A study by Univ. of California-Irvine researchers has found that while grass itself acted as a carbon sink, when other factors are taken into account — fuel burned to maintain the lawn, emissions from fertilizer spread to help it grow, etc. — four times as much carbon was emitted than was absorbed.

Dozens of sessions on environmental topics are on the agenda at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to be held Feb. 18-22 in San Diego.

Katharine Jacobs, chair of the forthcoming National Academy of Sciences report on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change and a professor at the University of Arizona, will head up the effort to reinstate the National Assessment — with new emphasis on adaptation.

A new tool makes finding, understanding, and communicating science easier for environmental reporters.