A cyclone with winds up to 120 mph. A low-lying, densely populated delta region, stripped of its protective trees. When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta and pushed a wall of water 25 miles inland, it had all the makings of a massive disaster. ''When we saw the (storm) track, I said, 'Uh oh, this is not going to be good,'' said Mark Lander, a meteorology professor at the University of Guam. ''It would create a big storm surge. It was like Katrina going into New Orleans.''

This just in from Climate Counts, the nonprofit group that scores consumer products companies on their green track records: consumer companies are getting greener, but they are still a pretty carbon-intensive lot. On Wednesday, the group will release its second annual ranking of 56 consumer companies on how they measure greenhouse gas emissions, their plans to reduce them and how fully they disclose those activities. Its intention is to persuade consumers to use the scores in deciding which brands to buy.

People who sleep fewer than six hours a night -- or more than nine -- are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies. The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use. The research adds weight to a stream of studies that have found obesity and other health problems in those who don't get proper shuteye, said Dr. Ron Kramer, a Colorado physician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Women who stop smoking can enjoy major health benefits within five years, but it can take decades to correct respiratory damage and shed the added risk of lung cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday. Health Guide: Smoking

Mayor Gavin Newsom is competitive about many things, garbage included. When the city found out a few weeks ago that it was keeping 70 percent of its disposable waste out of local landfills, he embraced the statistic the way other mayors embrace winning sports teams, improved test scores or declining crime rates. Workers sort plastics at the San Francisco Recycling Center. The city, with 7,800 tons of waste a day, keeps 70 percent of it out of landfills. Mayor Gavin Newsom is shooting for 75 percent. But the city wants more.

The ADB is set to make loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars to several Asian nations which have asked for emergency budget assistance to combat soaring food prices, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said on Tuesday. "A few countries have expressed their wish to seek some financial assistance from ADB," Kuroda told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Madrid, confirming for the first time that the Manila-based lender had received formal requests for cash.

A fast-spreading viral outbreak in China has killed 22 children, sickened nearly 3,600 others and caused panic among parents in an impoverished corner of Anhui Province, government health officials said Friday. All of the fatalities, from lung problems and other complications, have been in children younger than 6, with a majority of them under 2.

For the first time in 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new limit for lead concentrations in the air. The agency is under court order to complete a new rule by Sept. 1, because of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists. Air, however, is no longer the most common source of major exposure to lead, which can cause I.Q. loss, kidney damage and other serious health problems. In most places, water and lead paint are more troublesome sources.

After decades of research that sought, and found, evidence of a human influence on the earth's climate, climatologists are beginning to shift to a new and similarly daunting enterprise: creating decade-long forecasts for climate, just as meteorologists routinely generate weeklong forecasts for weather.

Maybe there is. How about a fresh, ripe tomato grown with seawater? Italian researchers report that the nutritional content of tomatoes