Feature Article

Biofuels are being touted as the new panacea for climate problems. But because this fuel from plants is being introduced without much thought about wider implications, it's becoming a good idea

The world's forests are a key storehouse of carbon

It is now part of the carbon game: emitting but buying carbon credits to balance accounts. People fly to their holidays but buy some carbon

The only tool under the Kyoto Protocol to pay for the transition to clean-energy technologies in developing countries is the Clean Development Mechanism ( cdm). This was designed with two explicit

Global warming is the biggest and most difficult economic and political issue the world has ever needed to confront. First, co2 emissions are directly linked to economic growth, growth as we know

A U.S. Senate panel has approved a sweeping climate change measure that would provide billions of dollars annually to commercialize energy sources that emit little or no carbon.

The United States is the world's leading producer of soy. However many U.S. farmers are shifting from soy to corn in order to qualify for generous government subsidies intended to promote biofuel production. The rising price for soy has important consequences for Amazonian forests and savanna woodlands. (Letters)

The first population-level analysis suggests that sea lice from farmed salmon will cause several populations of one species of salmon in British Columbia to plummet by 99% within 8 years.

The coral reefs of the world, on which the news focus section of this issue of Science concentrates, are important for all sorts of reasons. For many, exploration by diving provides a unique connection with a fascinating natural ecosystem. For scientists, including climate scientists, the health of reefs provides insight into the physical and biological welfare of the oceans as a whole.

In 1971, meteorologists Roland Madden and Paul Julian studied weather data from near equatorial Pacific islands. To their surprise, tropospheric winds, pressure and rainfall oscillated with a period of about 40 to 50 days.