Science

"More than 250 U.S. scientists on Thursday defended climate change research against 'political assaults' and warned that any delay in tackling global warming heightens the risk of a planet-wide catastrophe."

"University of Newcastle researchers relied on 'spurious' results in claiming to debunk evidence that global warming is worsening Australia's droughts, a rival team of scientists contends in the latest battle of the climate wars."

"Climate scientists, used to dealing with sceptics, are under siege like never before, targeted by hate emails brimming with abuse and accusations of fabricating global warming data. Some emails contain thinly veiled death threats."

"One of the world's leading climate scientists has launched a libel lawsuit against a Canadian newspaper for publishing articles that he says 'poison' the debate on global warming." The newspaper is the conservative National Post, owned by CanWest.

"President Barack Obama will outline a revamped space policy on Thursday that will use $6 billion in new funding over five years to create 2,500 new jobs in Florida with the ultimate goal of going to Mars." "NASA's earth science team would receive an extra $2.4 billion -- a 62 percent increase -- through 2015 to study changing temperatures, ice coverage, ozone depletion, and atmospheric carbon dioxide."

"NASA, the agency known for exploring space, will be spending a lot more time studying Earth in the next few years. The Obama administration has proposed a budget for NASA that includes billions of dollars for satellites and other tools to help scientists investigate Earth-bound problems, especially climate change."

"A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property."