Choking China: The struggle to clear Beijing's air
As pollution levels return to normal in China's capital after a record-breaking month of smog, what can be done to banish the smog?
New Scientist
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Save the whales, not the whalers
In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented a moratorium on commercial whaling. Many people believed that this would save the whales and end forever the industrial slaughter that had decimated entire species. Not so. A proposal before the IWC could lead to the resumption of commercial whaling as early as next year.
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Monsoons send Asian pollution round the world
Asian pollution is a global problem. Millions of tonnes of soot, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants are fast-tracked into the stratosphere each year by the summer monsoon.
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Drilling deep under the US to dispose of nuclear waste
There are times when letting go is the best way to move forward. When the US abandoned plans for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca mountain, Nevada, there was no alternative in sight. Now, less than two months after that decision to walk away from a decades-long, multibillion-dollar boondoggle, a promising solution is coming into view.
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Ice plumbing is protecting Greenland from warm summers
If some of the spectacular calving of ice shelves in Antarctica is down to global warming, then why did we not see break-ups on the same scale in Greenland, which is much warmer?
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To hack the planet, first win trust
Science sometimes produces world-threatening technologies. Thirty-five years ago, genetic engineering was in its infancy, but dangers such as the creation of new viruses were clearly visible. So the field's top scientists headed to Asilomar in California to discuss how to regulate their work. They recognised the need to pause and think before plunging into action.
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Hacking the planet: who decides?
Plans are taking shape for the day when a global coalition may have to "hack the planet" in a bid to reverse the ravages of global warming. Proposals to cool the Earth by deploying sunshades or sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere were considered fanciful just a few years ago, but are now being considered by politicians in the US and UK.
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Joel Morgan: 'We cannot be made to pay'
The Seychelles is plagued by pirates and threatened by climate change
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Risk to Everglades is Florida's shame
Efforts to keep the unique wetlands of Everglades from dying have been credit crunched, says Jeff Hecht.
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Exposed: green consumers' dirty little secrets
Green consumers sometimes take the moral high ground
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Corruption raises doubts over ivory sales
Arguments over whether to allow one-off sales of ivory stockpiles have dominated the opening of a two-week summit on trade in endangered species.