"Canada's climate researchers are being muzzled, their funding slashed, research stations closed, findings ignored and advice on the critical issue of the century unsought by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, according to a 40-page report by a coalition of 60 non-governmental organisations."

"Do researchers have an obligation to help the general public understand the relevance of their work? One academic thinks so – despite sporting scars from his effort."

"The United States is poised to launch Thursday the latest in its family of high-tech meteorological satellites that watch storm development and weather conditions on Earth from high in space."

Climate scientists are the target of an organized campaign of hate mail and threats that they say seem calculated to silence them. And some say the bullying campaign seems to be inspired by media superstars.

"Penn State University announced Wednesday it had dismissed three of the most serious charges against one of its top climate researchers, Michael E. Mann, but would continue to probe if he violated academic standards of conduct in connection with Climate-gate, a series of e-mail exchanges that came to light after hackers pirated the University of East Anglia's server."

"The nation's top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government's intelligence assets -- including spy satellites and other classified sensors -- as sensitive instruments that can assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests."

"In 2004, CDC scientists published a reassuring report about lead contamination in Washington’s water even though they knew that thousands of blood lead measurements had been lost. Now Congress wants to know why."

As governments tighten their belts, it's getting harder for them to pay scientists to monitor the health of the nation's ecosystems. So increasingly, they're turning to citizens who do that kind of work for free. The Environment Report's Ann Dornfeld reports on the growing influence of these "citizen scientists".

One key chemical tool used to control mosquito-spread malaria in the developing world -- DDT -- has harmful environmental consequences. Now a new article in the journal Nature tells of research on chemicals that may promise to be effective mosquito repellants by blocking the insects' ability to detect carbon dioxide.

"An online encyclopedia aiming to describe every type of animal and plant on the planet has reached 170,000 entries and is helping research into aging, climate change and even the spread of insect pests."

"In an age of angst about security and Arctic sovereignty, it's no mean feat piecing together an oceanographic expedition involving scientists from the United States, Russia and elsewhere and launching the whole affair from a northern U.S. port."

"As fears were growing about the link between hormone therapy and breast cancer, a drug company paid the University of Wisconsin to sponsor ghostwritten medical education articles that downplayed the risks, records obtained by the Journal Sentinel show."

"The deadly bacterium, responsible for recent pistachio and peanut recalls, can live in many wild animals and in almost any climate. and it's thriving in our modern lifestyle."

As scientists watch the 11-year cycle of increasing and decreasing sunspots, they are finding that the Sun seems to be in an unusually calm period. The observation raises questions about the Sun's influence on climate.

Marine biologist Jane Lubchenco now heads one of the U.S. government’s key agencies researching climate change -- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Lubchenco discusses the central role her agency is playing in understanding the twin threats of global warming and ocean acidification.