Most Recommended Science News

A big meeting in Copenhagen. A cap-and-trade bill in Congress. And now, a determination by the Environmental Protection Agency that global warming pollution is a threat to public health — a move that clears the way for the first-ever federal regulations targeting climate-changing emissions.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - A Danish draft proposal for a political agreement "threatens the success" of UN climate talks in Copenhagen, the head of the G77 group of countries said Tuesday at the summit aimed at sealing a historic deal on cutting carbon emissions.

The biggest black holes in the universe are also the most perplexing. Scientists have long been confused about just how the earliest, most massive black holes formed, but new evidence now suggests they could have originated inside giant cocoon-like stars.

Petunias and potatoes may actually be carnivorous plants, scientists now suggest.

For the next two weeks, until December 18, officials from more than 190 countries will be gathering in Copenhagen to write a new treaty on climate change. For much of the year, there have been questions about whether the conference would come together and, if so, what it could accomplish at a time when much of the world is preoccupied with the global recession. In recent weeks, however, many of the world's economic powerhouses and biggest polluters, including the United States and China, have said they're serious about hashing out an agreement. ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Americans who think global warming is caused by human activity, including vehicle and industrial emissions, are now a minority for the first time in nearly two years, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said Monday.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Ignored, marginalised or despised in many countries, wastepickers from Asia, Latin America and Africa have come together in Copenhagen to lobby for recognition as unsung heroes in the fight against climate change.

MOJAVE, Calif. – It was pre-sold as an "out of this world premier" – and you can't get more off-world than Virgin Galactic's Monday unveiling of a spaceliner built to whisk customers to the edge of space.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - After spending 16 months cycling 18,000 kilometres (11,180 miles) from Brisbane to Copenhagen, Kim Nguyen is taking part in the UN climate talks with a host of eyewitness accounts of the effects of global warming from his odyssey.

GREENVILLE, S.C. - General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt said Tuesday he hopes the Copenhagen conference on climate change leads the United States to develop a green energy policy to grow the economy.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican lawmakers critical of efforts to battle climate change said they would fly next week to the Copenhagen summit to undercut President Barack Obama's promises of strong US action.

GENEVA (AFP) - Climate change is already forcing people to migrate, with most moving within their countries or to a neighbouring country, a report by the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Bangladesh, Myanmar and Honduras were the countries most severely affected by extreme weather events from 1990 to 2008, according to a climate change risk study published on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new national strategy to enforce safe drinking water laws in small, rural communities on Tuesday and pledged to redouble efforts to protect children from toxic water in schools.

We already knew polar bears were in high water due to climate change, but who knew some types of dolphins, lemmings, flamingoes and oxen were also threatened by global warming?

The human body may be equipped with a separate sensory system aside from the nerves that gives us the ability to touch and feel, according to a new study.

SYDNEY (AFP) - A space-age powerboat which holds the round-the-world record sped off from Australia on Tuesday on a mission to harass Japanese whaling ships in Antarctic seas.

The revamped Hubble Space Telescope has spied what might be the oldest, most distant galaxies yet seen, astronomers announced today.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 8 (IPS) - Vested interests in fossil fuels have blocked major steps against global warming so far, according to José Goldemberg, who has played a leading role at key times in the climate crisis facing humanity.

WASHINGTON - The refurbished Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the oldest galaxies yet, scientists reported Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Members of the Nobel-winning panel of climate scientists rose on Tuesday to defend colleagues that they said had been "targeted" for email hacking to sway the outcome of the UN global warming talks.

Off the coast of California, the bat ray Myliobatis californica glides over the seafloor looking for buried clams to eat. Well, "looking" isn't the right word. The ray's eyes, after all, are on top of its head, not great for looking down.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's environment minister faced criticism in parliament on Monday and dissent from negotiators after his offer to reduce the country's carbon footprint ahead of the Copenhagen climate change talks.

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The top executive of General Electric has told a South Carolina audience that green technology can help the environment, create jobs and grow the economy.

SEATTLE - An activist group is suing the Port of Olympia, claiming that discharges of stormwater from its terminal are polluting south Puget Sound.

Exposing kids to nasty germs might actually toughen them up to diseases as grown-ups, mounting research suggests.

COPENHAGEN - A leaked Danish document at the U.N. climate conference provoked angry criticism Tuesday from developing countries and activists who feared it would shift more of the burden to curb greenhouse gases on poorer countries.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration took a major step Monday toward imposing the first federal limits on climate-changing pollution from cars, power plants and factories, declaring there was compelling scientific evidence that global warming from manmade greenhouse gases endangers Americans' health.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has met with former Vice President Al Gore at the White House as the president prepares for his appearance at a major international climate summit in Copenhagen.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government said it would start to regulate carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant, sidestepping a divided Congress to give momentum to global climate talks in Copenhagen.