A whole-genome analysis suggests that polar bear numbers waxed and waned with climate change, and that the animals may have interbred with brown bears since becoming a distinct species millions of years ago.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued complaints seeking civil penalties against three companies for alleged violations of the reporting and recordkeeping requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Researchers have found a way to use GPS to measure short-term changes in the rate of ice loss on Greenland – and reveal a surprising link between the ice and the atmosphere above it.
In a major milestone completing the protection of more than 95 percent of Massachusetts coastal waters from boat-generated sewage pollution, EPA has designated the coastal waters of Nantucket, Vineyard Sounds and the Islands, and Mt. Hope Bay as “No Discharge Areas.”
Last week’s record of the fastest ever manned electric aircraft was set by electric-vehicle record-setter Chip Yates.
A team of geologists, civil engineers and one representative from the US Army Corp of engineers has found that when a spillway was opened last year to prevent flooding of the Mississippi river from drowning New Orleans, new land was created.
Sulfur has traditionally been portrayed as a secondary factor in regulating atmospheric oxygen, with most of the heavy lifting done by carbon. However, new findings that appeared this week in Science suggest that sulfur's role may have been underestimated.
According to NOAA scientists, the globally averaged temperature for June 2012 marked the fourth warmest June since record keeping began in 1880.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the main cause of global warming -- increased by 3% last year, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011.
There’s a lot of moaning and hand-wringing whenever gasoline prices approach $4 a gallon. But all it would take for them to hit $10 a gallon overnight would be hurricanes wiping out a couple of refineries or saboteurs disabling a couple of pipelines, says Dr. R. Paul Williamson, founder and CEO of the non-profit Sustainable Systems of Colorado.
Protected ocean areas known as marine reserves jumpstart the recovery of nearby commercial fishing areas after an environmental event, concludes a study of abalone by researchers from Stanford and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Scientists from the University of Toronto and the University of California Santa Cruz are shedding light on one potential cause of the cooling trend of the past 45 million years that has everything to do with the chemistry of the world's oceans.
“The first half of 2012 was dry for most of the Northeast. New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia were below normal. Maryland and Connecticut were much below normal, and Delaware had its driest on record.
A chemical producer faces an EPA fine of $93,900 for failing to report the use and storage of hazardous chemicals at its Fairfield, Conn. facility, in violation of the federal right-to-know law.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside believe they can extend the range of electric vehicles by at least 10 percent by taking into account real-time traffic information, road type and grade and passenger and cargo weight
This article originally appeared in the 12/01/1999 issue of Environmental Protection.
Batteries have come a long way since Alessandro Volta first discovered in 1800 that two unlike metals, when separated by an acidic solution, could produce an electric current. In their evolution, batteries have taken on various forms, ranging from lead-acid, to nickel-metal hydride, to current-day lithium-ion.
Inspired by a European study, a team of Stony Brook University researchers looked into the potential impact of healthy human skin tissue (in vitro) being exposed to ultraviolet rays emitted from compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) proudly announces the winners of the 2012 WEF Excellence Awards. The awards will be presented this October at the WEF Awards and Presidential Celebration Reception during WEFTEC® 2012, WEF’s 85th annual technical exhibition and conference in New Orleans, La.
Climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species are all involved in the global crisis of amphibian declines and extinctions, researchers suggest in a new analysis, but increasingly these forces are causing actual mortality in the form of infectious disease.
An ice island twice the size of Manhattan has broken off from Greenland's Petermann Glacier, according to researchers at the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service.