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Coal Burning in Northern Hemisphere Leaves Potentially Harmful Heavy Metal Legacy

New research, reported this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that coal burning, primarily in North America and Europe, contaminated the Arctic and potentially affected human health and ecosystems in and around Earth's polar regions.

19 Aug 2008

Impact of Global Warming in the Arctic May Differ From Predictions

The impact of global warming in the Arctic may differ from the predictions of computer models of the region, according to a pair of Penn State biologists. The team -- which includes Eric Post, a Penn State associate professor of biology, and Christian Pederson, a Penn State graduate student -- has shown that grazing animals will play a key role in reducing the anticipated expansion of shrub growth in the region, thus limiting their predicted and beneficial carbon-absorbing effect.

18 Aug 2008

Just How Much "Free Lunch" Algae Biofuel Promises

Algae are tiny biological factories that use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy so efficiently that they can double their weight several times a day, producing oil in the process - 30 tim...

18 Aug 2008

Threats to Marine Ecosystems from Climate Change Must be Addressed to Halt Downward Trends

Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing.

14 Aug 2008

Buyers Shouldn't Assume Green Roofs are Created Equal

The first study to compare the performance of different types of green roofs has been completed by The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and suggests that buyers shouldn't assume these roofs are created equal.

12 Aug 2008

Tiny New Zealand Snail Invades American Great Lakes and Alters the Ecology

Long a problem in the western U.S., the New Zealand mud snail currently inhabits four of the five Great Lakes and is spreading into rivers and tributaries, according to a Penn State team of researchers. These tiny creatures out-compete native snails and insects, but are not good fish food replacements for the native species

10 Aug 2008