Disease outbreaks are often associated with hot weather. Because many bacteria typically multiply more rapidly in warmer conditions, it's a commonly held notion that warm-weather outbreaks are a straightforward consequence of greater numbers of the microbial culprit.
Shifting a fraction of truck-borne freight onto trains would have an outsized impact on air quality in the Midwest, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
A major new scientific review, involving more than 30 scientists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands sets out our current knowledge of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the latest special edition of the scientific journal Pacific Conservation Biology.
Yellowstone National Park sits on top of a vast, ancient, and still active volcano. Heat pours off its underground magma chamber, and is the fuel for Yellowstone's famous features -- more than 10,000 hot springs, mud pots, terraces and geysers, including Old Faithful.
With news this week of additional radioactive leaks from Fukushima nuclear power plants, the impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently announced that a 3,675 square mile area of Lake Ontario is now a “no discharge zone,” which means that boats are completely banned from discharging sewage into the water.
Water discharged into lakes and rivers from municipal sewage treatment plants may contain significant concentrations of the genes that make bacteria antibiotic-resistant. That's the conclusion of a new study on a sewage treatment plant on Lake Superior in the Duluth, Minn., harbor that appears in American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Fecal contamination of public beaches caused by sewage overflow is both dangerous for swimmers and costly for state and local economies.
The risks for streams caused by the use of insecticides in agriculture will increase significantly in many regions of Europe, and particularly in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and in Central Europe, according to scientists in the journal Ecological Applications.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is helping New York City reduce air pollution with a $2 million grant to replace two old high polluting locomotive engines that operate in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens with cleaner technology.
A new report by the University of Victoria ranks eco-labels intended to distinguish seafood produced with less damage to the environment. It is the first study to evaluate how eco-labels for farmed marine fish compare to unlabeled options in the marketplace.
Darrel Tremaine, a Florida State University (FSU) doctoral oceanography student, has been known to go to extremes for his research, such as crawling on his hands and knees through a dark, muddy limestone cave in Northwest Florida to learn more about ancient weather patterns.
While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21st century, due to a continuously warming planet.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will provide up to $1.8 million for projects across the country to protect Americans’ health and help restore urban waters by improving water quality and supporting community revitalization.
Over the next two decades, the U.S. electric grid will face unprecedented technological challenges stemming from the growth of distributed and intermittent new energy sources such as solar and wind power, as well as an expected influx of electric and hybrid vehicles that require frequent recharging.
Girl Scouts of the USA is launching Girl Scouts Forever Green, its signature 100th year anniversary action project focused on waste reduction, energy conservation and rain gardens.
The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico will install pollution-reduction technology on 72 heavy-duty trucks and replace 10 old heavy-duty trucks with 2010 or newer less polluting models.
Lafarge North America Inc., one of the largest suppliers of construction materials in the United States and Canada, and four of its U.S. subsidiaries have agreed to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations.
Soil in the project area is contaminated with mercury, arsenic, polycyclic biphenyls (PCB's), lead, DDT, dioxins and a host of other chemicals.
The team at U.K.-based Glow-worm, has put together an eco-friendly holiday guide to help us all achieve a low carbon Christmas. Bursting at the seams with facts, figures and energy saving tips for 25 days of December.