreme weather patterns including drought and heavy rains. Modeling suggests that areas that are already wet, like the Asian monsoon regions, could receive even more rain while arid and desert regions like the Middle East and southern parts of the United States could become even drier. “The...

Beijing Is Booming; Talent Is Leaving Due to Bad Air

Peter Ford April 29, 2013
The most talented workers expect top workplace amenities, not to mention basics like clean air. A persistent cloud of foul, acrid air pollution is prompting growing numbers of expatriates and talented Chinese workers to abandon Beijing, reports Peter Ford for the Christian Science Monitor. Some companies offer extra hazard pay to keep employees in the city and can count on higher health costs for...

The Second Cooing: Raising Passenger Pigeons From the Dead

Philip Bethge April 24, 2013
Groundbreaking research in genetics draws both fascination and alarm. A California researcher is collecting DNA of passenger pigeons, extinct since 1914, from museums of natural history. “The Tasmanian devil, the wooly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the dodo and the gastric-breeding frog are all on the list of candidates for revival,” reports Philip Bethge, who explains how the animal’s flocking...

Baby Milk Rationing: Chinese Fears Spark Global Restrictions

Celia Hatton April 22, 2013
Any food-safety crisis drives consumers to seek alternatives. A series of reports of contaminated infant formula since 2008 have driven Chinese mothers to look for foreign brands of infant formula – though after the Fukushima tsunami/nuclear disaster, the consumers quickly shifted from Japanese to US imports. Chinese consumers pay double the price for foreign brands. “Fearful of the dangerous...

Baby Milk Rationing: Chinese Fears Spark Global Restrictions

Celia Hatton April 17, 2013
Any food-safety crisis drives consumers to seek alternatives. A series of reports of contaminated infant formula since 2008 have driven Chinese mothers to look for foreign brands of infant formula – though after the Fukushima tsunami/nuclear disaster, the consumers quickly shifted from Japanese to US imports. Chinese consumers pay double the price for foreign brands. “Fearful of the dangerous...