• New York City is especially vulnerable to rise in sea level

    Although low-lying Florida and Western Europe are often considered the most vulnerable to sea level changes, the northeast U.S. coast is particularly vulnerable because the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is susceptible to global warming

  • U.S. searching for a nuclear waste graveyard

    Congress has killed the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, so the United States has no central location for storing nuclear waste; 50,000 metric tons of toxic nuclear waste that has already been produced by the U.S. nuclear plants; 30,000 metric tons more of nuclear waste is expected to be generated in the coming decades

  • Dire climate scenario: Mass migrations and war

    Lord Nicholas Stern, the eminent economist, says severe climate shifts and sea-level rises would “transform where people can live”: “People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases” (7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit)

  • Doomsday seed vault's stores are growing

    In 1903, U.S. farmers planted 578 varieties of beans; by 1983 just 32 varieties remained in seedbanks; 46 countries collaborate to rescue some 53,000 of the 100,000 crop samples identified as endangered

  • New threat to Earth: "Dark" comets

    There are 5,000 known near Earth objects (NEOs) orbiting between Mars and Venus, of which 789 have been identified as potentially hazardous objects because they might pass within 5 million miles of Earth; scientists say that with better observation techniques, we will likely find at least 66,000 NEOs, of which 18,000 will be potentially hazardous objects; scientists now say that there are also about 3,000 dark comets buzzing around, of which only 25 are known

  • Ocean water rising unevenly; Washington, D.C. may be submerged

    Rather than spreading out evenly across all the oceans, water from melted Antarctic ice sheets will gather around North America and the Indian Ocean;this is bad news for the U.S. East Coast, which could bear the brunt of one of these oceanic bulges

  • The global consequence of a regional nuclear war

    The world should be worried about a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan because the consequences of such a war will be anything but regional; scientists say that one billion people may starve to death around the world, and hundreds of millions more will die from disease and conflicts over food

  • How long will the world's uranium deposits last?

    At current consumption rates, the planet’s economically accessible uranium resources could fuel reactors for more than 200 years; further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time; if we extract uranium from seawater, and build breeder reactors, then supplies will last 30,000 to 60,000 years

  • ScanEagle offers and example of dual-use technology

    Initially developed to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats in order to ensure “dolphin-safe” tuna in supermarkets, the ScanEagle UAV system has evolved into a mainstay with the U.S. Navy — and others as well

  • The top 11 contaminants in U.S. drinking water

    U.S. citizens may upset to learn — should be upset to learn — that their drinking water contain disturbing amounts of pharmaceuticals and hormonally active chemicals; the concentrations are small, for now, but individuals with some health conditions should consult their physicians

  • Scientists say comet killed off mammoths, saber-toothed tigers

    There is a consensus in the scientific community that the dinosaurs dies off 65 million years ago as a result of a meteorite hitting Earth, sending heavy clouds of smoke and soot which blocked the sun for months, leading to the death of plants on which dinosaurs relied for food; researchers say that 12,900 years ago, a shower of meteorites hitting North America caused the extinction of mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and other large mammals

  • Alps laboratory tests methods of storing nuclear waste

    Two test tunnels in Switzerland are used to study methods of storing nuclear waste; many scientists from around the world take part in the research

  • Scientists seek ways to ward off killer asteroids

    The U.S. Congress has tasked a blue-ribbon panel of scientists with two missions: Find better ways to detect and deflect asteroids that might hit Earth; more than 5,000 near Earth objects, including 789 potentially hazardous objects, have been identified so far

  • Sun Belt residents more likely to die in natural disasters

    People who live in the U.S. Sun Belt — that is, in the southern part of the country — are much more likely to die of natural disasters than their fellow countrymen on live in the north; “small” disasters such as heat waves, floods, and ice storms kill many more people to headline-grabbing hurricanes and tornadoes

  • Radioactive-waste tracking software deployed at U.K. nuclear sites

    The radioactive-waste tracking software developed by Tennessee-based AttentionIT will be deployed in decommissioned U.K. nuclear facilities; the waste tracking software provides electronic storage of information related to “cradle to grave” treatment of radioactive and mixed waste