Perennially contentious issues of water management in California are being brought to a head by climate change and rising earthquake risks.

Climate change authorities long ago tagged carbon dioxide public enemy number one. Now, there may be a new number two: tiny particles of black carbon, or soot. According to a new analysis reported online in Nature Geoscience, climate scientists are concluding that reports such as last November's assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) may seriously underestimate black carbon's role in global warming.

Porous solids have become a rich playground for chemists, who can tailor the materials' makeup for use in gas storage, filtering and catalysis.

After years of skepticism about the promise of biofuels, ExxonMobil has decided to make one of the biggest biofuel bets so far. Last week, the world's second largest company announced that it will spend up to $600 million over 5 to 6 years to produce biofuels from algae. Half the money will go to Synthetic Genomics Inc., a San Diego, California-based start-up run by genomics pioneer J.