A few U.S. energy companies have drawn up plans for synfuels plants that would produce millions of barrels of the alternative fuel annually. The technology is gaining support from a a group of climate scientists who believe that, barrel for barrel, synfuels can emit less carbon dioxide (CO2) than oil and, at some point, even reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

The international team of climate change scientists that produced an influential series of reports last year will be doing things a little differently in the future. Government delegates to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), meeting in Budapest, Hungary, approved a plan for the 20-year, 100-nation enterprise that would generate more precise and relevant information on climate change-without taking any longer than the current 6-year gap between reports.

A federal study released documents the significant impact that climate change is expected to have on the U.S. transportation system. Its conclusion, says Henry Schwartz, the former head of one of the country's largest highway engineering firms, is "a pretty damning tale of what could happen."

One million tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide are dissolved into the oceans every hour, a process that helps maintain the Earth's delicate carbon balance. But CO2 also makes seawater more acidic, and too much of it can wreak havoc on a marine species.

A U.S. Senate panel has approved a sweeping climate change measure that would provide billions of dollars annually to commercialize energy sources that emit little or no carbon.

Companies and countries are planning a series of controversial experiments to help determine if seeding the ocean with iron can mitigate global warming.

A new U.S. government analysis has found that the plutonium at the heart of the country's nearly 10,000 stockpiled nuclear weapons could last twice as long as previously thought. That conclusion is likely to escalate the debate over the Bush Administration's campaign to build a new generation of weapons.