COLUMBIA, Mo.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed listing the Ozark hellbender as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The Ozark hellbender is a rare salamander only found in rivers and streams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. This salamander is strictly aquatic and can grow to nearly two feet long.

CHICAGO (September 8, 2010) — The nation’s major professional sports leagues are collectively sending an important cultural message in the battle against climate change by encouraging and endorsing the use of solar power and clean energy in arenas and stadiums throughout the United States.

As worldwide population increases by 40 percent over the next 40 years, sparsely populated Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the northern United States will become formidable economic powers and migration magnets, Laurence C. Smith writes in “The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future” (Dutton Books), scheduled for publication Sept. 23. While wreaking havoc…

Hungry microbes feasting on spilled BP oil caused a drop in oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico, but did not create a marine “dead zone” near the wellhead, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday. The amount of oxygen decreased by 20 percent from the long-term average in areas where oil from the broken BP Macondo…

Termites are a group of social insects usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera. Along with ants and some bees and wasps which are all placed in the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labor among gender lines, produce overlapping generations and take care of young collectively. They live in giant mounds in Africa.…

For regions with adequate space and little recycling infrastructure, disposing of bottles in landfill generates a lower carbon footprint than recycling or incineration…

The Potomac, which runs through the heart of the United States Capital, has suffered centuries of environmental degradation. Water quality has declined steadily as more humans have populated its watershed. However, according to new research, the river is beginning to benefit from restoration efforts that have improved water clarity and reduced nutrient overload. The result…

San Rafael Falls, Ecuador’s tallest waterfall, is threatened by a Chinese-funded hydroelectric project, reports Save America’s Forests, an environmental group. The 1,500 megawatt Coca-Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project will divert water flow away from the 480-foot San Rafael Falls, leaving it “high and dry.” Worse, the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2016, will put…

The world should safeguard coral reefs with networks of small no-fishing zones to confront threats such as climate change, and shift from favoring single, big protected areas, a U.N. study showed. “People have been creating marine protected areas for decades. Most of them are totally ineffective,” Peter Sale, a leader of the study at the…

The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 660,235 square miles, roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the World, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The ice sheet is almost 1,500 miles long in a north south direction, and its greatest width is 680…