Image of the Day: Haze over China Viewed from Orbit, 20 February 2011

Caption by Holli RiebeekFebruary 22, 2011 Dense smog settled over the North China Plain on February 20, 2011. The featureless gray-brown haze is so thick that the ground is not visible in parts of this photo-like image taken at 11:35 a.m. by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. At that time, […]

Gulf Coast dolphin death toll rises to nearly 60

By Leigh Coleman and Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry NortonThu Feb 24, 2011 BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – The death toll of dolphins found washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast since last month climbed to nearly 60 on Thursday, as puzzled scientists clamored to determine what was killing the marine mammals. The National Oceanic and […]

Baby dolphin deaths along Gulf Coast at 10 times the normal rate

By Leigh Coleman and Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Bohan and Greg McCuneTue Feb 22, 2011 8:20pm EST BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – Marine scientists are examining the deaths of 26 baby dolphins whose carcasses have washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast this year, the bulk of them since last week, researchers said on Tuesday. […]

Scientist finds Gulf bottom still oily, dead – ‘It’s not going to be fine by 2012’

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science WriterFebruary 20, 2011 Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist’s video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn’t degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. That report is at […]

Global warming ‘may increase water-borne diseases’

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Climate change could increase exposure to water-borne diseases originating in oceans, lakes and coastal ecosystems, and the impact could be felt within 10 years, US scientists told a conference in Washington on Saturday. Several studies have shown that shifts brought about by climate change make ocean and freshwater environments more susceptible to […]

Sterility in frogs caused by environmental pharmaceutical progestogens

Contact: Cecilia Berg, Cecilia.Berg@ebc.uu.se 16 February 2011 Frogs appear to be very sensitive to progestogens, a kind of pharmaceutical that is released into the environment. Female tadpoles that swim in water containing a specific progestogen, levonorgestrel, are subject to abnormal ovarian and oviduct development, resulting in adult sterility. This is shown by a new study […]

BP knew of problems, but left them unattended before Gulf oil well blowout, new report says

Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 11:05 PMBy David Hammer, The Times-Picayune New evidence unearthed by investigators shows that in some key moments before the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, BP leaders were disengaged from critical tests and recognized major problems, but they failed to communicate their concerns or take corrective action. The […]

Worldwide search for ‘lost frogs’ finds 4 percent of target species – ‘Amphibians are really at the forefront of this extinction wave’

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comFebruary 16, 2011 Last August, a group of conservation agencies launched the Search for Lost Frogs, which employed 126 researchers to scour 21 countries for 100 amphibian species, some of which have not been seen for decades. After five months, expeditions found 4 amphibians out of the 100 targets, highlighting the likelihood […]

Suit says BP official resigned over safety issues

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Tue Feb 15, 3:14 am ET HOUSTON – A former official with BP’s drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico resigned just months before last year’s oil spill because of disagreements with the oil giant over its commitment to safety, according to a class-action federal lawsuit related to the […]

Study finds massive flux of gaseous hydrocarbons, in addition to liquid oil, at BP well blowout in Gulf

Paper has implications for oxygen depletion, provides photographic evidence of plumes By Sam Fahmy, sfahmy@uga.eduFeb 13, 2011, 13:04 Athens, Ga. – A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 […]

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