On the Scene

Earth

Carbon dioxide: blame where blame is due?

Tracking the outsourcing of greenhouse gas emissions.

Earth

Seismology in your backyard (and on your Twitter feed)

With two USGS programs, Twitter, inexpensive seismic equipment transform citizens into scientists.

Earth

Earth’s magnetic field … updated

Three most used models of Earth's magnetic field are revised to reflect small changes in the field.

Climate

Climate chief channels Truman, but …

On Monday, long chaotic lines kept several thousand accredited conference attendees – some standing in the freezing cold for up to 11 hours -- from being allowed to register for the United Nations climate change meeting. “Who’s to blame? Me,” said de Boer, head of the United Nations climate change office. “Part of the problem that we’re facing here is that you can’t fit size 12 feet into size 6 shoes.”

Climate

U.N effectively locks out reporters, others in Copenhagen

For a year, the United Nations and national leaders have stumped around the world, championing the importance of the Copenhagen climate negotiations. It made this international conclave a must-see destination. And the UN responded by granting accreditation to huge numbers of government officials, UN officials, public-interest groups and journalists. In fact, to almost twice as many individuals as the conference center could hold. And that led to pandemonium today as the UN confronted literally thousands of people waiting to pick up their security badges – people this organization couldn’t or wouldn’t accommodate.

Ecosystems

Greening Christmas

I love the smell of balsam and firs and decorating holiday cookies – preferably with the sound of popular holiday standards in the background. I even enjoy shopping for and wrapping carefully chosen presents in seasonal papers festooned with huge bows. So when my hosts, this week, asked what I wanted to see during my visit, the answer was simple. Take me to one of Germany’s famed Christmas markets. And literally within a couple hours of my plane’s landing, they were already ushering me into the first of what would be a handful of such seasonal fairs. But as I also quickly learned, this first was an unusual one: a "green" bazaar.

Ecosystems

Dining: Bugged on Thanksgiving

Earlier this week, I met with Zack Lemann at the Insectarium, a roughly 18-month-old Audubon museum. He gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of its dozens of living exhibits hosting insects and more -- including tarantulas and, arriving that day for their Tuesday debut, white (non-albino) alligators. But the purpose of my noon-hour visit was to sample the local cuisine and learn details of preparations for a holiday menu that would be offered through tomorrow at the facility’s experiential cafe: Bug Appetit. There’s Thanksgiving turkey with a cornbread and wax worm stuffing, cranberry sauce with meal worms, and Cricket Pumpkin Pie. It’s cuisine most Americans would never pay for. But at the Insectarium, they don’t have to. It’s offered free as part of an educational adventure.

Health & Medicine

Changing the paradigm around Alzheimer’s disease

Prevention could begin with lifestyle in younger years, one researcher says during the American Public Health Association meeting.

Science & Society

Why Cousteau’s granddaughter was at a meeting on public health

Philadelphia — On brainstorming possible keynote speakers for a major public health conference, the granddaughter of ocean giant Jacques Cousteau does not exactly stand out. But in Philadelphia on Sunday, filmmaker and diver Celine Cousteau stood before the 11,000 or so attendees of the American Public Health Association's annual meeting to explain just why exactly she was there to give the opening session's address.

Space

A little bit of gamma-ray music

BLOG: Art and science meld during a musical performance for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope