A blizzard dumped thigh-deep snow on some areas of the upper Midwest on Sunday, playing havoc with travelers and causing the roof of a large stadium, the Metrodome, to collapse in Minneapolis. The snow hit Wisconsin and Minnesota the hardest as it moved eastward. Blizzard and winter storm warnings were in effect for Chicago and…

The world’s governments agreed on Saturday to modest steps to combat climate change and to give more money to poor countries, but they put off until next year tough decisions on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The deal includes a Green Climate Fund that would give $100 billion a year in aid to poor nations by…

Unusually cold weather last winter killed Florida’s endangered manatees at a record rate, a report said on Friday. During 2010, a record 699 manatees have died in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Research Institute. Of those, 244 were attributed to cold weather and many of the 271 undetermined deaths were…

Bedbugs or bed bugs are small parasitic insects of the family Cimicidae. The term usually refers to species that prefer to feed on human blood. All insects in this family live by feeding exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals. The name bedbug is derived from the insect’s preferred habitat of houses and especially beds…

Contrary to public opinion, multi-tasking is not a modern phenomenon. This uniquely human skill was around long before the era of electronic distractions. According to a study from Monica L. Smith, anthropologist at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), it is multi-tasking itself that makes us human.

Sudden changes in the volume of meltwater contribute more to the acceleration — and eventual loss — of the Greenland ice sheet than the gradual increase of temperature, according to a University of British Columbia study.

On November 29, 2010, the New York State Assembly passed a bill imposing a state-wide moratorium on new authorizations for hydraulic fracturing. An identical bill was passed in the New York State Senate in August. The bill, which has been sent to Governor Paterson for signing, suspends until May 15, 2011 the issuance of new…

It’s at this time of year when many of us batten down the hatches and prepare for the chilly months ahead! Pulling shut the windows and doors, building a roaring fire and snuggling up under our coziest of blankets is at the top of our priority list. But how does that compare with the animal…

Talks on a 190-nation deal to slow global warming were on a “knife edge” early on Friday as Brazil and Japan expressed guarded hopes of ending a dispute between rich and poor about curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiators were set to work well into the early hours of the morning seeking to end a standoff…

Dark matter in cosmological terms is matter that is inferred to exist from gravitational effects on visible matter and background radiation, but is undetectable by emitted or scattered electromagnetic radiation. Its existence was hypothesized to account for discrepancies between measurements of the mass of galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the entire universe made through dynamical…