The connection between global warming and increasingly prevalent insect infestations is tenuous, say experts, although climate is driving certain insect population changes.

Using a diamond-anvil cell to recreate the high pressures deep within the earth, researchers have found unusual properties in an iron-rich magnesium- and iron-oxide mineral that may explain the existence of several ultra-low velocity zones at the core--mantle boundary.

AP - The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reuters - The Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said.

Reuters - An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames on Thursday and unleashed a mile-long oil sheen into the Gulf of Mexico, in the region's first major offshore disaster since BP's oil spill began in April.

AP - Midwest farmers who sold corn to bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. have been receiving official letters asking for most of that money back.

LiveScience.com - Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.

A researcher in Israel has developed an improved tool for translating lizard body lengths to weights. The new equations calculate this valuable morphological feature to estimate the weight of a lizard species in a variety of different ecosystems.

Reuters - About 45 nations met on Thursday to seek ways to raise billions of dollars in aid to help the poor combat climate change as the United Nations warned them of a long haul to slow global warming.

AFP - There is no sign of an oil spill after a rig caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, a spokesman for rig operator Mariner Energy said.

AFP - UN climate chief Christiana Figueres on Thursday warned that a string of weather calamities showed the deepening urgency to forge a breakthrough deal on global warming this year.

AFP - The Amazon, the world's biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said.

Reuters - The U.S. Coast Guard was flying helicopters to a possible offshore drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Reuters - BP Plc said it had begun removing a cap from equipment atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday, the first of several steps in advance of plugging the leak for good.

Global carbon dioxide emissions decreased in 2009, the first decrease recorded this decade. However, in China and India the emissions increased by 9 and 6 percent.

Ecologists are warning that the rapid growth in krill fishing is adding to the pressure of environmental changes threatening the creatures. Researchers suspect that Antarctic krill are also feeling the effect of climate change.

Scientists from universities in Montana, Colorado and Idaho announced today the start of a 5-year, $3.85 million research project into how a changing climate will influence wildfires.

A new generation of nuclear power technology seeks to transform one of the industry’s most enduring problems - its radioactive waste - into an energy solution.

The UN emissions trading scheme scheme is meant to be a virtuous circle, allowing rich countries to meet their climate targets at the lowest possible cost, while energy-hungry developing economies get an injection of capital to go green. But multiple failures have been pointed out by its critics.

Texas oil firms are backing a ballot initiative that would repeal the state's landmark 2006 greenhouse-gas reduction law. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is rallying Hispanic groups against the initiative.