America’s wealth gap ‘unsustainable’, may worsen: Harvard study

By Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sandra Maler8 September 2014 BOSTON (Reuters) – The widening gap between America’s wealthiest and its middle and lower classes is “unsustainable”, but is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to a Harvard Business School study released on Monday. The study, titled An Economy Doing Half its Job, said American […]

Lightning expected to increase by 50 percent with global warming

By Robert Sanders13 November 2014 BERKELEY (UC Berkeley) – Today’s climate models predict a 50 percent increase in lightning strikes across the United States during this century as a result of warming temperatures associated with climate change. Reporting in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Science [pdf], UC Berkeley climate scientist David Romps and […]

Polar bears disappearing from southern Beaufort Sea – ‘We suspect that they are dying of starvation’

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer17 November 2014 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – A key polar bear population fell nearly by half in the past decade, a new U.S.-Canada study [pdf] found, with scientists seeing a dramatic increase in young cubs starving and dying. Researchers chiefly blame shrinking sea ice from global warming. Scientists from the […]

Japan cuts self-alotted Antarctic whale quota by two-thirds

18 November 2014 (AFP) – Japan said on Tuesday it has cut its Antarctic whale-catch quota by two-thirds in a move it hopes will convince international opponents it is conducting genuine scientific research on expeditions in the region. The International Court of Justice — the highest court of the United Nations — ruled in March […]

Video: NASA computer model provides a new portrait of atmospheric carbon dioxide

By Patrick Lynch17 November 2014 (NASA) – An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences […]

Scientists solve mystery of West Coast starfish die-off

By Katie Campbell17 November 2014 SEATTLE (KCTS9) – After months of research, scientists have identified the pathogen at the heart of the starfish wasting disease that’s been killing starfish by the millions along the Pacific shores of North America, according to research published Monday. They said it’s a virus that’s different from all other known […]

Australia repealed its carbon tax, and emissions are now soaring

By Brad Plumer6 November 2014 (Vox) – Back in 2011, Australia’s Labor Party enacted a national carbon tax as a way of tackling global warming. The tax took effect in 2012, and emissions promptly fell over the next two years. But the policy was also highly unpopular with voters. So, in July 2014, a newly […]

Graph of the Day: Trend in main indicators of drug supply and drug supply reduction, 2003-2013

(UNODC) – Trend in main indicators of drug supply and drug supply reduction, 2003-2013. Seizure data: annual report questionnaire supplemented by other official sources. Cultivation data: UNODC estimates based on national illicit crop monitoring systems supported by UNODC supplemented by other official data. a Including amphetamine, ecstasy-type substances, methamphetamine, non-specified ATS, other stimulants and prescription […]

Former CEO of Massey Energy indicted for coal mine disaster that killed 29 miners

By Jeff Jenkins 13 November 2014 CHARLESTON, West Virginia (Metro News) – The 43-page, four-count federal indictment of former Massey Energy president and CEO Don Blankenship portrays an operator obsessive about upping production at the cheapest cost. Federal prosecutors allege it was an attitude that led to the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch […]

NASA: Alaska shows no signs of rising Arctic methane

By Carol Rasmussen13 November 2014 (NASA) – Despite large temperature increases in Alaska in recent decades, a new analysis of NASA airborne data finds that methane is not being released from Alaskan soils into the atmosphere at unusually high rates, as recent modeling and experimental studies have suggested. The new result shows that the changes […]

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