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.

"A fast-growing kelp from the Far East has spread along the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay, worrying marine scientists and outpacing eradication efforts."

Scientists are learning that whales are smarter, and more like humans, than they ever suspected.

Environmental activists who campaigned hard to elect Barack Obama president feel cheated and disillusioned by what they see as a lack of leadership and readiness to compromise on environmental issues like climate change.

"The blue, cloudless skies over the Coachella Valley most days hide a darker truth: The area has serious, chronic air pollution challenges."

"If there weren't already enough barriers to building a gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, the Lower 48 recently entered its biggest-ever natural gas boom."

"A federal appeals court today struck down a Bush administration rule for controlling industrial emissions that form smog."