TOP 100 CAMPING SITES
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| Law of the Sea? Nations Rush to Claim Seabed from Pole to Pole UNITED NATIONS--The biggest land grab since colonial times is accelerating as nations scramble to claim writ over hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean floor, much of it believed to be rich in natural resources.Yesterday marked the 10-year deadline for most countries filing claims over extended seabeds with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), a panel created under the U.N. Law of the Sea treaty to review and certify the legitimacy of claims. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Biofuel Showdown: Should Domestic Ethanol Producers Pay for Deforestation Abroad? After a fierce battle over agricultural incentives in a landmark climate bill, Congress plans to ask the National Academy of Sciences to study how biofuel production in the Midwest can shift food production abroad, stimulating a wave of deforestation. [More] rss.sciam.com |
All Aboard the Eco-Express: Rail's Hybrid Energy Solutions Trains have long been a more fuel-efficient way to haul freight than trucks, but now the federal government's amped up support in the alternative energy arena may help "the iron horse" go even greener with hybrid locomotives and other advances. [More] rss.sciam.com |
The Effect of Our Surroundings on Body Weight Obesity is a “global epidemic,” according to the World Health Organization. Two thirds of American adults and one third of school-age children are either overweight or obese (defined as extremely overweight). These proportions have been rising steeply, report the latest surveys. From 1960 to 2002 the population of overweight and obese adults increased by roughly 50 percent, and the corresponding increase for children was 300 percent. Compounding the problem, obesity rates in other countries are rapidly approaching those in the U.S.What is causing this pandemic, and what can we do about it? Researchers have provided some tentative answers that fly in the face of commonly held beliefs. They suggest that the increase in obesity may be a result of environmental changes that tempt us into unhealthy habits and tend to overwhelm our psychological defenses against consuming too much and succumbing to fattening fare. In fact, environmental cues can exacerbate any innate tendency to use food as a balm for jittery nerves or sadness. Thus, many health experts advocate legislation--for instance, a tax on junk food--that promotes healthy eating. Others are trying to help individuals change their immediate eating milieu in ways that discourage overeating. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Scientists Respond to "Climategate" E-Mail Controversy With all the "hot air" surrounding climate change discussions, none has been hotter in recent weeks than that spewed over a trove of stolen e-mails and computer code from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in England. Longstanding contrarians, such as Sen. James Inhofe (R–Okla.), who famously dubbed climate change a "hoax" in a 2003 speech, has pointed to the stolen e-mails as information that overturns the scientific evidence for global warming and called on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to halt any development of regulation of greenhouse gases pending his investigation into the e-mails. And recent polls have found that fewer Americans today than just two years ago believe that greenhouse gases will cause average temperatures to increase--a drop from 71 percent to 51 percent . [More] rss.sciam.com |