Human : Science World Report

Mar 27, 2012 11:19 AM EDT

9 Million Bicycles, But What About the Cars in Beijing?

Forget the fact of there being "9 million bicycles in Beijing, that's not a fact. Indeed, motor vehicle traffic is fast becoming a big problem that has led to unsustainable pollution and draconian rules in some parts of the city. Now, Nan Ji of the Hebei United University in China and colleagues hav...

Mar 27, 2012 09:41 AM EDT

Cities Forecast to Expand by Area Equal to France, Germany and Spain Combined in Less than 20 Years

Unless development patterns change, by 2030 humanity's urban footprint will occupy an additional 1.5 million square kilometres - comparable to the combined territories of France, Germany and Spain, say experts at a major international science meeting underway in London.

Mar 26, 2012 04:47 PM EDT

Study by Haverford College Professor Reveals Unprecedented Impact of Deepwater Horizon on Deep Ocean

Scientists report they have "compelling evidence" that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has impacted deep-sea corals. Their study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA ("Impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a deep-water coral community in the Gulf...

Mar 26, 2012 02:52 PM EDT

UC Research Establishes Real-world Wind Turbine Performance Metrics

The production of wind-derived renewable energy is growing, and so, it's important to help wind farm owners operate at higher efficiencies with lower costs.

Mar 26, 2012 01:13 PM EDT

Cultural Inertia Is Slowing Effective Action to Address Climate-change

Resistance at individual and societal levels must be recognized and treated before real action can be taken to effectively address threats facing the planet from human-caused contributions to climate change.

Mar 26, 2012 07:58 AM EDT

Link Builds Between Weather Extremes and Warming

Extreme weather events over the past decade have increased and were "very likely" caused by manmade global warming, a study in the journal Nature Climate Change said on Sunday.

Mar 26, 2012 07:43 AM EDT

EU Push for Ocean Energy Set to Fall Short

Europe's wave and tidal power technology is likely to disappoint EU expectations for 2020 and take over a decade to contribute to energy supply in a significant way, even though it is chalking up rapid growth and drawing in big industrial investors.

Mar 25, 2012 01:27 PM EDT

New Project to Help Predict the Future of the UK's Coastline

A new project is being launched that will help forecast what the UK's coastline will look like in the future, up to 100 years' time.

Mar 25, 2012 07:05 AM EDT

Mankind Kept 2011 Global Temperatures Near Record-WMO

Human activity kept global temperatures close to a record high in 2011 despite the cooling influence of a powerful La Nina weather pattern, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday.

Mar 23, 2012 12:44 PM EDT

New ORNL Tool Developed to Assess Global Freshwater Stress

A new method to make better use of vast amounts of data related to global geography, population and climate may help determine the relative importance of population increases vs. climate change.

Mar 23, 2012 08:54 AM EDT

Satellites Map Fine Aerosol Pollution Over China

Many types of aerosol particles circulate in the atmosphere, but one of the most damaging to human health is known as PM2.5, a technical term for microscopic bits of matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (one thirtieth the width of a human hair). These small pollutants, which come mostly from bur...

Mar 22, 2012 05:36 PM EDT

BP Gets OK to Drill Deepwater Well off Shetland

BP has got a green light to drill a deepwater well off the Shetland Islands, the UK government said on Thursday, a move in line with Britain's plans to encourage more exploration in the North Sea.