Proposals by environmentalists to declare small areas of the North Sea as no-fishing zones would not save our flagging fish stocks, suggests a new report by Newcastle University for the British Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. (DEFRA).

Marine protected areas (MPAs) would need to be tens of thousands of square miles in size – at least as big as the size of Wales – and would need to be established for decades to restore levels of cod and haddock, says the re

For more than a decade space-based radar instruments have been routinely observing ocean surface phenomena including wind, waves, oil slicks, even the eyes of hurricanes. Now – employing the same principle as police speed guns – satellite radar has also begun to enable direct measurements of the speed of the moving ocean surface itself.

The oceans that cover 71% of the Earth’s surface are constantly in motion. Ocean surface currents can lead to strong interaction with wind and wa

A new study of a meteorite that originated from Mars has revealed a series of microscopic tunnels that are similar in size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by feeding bacteria.

And though researchers were unable to extract DNA from the Martian rocks, the finding nonetheless adds intrigue to the search for life beyond Earth.

Results of the study were published in the latest edition of the journal Astrobiology.

Martin Fisk, a professor of

Glaciers and ice sheets around the world have a big problem: warmer waters.

According to a NASA scientist, the pieces to a years-old scientific puzzle have come together to confirm warmer water temperatures are creeping into the Earth’s colder areas. Those warm waters are increasing melting and accelerating ice flow in polar areas.

This conclusion appears in an article by Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. His arti

Farmers who plant more crops, increase irrigation coverage and till the land less can have a profound effect on climate.

Climate scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found that models that included recent changes in agricultural practices, such as more irrigation, higher yielding crops, and less tillage, predicted lower temperatures than models that ignored these factors.

“Nearly all models used to predict climate changes either ignore agriculture alt

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have found evidence in eastern North America that the snow is melting and running off into rivers earlier than it did in the first half of the 20th century. According to a USGS study published in the most recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters, winter-spring flows in many rivers in the northern United States and Canada are occurring earlier by 5-10 days.

“We studied rural, unregulated rivers with more than 50 years of USGS and Envir

Solid oil waste should be processed into compost. Specialists of Kazan State University and the Open Joint-Stock Company “Nizhnekamskneft” stick to this opinion. The obtained compost is practically nontoxic, and bio-utilization of waste may be an excellent alternative to harmful waste storage and combustion.

Solid waste of petrochemical production (oil-slimes) belongs to the most persistent environment pollutants. Oil-slimes consist of oil carbohydrates and products of their pro

A “Red Tide” event that occurred off the coast of El Salvador late last year directly caused the deaths of some 200 sea turtles, according to test results released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations.

Responding to requests from the Salvadoran government and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)for assistance, WCS veterinary pathologist Dr. Julie White journeyed to the southern coast of El Salvador in January to help determine

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the intravenous protein most commonly used in the world for therapeutic ends. It is employed to stabilise blood volume and to avoid risk of a heart attack, its administration in operating theatres being almost a daily occurrence. It is used for haemorrhages, burns, surgical operations or when the patient shows symptoms of malnutrition or dehydration, chronic infections and renal or liver illnesses. The annual consumption in Spain is about 10 tons but, at a worldwid

The one place in water-short Israel where natural groundwater is available and not being fully exploited is – of all places – in the mostly uninhabited Judean desert.

This surprising conclusion arises from a thorough hydrological mapping study done as an M.Sc. thesis at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Leehee Laronne Ben-Itzhak, under the supervision of Prof. Haim Gvirtzman of the university’s Institute of Earth Sciences. The study provides detailed information regarding

Since the mid-1990s a great debate has raged over whether organic compounds and tiny globules of carbonate minerals imbedded in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 were processed by living creatures from the Red Planet. The materials have been under intense scrutiny ever since. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues,1 have taken a fresh look at how material associated with carbonate globules was created using sophisticated instrumentation and they co

The Earth’s warming temperatures are on track to melt the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets sooner than previously thought and ultimately lead to a global sea level rise of at least 20 feet, according to new research.

If the current warming trends continue, by 2100 the Earth will likely be at least 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than present, with the Arctic at least as warm as it was nearly 130,000 years ago. At that time, significant portions of the Greenland and Antarctic Ic

Newfound temblors, most common in summer months, have proliferated in recent years

Seismologists at Harvard University and Columbia University have found an unexpected offshoot of global warming: “glacial earthquakes” in which Manhattan-sized glaciers lurch unexpectedly, yielding temblors up to magnitude 5.1 on the moment-magnitude scale, which is similar to the Richter scale. Glacial earthquakes in Greenland, the researchers found, are most common in July and August, and have mo

Rise of seismic activity linked to the movement of glaciers may be a response to global warming

Seismologists at Columbia University and Harvard University have found a new indicator that the Earth is warming: “glacial earthquakes” caused when the rivers of ice lurch unexpectedly and produce temblors as strong as magnitude 5.1 on the moment-magnitude scale, which is similar to the Richter scale. Glacial earthquakes in Greenland, the researchers found, are most common in July a

A team from the Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Keele University has developed a technique to identify corroded steel within concrete by non-destructive means.

Reinforced concrete can suffer dangerous and potentially catastrophic deterioration when the reinforcing steel becomes corroded, making regular assessment critical. Commercial techniques currently available involve invasive procedures including damaging the concrete or provide ind

The environmental impacts of a new dam project on the Nile River in Sudan were not assessed properly. Such billion dollar projects should be evaluated independently in order to guarantee that their design and operation will be based on the best available scientific knowledge. This is the main conclusion in a recent report by researchers of Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Switzerland, on the Merowe Dam Project – a new impoundment upstream of the Aswan High D