Science, Energy, Health & Environment

In 1928, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, considered a medical breakthrough of the century. Now some bacteria are resistant to the drug.

Related issues:

• Climate Change
• Health Issues
• H1N1 Influenza (Swine Influenza)
• HIV/AIDS and PEPFAR
• U.S. Nuclear Policy : Key documents 

Space shuttle Discovery lifted off at 4:53 p.m. EST Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with Commander Steve Lindsey leading the STS-133 crew to deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module and Robonaut 2 to the space station.

08 February 2012  Obama Wants More Math and Science Students - and Teachers   Even as President Obama welcomed a crowd of more than 100 students with their science exhibits to the White House, he made it clear he wants to see a whole lot more.  At the second White House Science Fair celebrating the student winners of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions around the country, Obama announced a private-public commitment totaling more than $100 million to prepare 100,000 STEM teachers in the next decade.

07 February 2012 Biotech Adoption Rates Highest Ever  Agricultural biotechnology continues to grow around the world at unprecedented rates, with 8 percent more biotech hectares planted in 2011 than in 2010, according to a major international research group.

07 February 2012 Life Not Likely on Dry Mars Surface; Search Goes Underground  Microscopic analysis of surface material on Mars leads scientists to believe that the planet has been dry for 600 million years, conditions that would not have supported life. But that conclusion doesn’t eliminate the possibility of life; it just narrows down the places where researchers might look to find traces of life existing at some point in the planet’s past.

01 February 2012 Safety of Nanomaterials Not Well Understood; Research Needed  The potential effect of nanomaterials on the environment and human health and safety is not adequately understood, according to a recently released report, despite the fact that the use of nanomaterials has already become a $1 billion business in the United States.  The area where most nanomaterials reach the consumer today is personal care and cosmetic products, but use of these materials in medical therapies, processed food and electronics is expanding.

01 February 2012  Education, Awareness Focus of World Cancer Day   The United States joins the Union for International Cancer Control, the World Health Organization and a host of other players in recognition of World Cancer Day February 4, an event to raise awareness of one of the leading causes of death worldwide.  A main objective of World Cancer Day is to warn people about those risks, all of which are within the individual’s power to control: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use and alcohol use.

30 January 2011 U.S. and Russian Federation Conclude Joint Inspection in Antarctica    A joint team from the U.S. and the Russian Federation concluded a six-day inspection of foreign research stations, installations and equipment in Antarctica, pursuant to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and its Environmental Protocol.

27 January 2012 Asteroid Vesta Likely Cold and Dark Enough for Ice Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years, according to the first published models of Vesta’s average global temperatures and illumination by the sun.

26 January 2012 Mars Rover Enters Ninth Year with New Discoveries  The exploration rover Opportunity entered its ninth year on Mars January 25, and a newly begun mission is already yielding new findings about the Red Planet.  In eight years, the golf-cart sized craft has traveled almost 35 kilometers across Mars, examining the landscape and taking samples of rock and surface dust. In

25 January 2012 Cassini Sees the Two Faces of Titan’s Dunes   A new analysis of radar data from the Cassini mission orbiting Saturn has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan. The result gives new clues about the moon’s climatic and geological history.

19 January 2012 At Edge of Solar System, Voyager 1 Gets Cooler  Now flying through a region between the solar system and interstellar space, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft  is operating one of its instruments at temperatures lower than ever.   To reduce power consumption, mission managers turned off a heater on part of the spacecraft in December, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet spectrometer by more than 23 degrees Celsius. It is now operating at a temperature below minus 79 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature that the instrument has ever endured.

18 January 2012 Space Environment at Risk; U.S. Joins Talks on Space Conduct Code   The U.S. will join other nations and the European Union to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities to maintain “long-term sustainability, safety, stability, and security of space by establishing guidelines for the responsible use of space,” according to a statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
 • State Dept on Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities

13 January 2012 NASA, Canada Fly High to Track Snow Fall  NASA will fly an airborne science laboratory above Canadian snowstorms to tackle a difficult challenge facing the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement satellite mission: measuring snowfall from space.    Knowing how “wet” a snowflake is allows scientists to measure overall water content. A wet, heavy snow can shut down a city, and melted snow is a crucial source of freshwater in many areas.

12 January 2012 Remembering “Extra-Special” Space Shuttle Flight  Joan Higginbotham remembers how the Earth looked when she saw it from the space shuttle Discovery in 2006. There is nothing in space to distort the view, she said, “and when you look down on the ocean there are such vibrant blues and greens — the colors seem almost made up.”

2011

30 December 2011 NASA Twin Spacecraft on Final Approach for Moon Orbit   NASA’s twin spacecraft to study the moon from crust to core are nearing their New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day main-engine burns to place the duo in lunar orbit.  Named Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), the spacecraft are scheduled to be placed in orbit beginning at 4:21 p.m. EST for GRAIL-A on December 31, and 5:05 p.m. EST for GRAIL-B the next day.

28 December 2011 Happy Birthday, Endangered Species Act!  When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, U.S. businesses and industries predicted protecting wildlife would cause economic harm. Thirty-eight years later, the animals and the people are still benefiting.  The U.S. law, enacted on December 28, 1973, established legal protections for animal and plant species at risk of extinction as well as for the habitats in which they live.

09 December 2011 New Scientific Integrity Policy Should Contribute to Public Trust  The administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has unveiled a scientific integrity policy to govern the meteorological, climatic and marine science conducted by her agency.

01 December 2011 Demonstration Begins to Put Carbon in Ground, Not Atmosphere  Excessive levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are causing the planet to grow warmer, most researchers agree. One possible response to the problem is to prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere by storing it somewhere else.  That approach is called carbon sequestration, and a million-ton demonstration of CO2 storage has entered a critical phase — the injection of CO2 from a biofuels plant into a sandstone formation more than 2,100 meters below the surface of Decatur, Illinois.

26 November 2011 NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover to Mars (NASA)   NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the  launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity.   The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on 06 August 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

23 November 2011 Curiosity Will Look for Signs that Mars Could Support Life  The U.S. space agency is set to launch an unmanned mission to Mars November 26, and while the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will leave Earth’s orbit alone, the craft represents 40 years of research and analysis conducted by generations of scientists trying to better understand life in the universe.

21 November 2011  Earth Observation Grows in Importance as Landsat Turns 40   The Landsat program began in 1972, and since then seven earth-observation satellites have been launched. Two remain in orbit today — Landsats 5 and 7 — and the 40th anniversary of the program will be noted as scientists and engineers work to ready Landsat 8 for launch in 2013.

16 November 2011 Briefing on the New Bureau of Energy Resources within the Department of State  "Today, we’re pleased to announce that we have officially launched and have begun operations of an energy resources bureau. The bureau was created directly as a result of the work that Secretary Clinton mandated on the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review that began in 2009. At that point, she asked the Department to take a look at the challenges that the United States is going to face in foreign policy, international security, and international economics issues over the coming 25 years."

15 November 2011 NASA Readies Vehicle for Mars Mission  The United States is preparing to send another exploratory vehicle to the planet Mars, the “largest and most complex piece of equipment to ever be placed on the surface of another planet,” said the director of the Mars exploration program, Doug McCuistion.

06 November 2011 NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Makes New Pass at Enceladus  NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will acquire the first detailed radar images of Saturn’s moon Enceladus during a flyby on November 6. These will be the first high-resolution radar observations made of an icy moon other than Titan. The results will provide new information about the surface of Enceladus and enable researchers to compare its geological features as seen by radar with those of Titan.

20 October 2011 Malaria Vaccine Candidate Yields Promising Results in Trial  Researchers and government health officials express measured optimism about a malaria vaccine candidate that has produced positive results in trials involving more than 15,000 children across 11 sites in seven countries in Africa, where the disease causes the most deaths.  The vaccine is known as RTS,S and it has provided “young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile,” according to a press announcement made by two of the main partner organizations that conducted the trial.

18 October 2011 The Cookstove Conundrum: Old Ways vs. New Habits, Better Health  The U.S. Agency for International Development  is initiating research to find out whether developing world families will adopt a new cooking technology and adapt their cooking methods to save their health.

12 October 2012 TB Deaths Reach New Lows, World Health Organization Says  The number of deaths from tuberculosis and the number of new cases of this infectious disease are both on the decline, according to data released by the World Health Organization. Health policymakers devoted new energies and resources to tuberculosis in the last decade when it was recognized as a principal cause of death for people with AIDS.

03 October 2011  Genome Reveals Blood Pressure Markers in International Study  An international research consortium has identified 29 genetic variations that influence blood pressure, providing insight into blood pressure abnormalities that are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke. This class of disease is the world’s largest killer, taking more than 17 million lives in 2008, according to the World Health Organization.

20 September 2011 Nuclear Energy Challenges Global Safety and Security, Chu Says  Chu said the goal is for a future in which peaceful nuclear energy is not only safe, but also accessible by all nations that abide by their obligations. “We must safeguard against any possible diversion or misuse of nuclear energy, whether by nations or terrorists, and ensure nations that violate their obligations face consequences,” he said, reading from a message sent by President Obama.

15 September 2011 Cleaner Fuel on Ships Produces Fewer Emissions, NOAA Finds  Air pollution emitted by a seagoing vessel drops sharply when the ship switches to a cleaner, low-sulfur fuel, according to a study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

13 September 2011 Global Community to Accelerate Action Against Killer Diseases   In a special session of the U.N. General Assembly September 19–20, the world community is expected to agree on an “action-oriented” plan for combating noncommunicable diseases. The plan is expected to have an emphasis on healthy lifestyles as the key step in prevention of these disorders, which include cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancer and diabetes.

07 September 2011 U.S., EU Join Forces to Stop Illegal Fishing  Top regulatory officials from the United States and the European Union signed an agreement September 7, pledging to escalate their efforts to stop illegal fishing.  Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Maria Damanaki, E.U. commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, signed the pact to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing because it deprives fishermen who abide by the rules of $23 billion in seafood products each year.

31 August 2011 U.S. Government Calls for New Ideas to Develop Clean Energy The Obama administration is making progress in its campaign to move the United States forward in the use and development of innovative alternative energy technologies.

21 July 2011 Space Shuttle Lands, NASA Looks to New Era  The space shuttle Atlantis dropped through the pre-dawn darkness July 21 toward a long strip of pavement at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, landed in perfect form, and ended a 13-day journey. The craft rolled to a stop and closed a 30-year chapter in U.S. manned space flight.

19 July 2011 Shuttle Atlantis Leaves Space Station, Heads Home   The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station July 19 to complete final inspections and journey back to Earth, the last of the shuttle craft ever to do so, as this era of manned space flight comes to a close.

13 July 2011 NASA Plans New Future for Space Program as Shuttle Era Ends  The 30-year era of the space shuttle will end in about a week, but NASA, the Congress and the Obama administration are having some difficulty coming to terms on what’s ahead for the United States in space exploration. 

11 July 2011 Space Shuttle Delivers Spare Parts, Equipment, Food, Supplies  The space shuttle Atlantis is living up to the nickname given this class of spacecraft 30 years ago.  The “space truck” safely delivered a huge cargo cache to the International Space Station July 11. The work of unpacking almost 4,100 kilograms of spare parts, equipment, food and other supplies begins.   Atlantis is carrying a year’s worth of supplies for the International Space Station (ISS) because the shuttle fleet is going into retirement after 135 trips into orbit.

29 June 2011 NASA Prepares for Last Shuttle Mission Launch   The cargo is being loaded, the astronauts are getting physical examinations and NASA is counting the final days before the July 8 launch of the final space shuttle mission in the 30-year-old program.  The fourth of the shuttles to be built, Space Shuttle Atlantis will deliver the grand finale for the shuttle program. STS-135 is due for lift-off on 08 July 2011.

23 June 2011 U.S. Enters New Era in Ocean Governance  From remote corners of the nation, from the farthest Pacific territories, members of U.S. ocean communities came to Washington June 21–23 to undertake a task never before attempted on a national scale.   They are offering up their ideas, needs and questions to support a new national policy for the oceans, the coastlines and the Great Lakes.

22 June 2011 Vienna Talks Focus on Improving Nuclear Plant Safety  Member nations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are working in Vienna to strengthen the safety protocols in international agreements on the peaceful use of nuclear power. Their meeting comes three months after the accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

21 June 2011 More Research Builds Case for Global Warming, Rising Seas     New research published June 20 finds a steady rise in the sea level on the U.S. Atlantic coast, a faster rise now than at any time in the last 2,000 years. The findings represent the first continuous sea-level reconstruction for the past 2,000 years, comparing variations in global temperature to changes in sea level over the millennia.

20 June 2011 Messenger Spacecraft Sends New Data from Mercury  The first spacecraft to ever orbit the planet Mercury, Messenger, is sending Earth-bound scientists images providing surface details they’ve never seen before. Messenger is now sending images of greater clarity and higher resolution than ever seen before.

17 June 2011 U.S., EU Consider Code of Conduct for Space  The United States is reviewing a European Union-proposed code of conduct for space activities as a mechanism to strengthen security, safety and sustainability for that vast area beyond the bounds of Earth.  Coming to a shared understanding of what “space security” means is a starting point, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy Frank A. Rose. He explained how the United States defines the term: “the pursuit of those activities that ensure the sustainability, stability and free access to, and use of, outer space in support of a nation’s vital interests.”

17 June 2011 U.S. Military Unveils Ambitious Energy Strategy  The Pentagon is calling for dramatic cuts in the U.S. military’s energy consumption and a revised look at the impact of energy use on combat effectiveness. As the single largest U.S. consumer of energy, the Pentagon has been under increasing pressure to reduce its energy bill — around $15 billion in 2010 — as the government faces tough budgetary choices and the price of petroleum rises.

07 June 2011 USAID Welcomes Announcement of Lower Prices for Life-Saving Vaccines

02 June 2011 Presidential Proclamation on National Oceans Month During National Oceans Month, we celebrate the value of our oceans to American life and recognize the critical role they continue to play in our economic progress, national security, and natural heritage.

01 June 2011 Space Shuttle Endeavour Lands, Shuttle Atlantis at Launch Pad  Space shuttle Endeavour landed for the final time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after 248 orbits around Earth and a journey of 6,510,221 miles on STS-134.   During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.

24 May 2011 Trees Have Carbon Task Want to do something about climate change? Plant a tree. 

17 May 2011 Nations Must Recommit to Polio Eradication, Health Leader Says   A top U.S. health official called on the community of nations to devote resources and energy to the final eradication of the paralyzing disease of polio. "Until the disease is eradicated everywhere, it remains a threat everywhere," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius at a meeting of the 64th World Health Assembly in Geneva. "We all have a role to play."

13 May 2011 U.S. Signs Arctic Search-and-Rescue Agreement   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined representatives of the seven other Arctic Council member states to sign a search-and-rescue agreement, the council’s first legally binding deal. The Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic “coordinates life-saving international maritime and aeronautical coverage and response among the Arctic states across an area of about 13 million square miles."

10 May 2011 U.S. Takes High-Level Interest in Arctic Meeting  Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries head to Nuuk, Greenland, for a meeting of the Arctic Council May 12, devoting a “historic” level of executive branch attention, according to one U.S. official, to this meeting of nations with territorial claims to the top of the world.

04 May 2011 NASA Remembers First U.S. Manned Space Flight  America’s national space agency is marking the 50th anniversary of the United States’ entry into manned space flight May 5. Commemorative events, including a re-enactment of the flight, are being celebrated at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

25 April 2011 Studies Say Cities Are Ill Prepared for Hazards of Climate Change  A U.S. researcher says cities worldwide are particularly vulnerable to damage from the effects of climate change — and doing little to prepare for them.  The cities also are failing to reduce the damage they are causing through carbon emissions, the researcher said.

22 April 2011 Scientists Try to Learn from Japanese Earthquake  The Earth “rang like a bell” when one of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded struck the eastern coast of Japan and sent shock waves to monitoring stations around the globe. What science learns from the March 11 data will help all nations better understand, prepare for and protect themselves from the damage such violent natural phenomena can do.

20 April  2011 State Department Releases Benchmarks to Meet Energy and Sustainability Goals The Department of State released its Fiscal Year 2010 scorecard on sustainability and energy performance in accordance with Executive Order 13514, which directs Federal agencies to meet a range of energy, water, pollution, and waste reduction targets.  The scorecard, issued by the Office of Management and Budget, indicates the Department is meeting most of its environmental requirements.

14 April 2011 Panel on Space Situational Awareness  Remarks by Frank Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

12 April 2011 Announcement that 2011 is the International Year of Forests  Remarsk by Daniel Reifsnyder, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in Washington, DC.

07 April 2011 World Health Day Marked with Warnings on Loss of “Wonder Drugs”   Medical science made a giant leap forward in the mid-20th century with the discovery of antibiotics, but now the prospect of a reversal in progress looms, as medications once known as “wonder drugs” lose their effectiveness. Widely used antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against fighting disease because the bacteria they target have mutated to develop resistance to the medications.

30 March 2011 Obama Announces New Energy Security Measures  The United States will begin an effort to reduce its dependence on imported oil by a third over 10 years by increasing domestic energy production, increasing the use of biofuels and natural gas, and improving the fuel efficiency of U.S.-built cars and trucks, President Obama says.
 • Fact Sheet on U.S. Energy Security

23 March 2011 New Treatments, Diagnostic Methods Celebrated on TB Day 2011  Medical practitioners involved in treating tuberculosis will mark World Tuberculosis Day March 24 with a new sense of hope about progress against the disease.

22 March 2011 U.S., World Bank Collaborate to Improve Water Access, Sanitation  In a transcontinental commemoration of World Water Day March 22, the United States and the World Bank signed an agreement to energize their efforts to improve developing world access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene.
 • U.S. Water Policy: Water Security is Human Security
 • Secretary Clinton on World Water Day

21 March 2011 Threat of Major Nuclear Accident in Japan Subsides  International experts provide hope that Japan is inching away from the brink of a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, severely damaged by the earthquake and resulting tsunami that pounded the nation’s northeast coast March 11.

18 March 2011 U.S. Water Policy: Water Security is Human Security

17 March 2011 U.S. Radiation-Detection Experts and Supplies Sent to Help Japan  The Obama administration has sent equipment and expertise to help Japanese authorities as they work to contain the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

16 March 2011 Japan Quake Magnitude Boosted to 9  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has followed Japanese scientists in upgrading the wallop of the massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan on March 11.   The temblor, which the Japanese have dubbed the Tohoku quake, ranked a magnitude 9, not the 8.9 originally reported.
 • USAID Fact Sheet on Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (14 March 2011)

06 March 2011 President Obama Makes Long Distance Call to Space On Thursday President Obama called the crews of the Space Shuttle Discovery and International Space Station (ISS) to congratulate them on their achievements and courage as they work and live in orbit around the Earth.  This Space Shuttle mission, which is the last for the venerable Discovery orbiter before it is retired, includes tasks such as delivering the first human-like robot to space and transporting the last major structural element for the U.S. segment of the ISS.

04 March 2011 United States Joins International Renewable Energy Agency  The United States today deposited its instrument of acceptance to join the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), becoming the 63rd member. IRENA formed in 2009 in response to growing international interest in the adoption of renewable energy technologies to meet the challenges of sustained economic growth, energy security and climate change.

25 February 2011 Discovery Thunders into Space to Begin Final Flight  Space shuttle Discovery rode a brilliant trail of fire and smoke Thursday afternoon as it soared into orbit for an important mission to the International Space Station. The launch came after a last-minute technical glitch with the Air Force's Eastern Range that left only four seconds in the launch window and a practical limit of two seconds because of draining requirements with the external fuel tank.

17 February 2011 U.S., Russian Scientists Researching North Pacific Volcanoes  Building on 20 years of productive collaboration, scientists from the United States and Russia are planning the next steps in researching the dynamic geological forces at work in a 4,000-kilometer arc stretching from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East across the Aleutian Islands chain to mainland Alaska.

17 February 2011 Wind Power Becoming Competitive with Coal  The U.S. government is pushing for large-scale wind power development and the timing may be just right.  A recent study from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says that costs for electricity generated by onshore wind are now on par with costs for coal-generated power in the United States and several other markets. That could speed up development of renewables at a time when the world seeks cleaner sources of energy.

07 February 2011 Solar Panels Versus Trees  Americans love their trees. As a growing number of homeowners in leafy neighborhoods install solar panels, however, an awkward debate has emerged.  What is more important for the environment and for humans in the long run: clean energy or trees?

02 February 2011 One Million Electric Cars Coming Our Way?  Traffic on American roads soon could run a bit cleaner. Cleaner vehicles are part of the federal government's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build "clean" industries that provide new jobs. Some experts have questioned whether the goal President Obama set in his speech is realistic, considering that the market for electric cars is still in its infancy.

26 January 2011 Obama Outlines Ambitious Energy Agenda  Continued heavy investment in clean energy is necessary to help the United States transition to a stronger and more sustainable economy, President Obama said in his January 25 State of the Union address to Congress.  With more research and incentives, the United States can be the first country that has 1 million electric vehicles on the road five years from now, he said. A quarter century from now, the country should be able to get 80 percent of its electricity from wind, solar, biomass, natural gas and nuclear plants, he added.

24 January 2011 Clean Energy for the Empire State Building  The Empire State Building on New York's Manhattan Island is an architectural icon. It also happens to be one of America’s biggest "green building" success stories.  After a two-year, $20 million building retrofit that cut the Empire State Building’s energy consumption by 38 percent, property managers recently signed a contract to purchase all electricity for the building from a company that offers only renewable energy. The two-year contract covers about 55 million kilowatt hours of wind power annually while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by almost 45 million kilos.

20 January 2011 U.S. Toughens Offshore Drilling Rules  The worst oil spill in U.S. history has triggered a shake-up of the government agency that oversees offshore drilling and prompted new rules that officials hope will keep oceans safe from future accidents.  At stake are not just American waters, but oceans worldwide, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told an ocean conference being held in Washington January 19–21.

19 January 2011 Solar Lights Bring Life to Afghan Capital   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent $160,000 to install 28 streetlights along a busy commercial street in the Afghan capital. Another 170 or so solar energy lights will go up in coming months. It turns out that solar lights are a natural fit for the city, said Steve Danner, the Army Corps of Engineers' Kabul area officer in charge.

12 January 2011 Fact Sheet: U.S.-Russia 123 Agreement on Nuclear Energy  The Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation for Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (The U.S.-Russia 123 Agreement).

04 January 2011 Coal Plants Take a Back Seat Construction of coal-fired power plants has slowed significantly in the United States as a sluggish economy and uncertainties surrounding future energy policy make electric utilities rethink their investment plans. 

28 December 2010 Emissions Rules for Power Plants, Refineries On the Way The U.S. government continues to use federal regulatory powers to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, most recently focusing on power plants and oil refineries. The two industries produce nearly 40 percent of emissions in the United States.

15 December 2010 Carbon Capture: A Tough Nut to Crack  Populations grow, emissions increase, global temperatures continue to rise. What to do?  Emission cap-and-trade schemes and renewable energy alone likely won’t be able to bend the carbon curve — the term climate-change experts like to use to describe a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.  For that reason, governments and companies increasingly are looking for new and unconventional solutions to the climate problem.

01 December 2010 World Aids Day 2010    On this day we honor the millions of people around the world  who have been impacted by the AIDS epidemic -- those who are living with HIV, those we have lost, and the caregivers, families, friends and communities who have provided support.

22 November 2010 Indonesia, United States Partner to Fight Bird Flu, Other Viruses   The new Indonesian National Laboratory for Infectious Diseases Research — a sophisticated research facility at Badan Litbangkes in Jakarta built by the Indonesian National Institute of Health and Research Development (NIHRD) — is seeking to better understand and control the avian influenza (bird flu) virus and other dangerous diseases facing Indonesia. “Avian influenza started in Hong Kong and then spread globally,” Frank Mahoney, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) office in Indonesia, told America.gov. The disease is “a real challenge and there has been a great deal of concern that there could be a pandemic,” Mahoney said.

12 November 2010 World Pneumonia Day 2010  The 2nd Annual World Pneumonia Day will take place on 12 November 2010 and is an opportunity to raise global awareness of pneumonia.  The United States is committed to preventing unnecessary loss of life to pneumonia, the single largest cause of death in children worldwide according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

10 November 2010 China Pursues Green Energy   China will aggressively pursue clean energy policies for the foreseeable future, driven mostly by the desire to reduce its dependence on overseas energy supplies, according to U.S. experts. China's energy industries have been shifting away from small, inefficient coal-fired power plants toward larger, modern and cleaner units, and, with government support, have been investing in renewable energy sources and industries. The government also is phasing in stringent fuel economy standards to reduce petroleum consumption in transportation.

03 November 2010 Green, Affordable Homes Make It Right   Three years ago, Hollywood actor and film producer Brad Pitt decided to help rebuild a low-income New Orleans neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Today, his project shows that energy-efficient, green homes are not just feasible — they also can be affordable with a little help.

28 October 2010 Robots and Other Wonders Lure American Kids to Science    Robots that kick soccer balls, solar-powered vehicles and helmets that offer virtual bike rides were some of the attractions at America’s first national science exposition, the grand finale of two weeks of activities intended to motivate more young people to pursue careers in science.

28 October 2010 Conservation Agency Races to Protect U.S. Wildlife  All U.S. government agencies are rethinking how they do business as a rapidly warming climate disturbs natural resources, but few may be as focused on these changes as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Charged with protecting and managing animals and sensitive habitats in America’s vast wilderness areas, many of the agency’s 9,000 employees spent more than 18 months planning and consulting with environmental groups, state wildlife conservation agencies and other outside partners before unveiling an ambitious, long-range climate action plan.

19 October 2010 Many People See Great Potential in Small Reactors   Few energy technologies have generated more interest among U.S. utilities and developing nations than small, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).  Modular reactors under 300 megawatts (MW), which are considered small and often are no larger than a shipping container, are put together in a factory rather than at a power plant and then sealed and transported by rail, truck or barge to a plant’s site.

15 October 2010 Presidential Proclamation on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month   While considerable progress has been made in the fight against breast cancer, it remains the most frequently diagnosed type of non skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in our country. 

13 October 2010 U.S. Dengue Virus Discovery Might Lead to New Treatments  Discovery of a key step in how the dengue virus infects a cell might lead to new drugs to prevent or treat the infection, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced.  NIH researchers have discovered how the dengue virus releases itself from the protective membrane that shields it from penetrating a cell.

13 October 2010 U.S. Environment Agency Helps Shanghai Breathe Easier  A successful U.S.-China collaboration on air quality monitoring was witnessed firsthand by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson during a visit to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

20 September 2010 U.S. Energy Secretary at IAEA's 54th General Conference   Secretary Chu Addresses the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference.

21 September 2010 Clean Cookstoves to Save Lives, Cut Pollution The U.S. government has teamed up with the United Nations Foundation and a number of international partners to tackle a major health threat and contributor to climate change: cookstoves.

07 September 2010 Americans Consume Less Energy, Less Fossil Fuel   Efforts to wean Americans off fossil fuels and onto green energy and conservation are beginning to pay off, a new study suggests. Households and businesses across the United States used significantly less coal and oil in 2009 than the year before, the study from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows.

31 August 2010 Energy from Oceans and Rivers to Power the U.S. Grid  There was the sun and the wind — and now comes the power of water. If the promise of this fledgling energy technology holds true, it could eventually be as affordable and viable as fossil fuel and nuclear power.  In late 2010, Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) expects to become the first ocean wave-energy company to produce power for the U.S. electric grid. If things go as planned, the New Jersey-based corporation would also become the world’s first to continuously produce wave-generated power for public consumption.

10 August 2010 U.S. Nuclear Power Expansion Gains Traction   The next chapter in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry will open around two giant pits about 40 kilometers south of Atlanta. More than 3 million cubic meters of dirt have been removed from the pits in preparation for the construction of Vogtle 3 and Vogtle 4, the first nuclear reactors to be ordered in the United States in 30 years.

27 July 2010 Statement on U.S.-Canada Joint Arctic Survey Mission  The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force, chaired by the Department of State, will conduct a joint Arctic mission with the Government of Canada this summer to collect scientific data pertaining to the extended continental shelf and Arctic seafloor.  The mission will continue the U.S.-Canada collaboration begun in 2008.  As in the past two years, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent will participate in the mission.  The joint operations will be conducted from August 7 to September 3.

26 July 2010 Investments in Renewable Energy Top Fossil-Fuel Projects  Despite a continued weak global economy, investments in solar, wind and other renewable energy projects outpaced fossil fuel investments in 2009 for the second year in a row, a new study from the United Nations Environment Programme shows. This was true in both the United States and in the European Union.

09 July 2010 Virginia Tech Home Wins Solar Decathlon Europe  Americans get less than 1 percent of their electricity from the sun, but that humble statistic doesn’t discourage Corey McCalla and other students at Virginia Tech who brought their high-tech, energy-producing home to Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid, Spain, in June and conquered the competition. Their house design, called Lumenhaus, uses a mix of flexible solar power roof panels, geothermal heating, an open floor design and natural heating and lighting from the sun to provide the kind of comfort and lifestyle many people in a country such as the United States have come to expect.

29 June 2010 New U.S. Space Policy Emphasizes International Cooperation  The Obama administration is making international cooperation a cornerstone of its new space policy and is emphasizing technological innovation in the private sector and expanding research on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate.

16 June 2010 Obama Vows to Fight Oil Spill “With Everything We’ve Got”  President Obama told Americans his administration will fight the Gulf of Mexico oil spill “with everything we’ve got for as long as it takes,” and that he will tell BP executives to set aside money for an independently administered compensation fund for businesses and workers harmed by the spill. Obama also urged Americans to accelerate the country’s transition to a clean energy economy.

16 June 2010 Secretary Clinton's Remarks at Announcement of 2010 World Food Prize Winners

15 June 2010 Remarks by President Obama to the Nation on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (White House)

14 June 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: International Offers of Assistance including United Kingdom  As we work to mitigate the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States is grateful for the offers of assistance received from seventeen countries and four international bodies in the form of equipment, expertise and general assistance.

07 June 2010 Climate Change Media Partnership Trains, Connects Journalists  Mass communications media in the developed world have covered scientific and political debates over the impact of global climate change for nearly two decades. But journalists in developing countries did not have the budgets, the training, or the opportunities to do the same.

06 June The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill (White House)

05 June 2010 Secretary Clinton on World Environment Day  

28 May 2010 Obama: We Will Stop Gulf Oil Leak  President Obama said the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragedy that is difficult to stop, but the U.S. government is exploring all reasonable strategies in an effort to plug the leak and mitigate the ecological and economic damage. Speaking to reporters at a White House press conference, Obama said the federal government is overseeing the actions taken by British Petroleum to plug the leak at its offshore well, saying government officials are “authorized to direct BP in the same way that they’d be authorized to direct those same teams if they were technically being paid by the federal government.”

17 May 2010 As Shuttle Program Winds Down, Space Station Science Takes Off  Two shuttle missions remain after Atlantis’s perfect, final May 14 launch.

03 May 2010 Governments Respond to Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico  Federal, state and local officials are working aggressively to contain a major oil spill from a collapsed deep-water oil rig that is threatening beaches, marshlands and estuaries along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama traveled to the southeastern Louisiana coast May 2 to reassure residents and fishermen that the federal government was doing all it can to help mitigate the impact of a huge oil spill that is drifting toward the U.S. coastline.

03 May 2010 New U.S. Support for Nuclear Weapons-Free Zones and Energy Use  Countries gathered at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference must decide if the 21st century will be a time that sees the continued spread of nuclear weapons or a period that helps realize the vision of a world without them, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

02 May 2010 Remarks by President Obama on Oil Spill  President Obama promises help as disaster worsens

29 April 2010 Video: U.S. Contributes to Global Millennium Seed Bank Project  To celebrate Earth Day, Environment Officer Sonia Laul travelled to Kew Gardens, London to find out about the Millennium Seed Bank Project.

22 April 2010 The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day: A Day of Celebration  The first Earth Day took place in 1970 inthe United States and succeeded in launching the modern environmental movement.  Rising environmental awareness during that period led the U.S. government to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in late 1970, and to enact ground-breaking legislation.
 • Presidential Proclamation for Earth Day (PDF 13KB)

19 April 2010 The Americas Move Forward on Clean Energy   More than 30 energy ministers and delegates from 32 Western Hemisphere countries spent two days in Washington discussing collaborative approaches to a low-carbon future and new partnerships that will help address clean energy and energy security concerns in the region.

16 April 2010 Obama Lays Out Plan for U.S. Space Program  President Obama set out his plan for the future of the U.S. space agency NASA. His vision includes an eventual manned flight to Mars, although not as soon as many Americans had hoped. The president went to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to defend his controversial proposal to change America’s course in space.

13 April 2010 About the Earth Day Network with President Kathleen Rogers  Earth Day, celebrated on April 22 each year, marks the anniversary of the birth in 1970 of the modern environmental movement in the United States. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts.
 • See also: What is Earth Day?

24 March 2010 Obama Administration Recording Greenhouse Gas Emissions  The United States is seeking to increase the number of industry sectors that must report greenhouse gas emissions under a new mandatory reporting system.The collected data would provide a better understanding of specific sources and help regulators and businesses develop effective ways to reduce emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal agency that regulates substances that could damage the environment.

22 March 2010 Dwindling Water Rises to Top U.S. Priority  Increased population growth and the effects of climate change will cause nearly two-thirds of the world’s population to be living under water-stress conditions by the year 2025, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warns, and she says the United States is elevating the issue of water scarcity in its foreign policy not only to encourage more efficient use, but also to minimize future political conflicts as resources become more scarce.
 •  Secretary Clinton's Remarks on World Water Day
 •  Watch Video of Secretary Clinton speaking on World Water Day

01 March 2010 U.S. Science Envoys  A new diplomacy effort sends scientists to North Africa, Southeast Asia and beyond to strengthen partnerships and help solve global challenges.

16 February 2010 Obama Sets Funding Help for First New Nuclear Plant in Decades  U.S. President Barack Obama says the government will guarantee more than $8 billion in loans to help build the first new American nuclear power plant in decades.  The project is expected to produce roughly 4000 new jobs. The president says clean, safe nuclear power is vital to the nation's future. “To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we will need to increase our supply of nuclear power.  It is that simple,” he said.

16 February 2010 Finding the Softer Side of Steel  People have been working with metal for thousands of years to make it harder, tougher, stronger. Afsaneh Rabiei has made it fluffier. Her invention promises to save energy and lives. Rabiei is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and the metal foam for which she was awarded a patent in January is lightweight and strong but can absorb energy as it compresses.

09 February 2010 An Update on International Climate Change Negotiations  (Video from americanprogress.org) Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for climate change, spoke about the lessons of the COP-15 summit in Copenhagen last December, the significance of the Copenhagen Accord and the path forward over the coming year and beyond.

05 February 2010 Statement by Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, on the Copenhagen Accord's January 31 Inscription Deadline

13 January 2010 Why Was Haiti Earthquake So Devastating?  More than 3 million people in Haiti are estimated to have been affected by the earthquake that struck January 12. Registering at magnitude 7.0, it is the most violent earthquake to hit that island nation in a century. Deaths, injuries and damage are yet to be tallied. According to experts, magnitude 7 earthquakes - considered "severe" by seismologists - occur around the world 12 to 15 times each year. What made the Haiti earthquake especially devastating?

11 February 2010  VIDEO: RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch at Winfield House  RSPB members and guests join in the Big Garden Birdwatch by going to the American Ambassador's residence in London, Winfield House. Our Science Office, Jock Whittlesey, talks about the event on his blog.

11 January 2010 Announcement on Travel of First U.S. Science Envoys  The U.S. Science Envoys Program is a core element of the U.S. commitment to global engagement in science and technology. American science and technology contributes to the global engine of progress and growth, and short-term visits by highly-respected American scientists have the potential to build bridges and help identify opportunities for sustained cooperation.

2009

Melting sea ice forces polar bears to swim longer distances. (USFWS photo)

17 December 2009 Clinton Says U.S. Would Raise Billions for Developing Countries  The Obama administration is prepared to join other major economies in coming up with $100 billion per year over the next 10 years for a fund to help developing countries cope with climate-change needs. However, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says, any global climate-change agreement will also need to include transparency standards to help verify that each country is fulfilling its commitments.
 • Remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

14 December 2009 Fact sheet: Clean Energy Technology Announcements  Today at the Copenhagen climate conference, on behalf of President Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the launch of a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries.  Secretary Chu also welcomed progress under the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) and invited his counterparts in MEF and other countries to a first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial next year.

18 November 2009 VIDEO: U.S. Taking Practical Action on Climate Change  Deputy Chief of Mission Richard LeBaron speaks at the "creating the climate for change" conference in London.

18 November 2009 Economic Recovery Depends on Rebalancing Global Demand   To establish a global foundation for growth and avert future economic crises, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says, the major advanced economies must rebalance global demand. “The financial crisis also showed clearly that previous global economic patterns were unsustainable,” he said. “Cooperation through the (Group of 20) will remain essential as we start to unwind extraordinary measures and put in place the broad framework to achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced recovery, and implement profound financial reforms at home and abroad.”

17 November 2009 Statement on U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan  Plan emphasizes economy, energy security and combating climate change.
 • Announcements on U.S.-China Clean Energy Programs

17 November 2009 Statement on U.S.-China Shale Gas Resource Initiative  Initiative to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote energy security.

12 November 2009 Mitigation Policy Central Challenge in Climate Change Negotiation  When negotiators meet in Copenhagen in December to discuss international action to fight global warming, the hottest debate will concern how to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Policies designed to reduce CO2 emissions and stabilize greenhouse gases at a level that is environmentally sustainable are crucial to mitigate the effects of climate change.

12 November 2009 Clinton Sees Copenhagen Climate Conference as Steppingstone  The U.N.-sponsored climate conference in December in Copenhagen can become the steppingstone to a full and binding legal climate agreement if it focuses on the right blend of practical approaches and principles, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says. “The United States has taken dramatic steps in the past year to change the way we use energy at home, and we have taken our seat at the table in international climate negotiations,” said Clinton in a press conference at the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore

12 November 2009 International Collaboration Key to Mitigating Climate Change (Part 1 in a series)   Human activities, especially those that burn fossil fuels and emit planet-warming carbon dioxide, are driving changes in the climate system. Mitigating these changes and their potentially disastrous effects is stimulating a new kind of technology cooperation among governments, industries and institutions.

05 November 2009 Briefing by Ambassador Morningstar on U.S.-EU Energy Council Dialogue on strategic energy policy and technology via teleconference.

09 October 2009 U.S. Officials Announce New Food and Agriculture Research Agency  A new government agency plans to bring together government and private scientists to improve research in food and agriculture. The establishment of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture was announced October 8 by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and White House Science Advisor John Holdren.

05 October 2009 Three American Researchers Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine  Three American medical researchers won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine for their research into how cells operate. Their work has affected cancer treatment and understanding of the aging process. The winners are Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, Carol Greider of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

02 October 2009 Seeking a New Generation of Cyberdefenders  Though they tend to be young and eager, skilled cybersecurity experts are small in number. There simply are not enough of them to meet projected long-term global public and private sector requirements. Corporations, smaller businesses and governments need future leaders who can provide information assurance by protecting computer networks containing proprietary information or political-military strategies and monitoring, detecting, analyzing and responding to any actions that could compromise or infiltrate those networks.

29 September 2009 Successful HIV Vaccine Study Will Lead to Further Research  Medical researchers in Thailand have developed an approach to prevent HIV the same way it has been treated, by using a combination vaccine to successfully halt the spread of the disease. Public health officials announced in Bangkok that they successfully used two previously unsuccessful HIV vaccines in combination in a large, six-year study to prevent people from getting HIV, which causes AIDS. The vaccines used in the study cannot cause HIV infection because they are not made from and do not contain the whole virus, active or dead, the medical researchers said.

22 September 2009 Remarks by the President at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's Climate Change Summit

21 September 2009 Ambassador Susman op-ed on Meeting the Climate Change Challenge

15 September 2009 Norman Borlaug, "Father of the Green Revolution," Dies at Age 95  Norman Borlaug, the plant scientist recognized around the world as the "father of the Green Revolution," died September 14 in his home in Dallas. He was 95 years old. Borlaug is credited with saving more than 1 billion lives from starvation in Pakistan and India during the 1960s and early 1970s. These years were "the greatest period of food production in human history," said Kenneth Quinn, president of the Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation. Borlaug founded the foundation in 1996.

14 September 2009 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate  U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern will lead U.S. participation in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate at the Department of State on September 17-18, 2009. Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman will serve as chair. The meeting will take place at the level of leaders' representatives and will be the first meeting since the leaders met on July 9, 2009 in L'Aquila, Italy.

12 August 2009 U.S. Contributes $500,000 to Support World Climate Conference  U.S. delegation will be headed by NOAA Administrator Lubchenco.

10 August 2009 North American Leaders' Summit: Energy Deliverables  Collaboration on energy remains an important aspect of trilateral relations.

10 August 2009 North American Leaders' Declaration on H1N1  Leaders pledge to continue close collaboration to address H1N1 pandemic.

31 July 2009 Less Driving, Better Vehicles: Keys to Energy, Climate Causes  When asked if gasoline-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are the most promising auto technologies, Rob Farrington paused. It wasn’t that he did not know the answer. After all, he heads the advanced vehicle group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. It was that the question did not address the real issue.

31 July 2009 Advanced Cars Will Save the Day, and Fuel, Eventually  Who is more environmentally conscious: someone who owns a large sport utility vehicle or someone who has a compact car in his garage? That is the question Rob Farrington asks his audiences when he lectures. The answer is … it depends. A sport utility vehicle whose owner takes a bus to work and drives only on weekends uses less gasoline and produces fewer greenhouse gases than does a compact car used by its owner for a daily commute to work.

28 July 2009 Fact Sheet: Climate Change, Energy and the Environment  U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue faces challenges.

24 July 2009 Agriculture Secretary: Climate Change Will Affect Rural America

24 July 2009 Energy Secretary Chu: Energy and Climate Bill Would Boost Economy

24 July 2009 Environmental Administrator: Nation Agrees on Energy Choices

24 July 2009 Interior Secretary: The Way to a New Energy Future

21 July 2009 Obama Letter on U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Report  Report to Congress covers activities from October 4, 2008, to June 30, 2009.

20 July 2009 Astronaut Marsha Ivins Discusses 40th Anniversary of Moon Mission  Astronaut Marsha Ivins answered questions in a CO.NX webchat on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

16 July 2009 Endeavour Mission Will Finish Installing Japanese Kibo Laboratory  Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station to complete the installation of Japan's Kibo laboratory, after a delay in June to fix a gaseous hydrogen leak on the external tank and a series of July launch attempts canceled due to Florida’s summer thunderstorms.

13 July 2009 Signing of Intergovernmental Agreement on Nabucco Pipeline  Statement by Ian Kelly, Spokesman.

09 July 2009 Meeting the International Clean Energy and Climate Change Challenges  From his first days in office, President Obama has made it a top priority of the United States to accelerate our transformation to a clean energy economy and combat climate change. President Obama is committed to leading the way through strong domestic actions and working with partners around the world to achieve an international agreement that will promote the clean energy technologies necessary to lower global greenhouse gas emissions in the developed and developing worlds alike. As a key part of this effort, President Obama launched the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.

02 July 2009 International Science Council to Revamp World Data Centers  For more than 50 years, the International Council for Science (ICSU) has had world data centers — open, nonpolitical repositories of data for scientists in every country. Now, the ICSU is replacing the centers with a leading-edge World Data System (WDS) whose scope and technologies are evolving but whose policy of nondiscriminatory access to science remains a priority.

29 June 2009 Secretary's Remarks: Signing the Statute of the International Renewable Energy Agency  "I am pleased to announce that, as part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to the development of clean, renewable energy, the United States today signed the Statute of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). IRENA will engage governments around the world in promoting a rapid transition toward the widespread and sustainable use of renewable energy on a global scale.

26 June 2009 Understanding the Carbon Cycle  Carbon: the fourth most abundant element in the universe and the building block of life on Earth. Carbon moves throughout the Earth — between the atmosphere, the oceans, sedimentary rock, soil and plants and animals — in what scientists call the carbon cycle.

20 June 2009 Climate Change Is an Urgent Problem  Opening Remarks by Head of the U.S. Delegation at UNFCCC Climate Change Talks, Bonn, Germany

17 June 2009 U.S. Regions Experiencing Climate Change Effects Now, Report Says  The first U.S. report in nearly a decade to assess the impacts of climate change in different regions of the United States confirms and extends research that describes rising sea and air temperatures and sea levels, melting ice, intensified hurricanes and many other changes that are happening now. Such changes will continue into the future, affecting water resources, agriculture, coastal areas and health.

12 June 2009 China, United States Can Cooperate to Reduce CO2 Emissions  Representatives of China and the U.S. have completed open and candid discussions in Beijing "about what needs to be done on both sides to advance toward a successful outcome" at the U.N. climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern told reporters in Washington June 12.
 •  Remarks by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change

09 June 2009 Paint your roof white and reduce global warming : Guest entry from America.gov's Science Blog  Painting your roof white will reduce global warming and conserve energy, according to Steven Chu, the Nobel prizewinning physicist who now runs the U.S. Department of Energy.

08 June 2009 U.S. Global Partnerships Key in Fighting Drug-Resistant TB  Thousands of kilometers apart, a classroom in the Philippines, a network of clinics in Brazil and a medical research center in South Korea demonstrate a key element of the United States' response to drug-resistant tuberculosis. Partnerships involving governments, the private sector and nongovernmental organizations are critical in global efforts to conquer multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB).

29 May 2009 Obama Administration Breaks New Ground on the Internet  During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama impressed Americans and the world with his deft use of the Internet and social networking technologies. Now his administration is using the Internet to make government more accessible and include citizens in the policymaking process. The Open Government initiative, calls for more citizen participation to enhance government effectiveness and for greater collaboration across all levels of government and with the private sector to harness innovative tools.

28 May 2009 NASA on Insulating Paint Powder Turning Every Color "Green"  Transforms color into environmentally friendly barrier, saves energy, cost

27 May 2009 Remarks by the President on Alternative Energy

26 May 2009 Space Telescope Fix a Success; Shuttle Prepares for June Launch  Space shuttle Atlantis is home after a nearly 13-day mission and a weather-delayed landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24. Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on June 13, leaving seven flights to go before the shuttle's final flight in September 2010.

19 May 2009 President Obama Seeks New Fuel Efficiency Standards   New federal rules proposed May 19 would increase national fuel efficiency standards for vehicles sold in the United States. “We have set in motion a national policy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold in the United States of America,” President Obama said at the White House.

13 May 2009 Forecasts Show How Changing Environment Might Affect Life  Scientists are combining climate-related data sets, data from Earth-observing satellites and mathematical models of organism behavior to forecast the effects of environmental change on ecosystems, much like how meteorologists forecast weather and climate.

11 May 2009 Atlantis Launch Begins Final Repair Mission for Space Telescope  Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven-member crew began the fifth and final repair mission for the nearly 20-year-old Hubble Space Telescope with a midafternoon launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the 11-day STS-125 mission, which will extend Hubble operations through 2014, astronauts will install two new, cutting-edge instruments to enhance Hubble’s capabilities; replace gyros, batteries and other components; and attempt the first on-orbit repair of two instruments — the space telescope imaging spectrograph and the advanced cameras for surveys.

04 May 2009 Statement on Sea Turtle Conservation and Shrimp Imports  Public Law 101-162 Section 609 provides benefits to endangered sea turtles.

29 April 2009 Climate Change "Clear and Present Danger, Secretary Clinton Says  Representatives of 17 of the most important contributors to rising concentrations of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases met April 27–28 to begin discussions they hope will lead to success at the United Nations climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December.

28 April 2009 Special Briefing on Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate

28 April 2009 Half of Population at Risk for Curable, Preventable Malaria  Malaria infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than 1 million — mostly infants, young children and pregnant women in Africa. Fighting the disease takes the determined work of many around the world, all of whom were recognized on April 25, World Malaria Day.

27 April 2009 Obama to Seek Record Levels of Research Investment  In a speech before a group of scientists and engineers April 27, President Obama announced new measures to bolster science and technology research and a new initiative to encourage the development of clean energy technology.

27 April 2009 Swine Flu Outbreaks Mobilize International Public Health Effort  Outbreaks of a new strain of influenza virus that began in north-central Mexico March 22 and have spread to the United States, Canada and Spain so far have prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the event a public health emergency of international concern.

27 April 2009 Secretary Clinton At the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate

22 April 2009 Secretary Clinton Remarks at the State Department's "Greening Diplomacy" Earth Day Event

10 April 2009 Technology Demonstration Projects Pave Way for U.S. Smart Grid  Around the U.S., teams of utility companies, universities, national laboratories, state regulators and private companies are developing and demonstrating on a limited scale some of the key technologies that will eventually make up the 21st-century version of the nation’s aging electric power infrastructure.

09 April 2009 U.S. Electric System Begins Long Transformation to a Smart Grid  Following the lead of some European and Pacific Rim nations, U.S. government technical and regulatory agencies, electric utilities, energy service providers and private companies are working to turn the nation’s century-old electric power grid into a 21st-century "smart grid."

08 April 2009 Scientists Find Humans Grow New Heart Muscle  Scientists are using measurements of the radioactive carbon produced by Cold War-era nuclear bomb tests to prove adult humans replace heart muscle.

06 April 2009 United States Hosts 32nd Meeting of Antarctic Treaty Nations  At a critical time for the Antarctic Peninsula, which scientists say is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, and the increasing loss of summer ice in the Arctic Ocean, the first joint session of officials representing the Antarctic Treaty and the Arctic Council convened April 6 in Baltimore.

26 March 2009 Video: Science, GMOs and Food Security
Dr. Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State and USAID Administrator discusses the benefits of GMOs.

25 March 2009 Food For Thought: USDA Promoting American Food Overseas
A look at the US Department of Agriculture's role in promoting American food and drink at the International Food & Drink Exhibition in London.

16 March 2009 Shuttle to Deliver First Japanese Crew Member to Space Station  Ten minutes after the sun set in Florida and just over a month after its original launch date, space shuttle Discovery roared off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center March 15 on a 13-day mission to deliver the International Space Station’s final set of solar array wings, completing the station's backbone.

03 March 2009 Keynote Remarks at U.S. Climate Action Symposium  Special Envoy for Climate Change, Todd Stern

20 February 2009 Spacecraft Missions Play Dodgeball with Orbiting Debris  Tens of thousands of pieces of space debris, or space junk as some call it, orbit the earth, threatening to disrupt space travel and destroy communications satellites on which the world depends.

30 January 2009 New NASA Spacecraft Dedicated to Studying Carbon Dioxide  NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 23, the first U.S. spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide. The spacecraft will map the globe once every 16 days for at least two years.