"A United Nations report that concludes climate change is negatively affecting every continent arrived with a predictable thud Monday in Washington. Democrats and the Obama administration saw the report as more evidence that leaders must take quick, decisive action on the issue, while skeptics, including much of the Republican Party, held fast in their position that the science is wrong."

"A study by a University of Texas at Austin researcher raises concerns about whether current gas drilling regulations protect public health and questions a state study that found no link between cancer rates and gas drilling in Flower Mound."

"Sometimes bad things come in small packages. A microbe that spewed humongous amounts of methane into Earth's atmosphere triggered a global catastrophe 252 million years ago that wiped out upwards of 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land vertebrates."

"Recovery teams struggling through thick mud up to their armpits and heavy downpours at the site of a devastating landslide in Washington state are facing yet another challenge - an unseen and potentially more dangerous stew of toxic contaminants."