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Severe Weather slams Midwest US, with tornadoes & flooding
Powerful storms spawned by intense heat and humidity produced flooding and tornadoes in the Midwestern United States on Saturday, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes. The National Weather Service said more than 7.5 inches of rain — the amount the city would see over two months during a normal summer — fell…
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New NOAA Analysis Gives Further Clues about Location and Movement of Subsurface Oil in Gulf – and how little of it there is
Remember the debate about the subsurface “plumes” or oil released by the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico? A new report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy about subsurface oil monitoring in the Gulf…
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Buckyballs
Astronomers using the NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as fullerenes (and when arranged in a spherical form it is commonly called a buckyball, in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer ball shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago. A fullerene is any molecule composed…
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Honda Civics in Japan to Be 100% Hybrid
Year after year, the Honda Civic has been one of the most popular car models in the United States. The model has done relatively well in Japan, too. The company introduced a hybrid Civic in the US, but we all know how well they sold—drive around certain neighborhoods in LA and Northern California and you…
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The Smog to Heart Connection
It is well known that certain concentrations of air pollution can adversely affect human respiratory condition. What is not as well-known is how air pollution can affect the heart. A new study presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovasular Sciences 2010 Scientific Session by researchers from Texas A&M links ground-level ozone (smog) to cell…
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Cork, Plastic, or Twist? The Cork Industry Tightens the Screws on Winemakers
More wineries are moving towards plastic bottles and aluminum caps and away from cork stoppers. Some would say this is unfortunate for a host of reasons. Harvesting cork is an ancient practice that keeps a cluster of cork trees, which are almost entirely in Portugal and Spain, alive.
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Climate bill in doubt as Democrats delay action
U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday they will wait until September at the earliest to take up broad climate-change legislation, a potentially fatal blow to the White House push to curb greenhouse gases. The delay means Democrats have little time to advance the complex legislation amid intense political pressure in the weeks before November congressional…
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The Air Near the BP Oil Spill
By now most people know about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its effects or potential effects on water quality and wildlife. Now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had released measurements of the air quality in the area. Scientists found common air pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and…
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Overpopulation is the Wrong Focus For Environmentalists
A green myth is on the march. It wants to blame the world’s over-breeding poor people for the planet’s peril. It stinks. And on World Population Day, I encourage fellow environmentalists not to be seduced. The actor Jeremy Irons has announced that he plans to make an Al-Gore style movie about the population problem. The…
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Honda Civics in Japan to Be 100% Hybrid
Year after year, the Honda Civic has been one of the most popular car models in the United States. The model has done relatively well in Japan, too. The company introduced a hybrid Civic in the US, but we all know how well they sold—drive around certain neighborhoods in LA and Northern California and you…