Vital Technologies, Inc.

Could the Sun play a greater role in recent climate change than has been believed? Climatologists had dismissed the idea and some solar scientists have been reticent about it because of its connections with those who those who deny climate change. But now the speculation has grown louder because of what is happening to our Sun. No living scientist has seen it behave this way. There are no sunspots

A swine flu virus outbreak that has rapidly claimed up to 68 lives in Mexico, and infected people in the US, was last night declared a "public health emergency of international concern". The decision, made by the World Health Organisation (WHO), means that countries are now being asked to step up surveillance for any cases.

The Superfund program to clean up the nation’s most contaminated industrial sites was established nearly 30 years ago on the principle that those responsible for toxic pollution should pay for it. So why is the government spending $600 million in stimulus money to work on sites like the defunct arsenic-fouled Vineland Chemical Company plant here in South Jersey?

Moderate House Democrats circulated a watered-down version of a sweeping climate-change-prevention bill Friday as lawmakers moved closer to a compromise on a proposal to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee went "back to the future," turning to Democratic and Republican leaders of the '90s, former Vice President Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to debate the merits of energy measures that will likely dominate the next century.

In car-crazy California, a new fuel standard ordered by state officials to curb greenhouse gases could dramatically change how vehicles run. It also could have a huge effect on cost. The petroleum industry and some economists say the new standard adopted by the state Air Resources Board on Thursday will cost motorists billions, because blending gasoline will become considerably more complicated.

The oil company Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that it had reached a $5.8 million settlement over claims of air pollution at its Deer Park refinery near Houston.

An expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago, according to an international research team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

A major oil and gas consortium has agreed to suspend planned seismic testing off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, a crucial feeding area for the critically endangered Western Gray whale.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reviewed a petition to add the Tehachapi slender salamander (Batrachoseps stebbinsi)to the federal list of threatened and endangered species and concluded the petition contains substantial information to indicate that listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) may be warranted.

Looking for inspiration to lose weight? It may be worth taking a look at the results of a report in latest issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. The study concludes that being overweight or obese "should be recognized as an environmental problem" because of its contribution to climate change from additional food and transport emissions.

Honda said the 2010 Insight would start at $19,800, making it the first hybrid to sell in the U.S. market below $20,000. The 2009 model Prius starts at $22,000.

Working to boost the economy while protecting human health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) a $400,000 grant to help retrofit construction equipment that is leased to construction projects throughout the Northeast.

Farmers of the future will have to use cattle and sheep that belch less methane, crops that emit far less planet-warming nitrous oxide and become experts in reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to the government.

Open-source software could transform response to disease outbreaks and natural disasters. "8 cases suspect avian influenza." "3 in second village." "Suspect AI outbreak in Stung Treng." "Close access to village." "Is school open?" "Does anyone have a car?" This stream of text messages was sent by health officials, field scientists, police and local villagers. They were testing a social-networking approach to tackling an outbreak during an influenza pandemic planning exercise in Stung Treng Province, Cambodia, last October

Toyota will continue to sell the current Prius when the revamped version goes on sale in May in an unusual move likely to help the top-selling hybrid ride out a threat from rival Honda.

Hopes of overturning a European Union (EU) pesticides ban that scientists believe could hamper malaria control in developing countries have been dashed. The United Kingdom said last week that it had failed to get support from other EU countries for an assessment of the impact of removing a range of pesticides from use.

The Democratic-led U.S. Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to sweeping land and water conservation legislation that environmental groups praised as one of the most significant in U.S. history. The measure, a package of more than 160 bills, would set aside about 2 million acres -- parks, rivers, streams, desert, forest and trails -- in nine states as new wilderness and render them off limits to oil and gas drilling and other development.

Earlier this month the UN warned that climate change could spark conflicts over water. But the idea of future 'water wars' is a myth, says Wendy Barnaby. Neither Egypt, Israel nor Jordon produce enough water for their needs. But while they have fought wars with each other, it has not been over water, says Barnaby. Instead, areas in need of water import food as a 'virtual' boost to water supplies. Tony Allan, a scientist at Kings College London, says more water flows into the Middle East embedded in grain each year than down the Nile to Egyptian farmers.

Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression, researchers reported Wednesday.

A brilliant green tree frog with huge black eyes, jumping spiders and a striped gecko are among more than 50 new animal species scientists have discovered in a remote, mountainous region of Papua New Guinea.