EarthScape

For millions of years, sea stars have been among the most recognized oceanic organisms. People around the world have recognized their beauty and importance since ancient times. Finding one washed up on the shore or during a snorkeling expedition is even more exciting and chances are we will be seeing one species, the yellow brittle…

The world’s first community-owned tidal turbine will be made and deployed in Scotland, after a fabrication contract between Scottish firms Steel Engineering and Nova Innovation was announced by First Minister Alex Salmond. During a visit that formed part of the Scottish Government’s Summer Cabinet programme in Renfrew, the First Minister confirmed that the two companies…

Four years after overturning a major Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rule as inconsistent with the Clean Air Act, this week the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the program that EPA had tailored to take its place, ruling that the replacement rule “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority” and imposes “impossible” burdens upon covered states.…

Rice is a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in Asia and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (corn), according to data for 2010. Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for…

There is a general desire to be healthy and happy in life. Succeeding at these tasks is quite daunting. Middle-aged adults help their hearts with regular leisure-time physical activities according to one new study. The midlife well being of both men and women seems to depend on having a wide circle of friends whom they…

Intense forest fires have been raging across the western United States this summer. So far this year, nearly 43,000 wildfires have torched almost 7 million acres of land. As NPR Science correspondent Christopher Joyce and photographer David Gilkey report from Arizona and New Mexico this week, the forests of the American Southwest have become so…

Over the last 50 million years, tectonic shifts in the Earth’s crust caused by forces deep within the mantle have caused the Caribbean island chain to be pushed Eastward. Staring at a map will reveal the bulging shape of the lesser Antilles way out into the Atlantic. A new study by researchers from the University…

A $425 million lander that would drill a few meters into Mars in order to probe its crust, mantle, and core will be NASA’s next major planetary science mission. In a teleconference late Monday, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld, announced that he has selected the InSight mission to Mars as…

Cape Wind cleared its last bureaucratic hurdle Wednesday when the Federal Aviation Administration released its finding that the project poses no hazard to planes. The finding came after a court-mandated re-evaluation of possible safety hazards the 130-turbine project poses to planes and a GOP inquiry into whether the FAA’s initial approval in 2010 was the…

“Fortune favors the bold” might as well be the motto of the Philippines regarding their energy policy and their efforts to achieve their goals. However, a bold plan is only the first step to achieving the colossal task of weaning an entire country off its dependance on foreign-sources fossil fuels. The logistics of the effort…