Earth ChangesS


Hourglass

Solving The Mystery Of The Disappearing Honey Bee

Albert Einstein once predicted that if bees were to disappear, man would follow only a few years later. Indeed, researchers need to find a solution to this worldwide bee problem very soon to insure that his theory is not put to a test.

Cloud Lightning

First Hurricane of 2008 forms in distant Atlantic

Miami - The first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season formed on Monday, hundreds of miles (kilometers) away from the United States and the Caribbean islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The Miami-based center said it was still too early to determine whether Hurricane Bertha would hit any land, as computer models showed it would eventually start curving to the northwest and then to the north, possibly taking it near Bermuda.

Image
©NOAA
Bertha

Magnify

US: On Plum Island, scientists track a tiny sparrow in hopes of saving the marshes

An elusive, palm-sized bird that spends its entire life in marshlands may help scientists unravel a mystery that, they say, could have profound implications for a lot of other creatures.

Bizarro Earth

Australian climate report like 'disaster novel': minister

SYDNEY - Heatwaves, less rain and increased drought are the likely prospect for Australia, according to a new report on climate change which the agriculture minister said read like a "disaster novel".

Alarm Clock

US: Fewer bees buzzing in Iowa

SIBLEY -- Honey bees are dying in Iowa and throughout the nation, and no one understands why.

Researchers are scrambling to understand the mystery but no solution seems imminent, leaving fruit growers and beekeepers unsure what to do.

Alarm Clock

Focus on elk as disease persists near Yellowstone

BILLINGS, Montana - Federal officials are considering a tentative proposal that calls for capturing or killing infected elk in Yellowstone National Park to eliminate a serious livestock disease carried by animals in the area.

Better Earth

Acidifying Oceans Adds Urgency To Carbon Dioxide Cuts

It's not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean--often called the cradle of life on Earth.

Great Barrier Reef off Australia
©iStockphoto
Great Barrier Reef off Australia.

The ecological and economic consequences are difficult to predict but possibly calamitous, warn a team of chemical oceanographers in the July 4 issue of Science, and halting the changes already underway will likely require even steeper cuts in carbon emissions than those currently proposed to curb climate change.

Info

US: Mississippi River reopens as flooding wanes

CHICAGO - The Mississippi River, the most important U.S. commercial waterway, reopened to water navigation on Saturday after much of it was closed for nearly a month due to the worst flooding in 15 years.

"As far as navigation, the river is open," said Steve Farkas, an engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' St. Louis office.

Lock 25 near Winfield, Missouri, north of St. Louis, was the final lock to reopen and it reopened Saturday morning, Farkas said.

Taller river traffic will continue to be impeded until a railroad drawbridge, which spans the river about 60 miles (97 km) upriver of St. Louis, is repaired later on Saturday, the Kansas City Southern railroad said.


Phoenix

Tired firefighters battle 330 California wildfires

Firefighters got a gift of a mild, mostly windless night and a forecast for similar conditions Sunday as they attempted to protect thousands of Santa Barbara County homes from a huge wildfire, one of more than 300 taxing their energy and resources around the state.



firefighters
©AP Photo/Phil Klein
Firefighters watch as a brush fire burns out of control in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Goleta, Calif., on Saturday July 5, 2008. A slew of wildfires, most ignited by lightning two weeks ago, have burned more than 800 square miles of land throughout California. The blazes have destroyed at least 67 homes and other buildings and contributed to the death of a firefighter who suffered a heart attack while digging fire lines.


Phoenix

Alert issued for smoldering volcano in Indonesia

BANDUNG - Geological experts in Indonesia Friday issued an alert, advising tourists not to climb Mount Anak Krakatau because it's spewing red-hot rocks and toxic fumes.