"A Virginia Circuit Court is hearing oral arguments today in the fight between Virginia's Attorney General and the University of Virginia over the records of a former professor."
"A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill."
"White House claims that the worst of the BP oil spill was over were undermined [Thursday] when a senior government scientist said three-quarters of the oil was still in the Gulf environment and a research study detected a 22-mile plume of oil in the ocean depths."
"The Obama administration has decided to spend $1 billion in Recovery Act funds to build FutureGen 2.0, a clean coal repowering program and carbon dioxide storage network, in Illinois."
"The potential human health risks of chemicals widely used in dyes, flame retardants, and industrial laundry detergents have prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study and potentially ban their manufacture and use."
"For reasons still unknown, bedbugs really seem to like the state of Ohio. The problem is so dire in Cincinnati that some people with infested apartments have resorted to sleeping on the streets."
"BPA, a toxic compound found in everything from store receipts to water bottles, has been a hot topic as of late. That's because most industries have been slow to adopt alternatives to the petroleum-based estrogenic compound, which is used in the plastic manufacturing process, among other things. Enter isosorbide, a corn-based industrial ingredient that the Archer Daniels Midland Company is touting as a safe, renewable alternative to BPA."
"A Swiss chemical producer may soon be the first company to receive approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use nanosilver to make clothing smell better, stay cleaner and destroy germs. However, health scientists say the nanoparticles will wash out with the rinse water and could cause unknown environmental and health problems downstream."
"Lawmakers have criticized BP PLC for attempting to 'muzzle' scientists researching the Gulf of Mexico oil spill with confidentiality agreements and blocking the 'open exchange of scientific data and analysis.' But the government is employing similar tactics itself."
Summaries of marine diversity in eight settings around the globe have been published, with another 17 scheduled to be added in coming weeks. One of the discoveries was that the Gulf of Mexico is the fifth most diverse marine setting in the world for known species.
