Global agriculture, already predicted to be stressed by climate change in coming decades, could go into steep, unanticipated declines in some regions due to complications that scientists have so far inadequately considered, say three new scientific reports. The authors say that progressive changes predicted to stem from 1- to 5-degree C temperature rises in coming decades fail to account for seasonal extremes of heat, drought or rain, multiplier effects of spreading diseases or weeds, and other ecological upsets.

Scientist says that Earth's magma delivery system fractured the planet's crust to provide a sort of "template," guiding the sculpting of valleys and mountain ranges.

A joint research team from the IRD, the CNRS and the University of Antananarivo has recently discovered a primary deposit of rubies in Madagascar. Combination of this new field data with the oxygen isotope composition gave the geologists the possibility to determine exactly the origin of all the rubies and sapphires found in alkaline basalts. This information could enable geologists locally to trace the origin back up to the parent-rock and thus increase the possibilities of exploitation of these gem stone deposits.

Long before tourists arrived in the Bahamas, ancient visitors took up residence in this archipelago off Florida's coast and left remains offering stark evidence that the arrival of humans can permanently change -- and eliminate -- life on what had been isolated islands, says a University of Florida researcher.

Deforestation in tropical countries is often driven by the perverse economic reality that forests are worth more dead than alive. But a new study by an international consortium of researchers has found that the emerging market for carbon credits has the potential to radically alter that equation.

Sites such as Wikimapia and OpenStreetMap are empowering citizens to create a global patchwork of geographic information. According to Michael Goodchild from the University of California in Santa Barbara, 'volunteered geographic information’ has the potential to be a significant source of geographers' understanding of the surface of the Earth. His review has just been published online in Springer's GeoJournal.

More Canadians will soon be putting cleaner biofuels in their vehicles such as ethanol and biodiesel. The Honorable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today announced program details and eligibility requirements for $1.5 billion in biofuel production incentives available through the Government of Canada's ecoENERGY for Biofuels initiative.

As UNFCCC negotiations move towards powerful new mechanisms for compensating tropical countries for their reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, important questions remain: How much will REDD cost? Will it benefit forest people? Can forests in chronically cloud-covered countries be accurately monitored? These topics are addressed in four new studies released today by the Woods Hole Research Center in anticipation of the 13th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC.

A study based on an extensive data-gathering effort concludes that expected climate change this century could shift the ranges of 130 North American tree species northward by hundreds of kilometers and shrink the ranges by more than half.

The American Chemical Society News Service Weekly PressPac contains reports from 36 major peer-reviewed journals on chemistry, health, medicine, energy, environment, food, nanotechnology and other hot topics.

AGU's Fall Meeting will offer 21 press conferences covering a wide range of new Earth- and space-science findings, including ultrabright night-shining clouds, the 'squashed' solar system, new findings from Mars, potential climate tipping points of the Earth, and much more. The full itinerary of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Field Trip is now available.

Press conferences planned for the 2007 AGU Fall Meeting will focus on Arctic noctilucent clouds, Voyager spacecraft at the solar system's edge, new Martian rover and orbiter findings, urban air quality, the many faces of climate change, geoengineering, and many other aspects of the Earth and space sciences. More details available now regarding the Delta Field Trip and the NCSWA Holiday Dinner (Wednesday, Dec. 12).

All 1,186 sessions and 13,641 abstracts for the AGU 2007 Fall Meeting have been posted on the AGU web site and are fully searchable. Keep your calendar open for the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 12, for the NCSWA Holiday Dinner.

Scientists are discovering that aquatic nanoparticles, from 1 to 100 nanometers, influence natural and engineered water chemistry and systems differently than similar materials of a larger size.

Prince Edward Islanders can now take a "clean ride" around Charlottetown on a hydrogen-powered bus. Guy Lauzon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, representing the Honorable Gary Lunn, minister of Natural Resources, today joined the Honorable Robert Ghiz, premier of Prince Edward Island, to announce funding support for a hydrogen demonstration project using two hydrogen-powered shuttle buses and a hydrogen fuelling station. The purpose of the project is to test the hydrogen technology in a maritime climate.

Unknown to most, the US has enough geothermal energy below its surface to supply three times the amount of energy that the US consumes annually. Up until this point no one has tapped this source because finding the geothermal hot spots is too expensive. Recently researchers discovered that surface indicators can predict if geothermal energy sources are below the ground -- now no more expensive drilling is required.