Crippling epidemics of meningococcal meningitis sweep across Africa with the onset of the dry season and harsh harmattan winds. An affordable, effective vaccine in the works could change that.

Chemical analysis of hot springs in the Himalaya suggest that the carbon released from mountain forming regions may warm Earth.

The response of the Greenland ice sheet to global warming is a source of concern notably because of its potential contribution to changes in the sea level. We demonstrated the natural vulnerability of the ice sheet by using pollen records from marine sediment off southwest Greenland that indicate important changes of the vegetation in Greenland over the past million years.

Antarctic Ice Sheet elevation changes, which are used to estimate changes in the mass of the interior regions, are caused by variations in the depth of the firn layer. We quantified the effects of temperature and accumulation variability on firn layer thickness by simulating the 1980

Estimating ice sheet mass changes from elevation surveys requires adjustments for snow density variations at the ice sheet surface.

Pollen data suggest that the Greenland ice sheet was much smaller during previous warm periods.

The nonpartisan Heinz Center this week issued a comprehensive update on the health of U.S. ecosystems--along with a plea for the U.S. government to coordinate and fund future assessments.

Wildlife and environmental groups are opposing the construction of the world's largest tidal power scheme on grounds that it will damage a unique ecosystem and that it will cost too much.

Turkmenistan intends to create a huge lake in the desert by filling a natural depression with drainage water. Critics say it's a bad idea that could even spark a war.

Two new model studies project a modest increase or even a decrease in the frequency and intensity of Atlantic tropical cyclones.