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A 'Green' Gold Rush? Calif. Firm Turns Trash To Gas

Second of a two-part series. Read Part 1California starts the ball rolling Wednesday on a controversial scheme to keep the planet from overheating. Businesses will have to get a permit if they emit...

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An Arbor Embolism? Why Trees Die In Drought

Scientists who study forests say they've discovered something disturbing about the way prolonged drought affects trees.It has to do with the way trees drink. They don't do it the way we do — they suck...

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In Arid West, Cheatgrass Turns Fires Into Infernos

Cheatgrass is about as Western as cowboy boots and sagebrush. It grows in yellowish clumps, about knee high to a horse, and likes arid land.One thing cheatgrass does is burn — in fact, more easily than...

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New York Planners Prep For A 'New Normal' Of Powerful Storms

It will take tens of billions of dollars to repair the damage wrought by Superstorm Sandy. But scientists who study climate change say repair is not enough. As the climate warms, ice sheets and...

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Experts Urge Caution As $50 Billion In Sandy Aid Passes House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68pChI9HknE

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Powerful But Fragile: The Challenge Of Lithium Batteries

Boeing announced late Friday that it is postponing deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner because of problems with its big batteries. Aviation authorities in the U.S. and abroad grounded the new...

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Sand After Sandy: Scientists Map Sea Floor For Sediment

Congress has now agreed to give some $60 billion to states damaged by Hurricane Sandy. A lot will go to Long Island, one of the hardest hit areas. Besides damages to homes and businesses, its system of...

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Is The Earth Cooking Up A Super Volcano?

Every few million years or so, the Earth burps up a gargantuan volcano.These aren't like volcanoes in our lifetimes; these "super volcanoes" can erupt continuously for thousands of years. While they...

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Boston Grapples With The Threat Of Storms And Rising Water

Since the drubbing that Superstorm Sandy gave the Northeast in November, there's a new sense of urgency in U.S. coastal cities. Even though scientists can't predict the next big hurricane, they're...

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Natural Gas Dethrones King Coal As Power Companies Look To Future

The way Americans get their electricity is changing. Coal is in decline. Natural gas is bursting out of the ground in record amounts. And the use of wind and solar energy is growing fast. All this is...

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'Extinction Looms' For Forest Elephants Due To Poaching

Forest elephants in central Africa are being slaughtered in record numbers. The most comprehensive study ever, done over a decade, shows that poaching — mostly for the Asian market for ivory — has put...

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Elephant Poaching Pushes Species To Brink Of Extinction

A new study of Central African forest elephants has found their numbers down by 62 percent between 2002 and 2011. The study comes as governments and conservationists meet in Thailand to amend the...

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Since End Of Last Ice Age, Rates Of Global Warming 'Amazing And Atypical'

There's plenty of evidence that the climate has warmed up over the past century, and climate scientists know this has happened throughout the history of the planet. But they want to know more about how...

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Could Tapping Undersea Methane Lead To A New Gas Boom?

The new boom in natural gas from shale has changed the energy economy of the United States. But there's another giant reservoir of natural gas that lies under the ocean floor that, theoretically, could...

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Is The Sky The Limit For Wind Power?

Wind power is growing faster than ever — almost half of the new sources of electricity added to the U.S. power grid last year were wind farms.But is the sky the limit? Several scientists now say it's...

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What's Behind The 'Fairy Circles' That Dot West Africa?

There's a mystery in West Africa that's puzzled scientists for years. Strange circles of bare soil appear in grassland; they're commonly called "fairy circles." These naturally occurring shapes last...

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How Doctors Would Know If Syrians Were Hit With Nerve Gas

President Obama affirmed Tuesday that there's evidence Syrians have been attacked with chemical weapons — in particular, nerve gas.But that's not the same as proof positive."We don't know how they were...

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Bones Tell Tale Of Desperation Among The Starving At Jamestown

"First they ate their horses, and then fed upon their dogs and cats, as well as rats, mice and snakes."So says James Horn of the historical group Colonial Williamsburg, paraphrasing an account by...

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With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear

By the end of the century, the birthplace of America may be underwater.The first successful English colony in America was at Jamestown, Va., a swampy island in the Chesapeake Bay. The colony endured...

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Big-Mouthed Toucans Key To Forest Evolution

Brazil is a paradise for birds; the country has more than 1,700 species. Among them is the colorful toucan, a bird with an almost comically giant bill that can be half as long as its body. There are...

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