As Congress moves ahead with legislation to beef up federal regulation of food safety, the Obama administration has appointed Michael Taylor to head the food safety effort at the Food and Drug Administration.

"Last year, reactive nitrogen was identified as one of nine key global pollution threats... ."

"The ancient waterways upon which the Aztec Empire was built are now a fraction of their former glory. ... Hidden underneath the murky water, sharing space with discarded soda cans and empty potato-chip bags, an ageless 'water monster' called the axolotl, a central figure in Aztec legend and a protein-rich part of the diet then, is also vanishing."

"A new study suggests that a synthetic chemical that is ubiquitous in the environment and in people's blood may affect the liver -- though the significance for human health remains unclear."

"The Obama administration is broadening the standards for how the U.S. government funds public transportation projects in order to disburse money quickly and improve the environment."

"Even though deep snowdrifts cover his fields in eastern Kansas, Luke Ulrich, a corn and soybean farmer here, is thinking about spring. It's time to buy seed again, but hundreds of seed companies have gone under in the past two decades."

"Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are awaiting the start of a global rescue effort in the wake of the country's devastating earthquake."