ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2011) — Using detailed land analysis, Illinois researchers have found that biofuel crops cultivated on available land could produce up to half of the world’s current fuel consumption — without affecting food crops or pastureland.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2010) — About 50 miles from Bethlehem, a drilling project is determining the climate and earthquake activity of the area. Scientists from eight nations are examining the ground below the Dead Sea, by placing a borehole in this deepest basin in the world.

Fog is a common feature along the West Coast during the summer, but a University of Washington scientist has found that summertime coastal fog has declined since 1950 while coastal temperatures have increased slightly.

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.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2010) — A new NASA computer modeling effort has found that additional growth of plants and trees in a world with doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide levels would create a new negative feedback — a cooling effect — in the Earth’s climate system that could work to reduce future global warming.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — Many coastal wetlands worldwide — including several on the U.S. Atlantic coast — may be more sensitive than previously thought to climate change and sea-level rise projections for the 21st century.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2010) — It is known that soil microorganisms can maintain some activity during the cold winter months. Scientist at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Umeå University in Sweden have now shown that the microorganisms in frozen soils are much more viable than previously anticipated and also have large potential for…

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2010) — Swiss researchers studying the projected effects of climate change on alpine plant species have discovered that mountain ranges may represent a ‘safer’ place to live during changing climate conditions. The research, published in the Journal of Biogeography, finds that the habitat diversity of mountain ranges offer species ‘refuge habitats’ which…

ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2010) — As the Arctic warms, a new cache of resources — snow goose eggs — may help sustain the polar bear population for the foreseeable future. In a new study published in an early online edition of Oikos, researchers affiliated with the Museum show that even large numbers of hungry bears…

Money may not grow on trees, but energy could grow in grass. Researchers at the University of Illinois have completed the first extensive geographic yield and economic analysis of potential bioenergy grass crops in the Midwestern United States.