"The editor of the journal Remote Sensing resigned [Friday], saying in an editorial that his journal never should have published a controversial paper in July that challenged the reliability of climate models used to forecast global warming. The paper, by Roy Spencer and William Braswell of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, proposed that climate researchers have likely made a fundamental error by overestimating the sensitivity of the climate to greenhouse-gas pollution."

"President Barack Obama put a stop on Friday to new rules that would limit smog pollution, unexpectedly reversing course on a key policy measure after businesses said it would kill jobs and cost them billions of dollars."

"California’s former top pesticide regulatory official dismissed safety guidelines suggested by her own staff scientists on the grounds that they were 'excessive' and too onerous for the pesticide manufacturer, recently released internal documents show."

"U.S. EPA still hasn't implemented 20-year-old recommendations to improve the management of its laboratories, leaving the agency's research and technical activities "fragmented and largely uncoordinated," the Government Accountability Office has found. The problems could impede EPA's ability to handle upcoming budget cuts as Congress looks for ways to reduce spending and pay down the deficit, the watchdog agency says.""

The bubonic plague or Black Death that scourged Europe in the 1340s seems to have been far more virulent and contagious than the Yersinia pestis microbe that survives today. Now an old plague-era London cemetery is yielding DNA evidence that may begin to answer some of the mysteries.

"The National Science Foundation has closed its investigation into Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann after finding no evidence of scientific misconduct related to his research.

It is the latest in a string of investigations to exonerate scientists involved in the so-called "Climategate" email scandal.

"Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is pounding away at rival Rick Perry's skepticism of manmade global warming and criticism of the nation's central banker, saying those stands hurt the GOP and make the Texas governor come off as a not-so-serious national figure."