Dutch astronomers and ecologists are working with Leiden University on a project, MONOCLE, that allows people to measure the quality of their water, simply by taking a photo with their smartphones.
Aerospace giant Boeing Co. has been ordered to find out if a rocket fuel component from a field laboratory in Southern California contaminated a well about a mile away, a spokesman for the state
US President George W. Bush said on Tuesday there was no "magic wand" to bring down record-high fuel prices but would consider a proposal to suspend federal gasoline taxes this summer -- an idea that has divided the 2008 presidential candidates. Trying to calm anxious Americans facing $3.60 a gallon gasoline and soaring grocery bills, Bush again prodded Congress to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and allow construction of more nuclear and coal plants.
The death of about 500 ducks that landed in a pond of oily, toxic sludge operated by Canada's biggest oil sands producer was tragic, the chief executive of Imperial Oil Ltd said Thursday. Imperial has a 25 percent stake in oil sand producer Syncrude Canada Ltd, owner of the tailings pond in northern Alberta, where the ducks died earlier this week because a warning system meant to keep them off wasn't operating. "Without question, I think it was not only an unfortunate event but a really tragic one," Imperial CEO Bruce March told reporters following the company's annual meeting.
Soaring food prices and starving children provide a stirring backdrop to Europe's debate on its biofuels targets, but the big businesses of farming, forestry and automotive could have a heavier influence on policy. The green credentials of biofuels have come under attack in recent weeks over fears they compete for farming land and push up food prices around the world. Riots over food in more than a dozen countries, from Indonesia to Haiti, have added urgency to the debate.
