Environment

Robert Ballard: 50 Years Exploring Deep Waters

3:10pm May 21, 2013

Deep-sea voyager Robert Ballard has discovered everything from 10-foot-tall tube worms to the Titanic on his ocean expeditions around the world. Ballard discusses his underwater finds and how new robotic technology allows scientists to explore the sea from ashore. This interview was originally broadcast on July 3, 2009.

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Forecasters Had Chance To Warn Moore, Okla., Before Tornado

9:27pm May 20, 2013

Melissa Block talks to Jon Hamilton about the science of tornadoes.

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Environment

Calif. Law To Require Ships To Cut Pollution

5:28am May 20, 2013

by Kirk Siegler

California is about to become the first state to require shore power at its ports. A new law mandates at least half of a shipping line's fleet to shut down their diesel engines and plug into shore-side electric power when they unload their cargo. It's part of a larger effort to cut pollution at the state's busiest ports, but costs have been a sticking point.

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This map, from the United States Geological Survey, shows the age of bedrock in different regions of North America. Scientists found ancient water in bedrock north of Lake Superior. This region, colored red, was formed more than 2.5 billion years ago.

Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life

9:25am May 16, 2013

by Adam Cole

Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.

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Crew members unload a catch of sockeye salmon at Craig, Alaska, in 2005. Researchers say fish are being found in new areas because of changing ocean temperatures.

Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering Catches

7:39pm May 15, 2013

by Richard Harris

Fish are moving away from the equator and toward the poles to maintain their preferred water temperature. That means, for example, that fishermen are seeing swordfish normally found in the Mediterranean swimming near Denmark. But in the tropics, there are no fish to replace the ones that are leaving.

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Environment

Pilot Program Invites Triad Residents to Join Residential Composting Effort

5:33pm May 15, 2013

by Keri Brown

A Winston-Salem business is starting a residential composting program this summer.

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Michigan Apple Orchards Blossom After A Devastating Year

8:20pm May 14, 2013

by Noah Adams

The apple trees are heading for full blossom in Michigan after a disastrous 2012 crop, when only 15 percent of the apples survived. But this year's harvest is expected to rebound.

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Mike Watson (left), CEO of Kenya's Lewa Conservancy, and conservationist Ian Craig identify the carcass of a 4-year-old black rhino named Arthur, whom poachers had killed the night before. The well-armed, well-informed poachers very likely used night visi

The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid Poachers

8:19pm May 14, 2013

by Gregory Warner

The defenders of Africa's rhinos are battling a well-financed and well-informed enemy. Poachers clear $40,000 or more for a single rhino horn. They have cash for the latest weaponry and to pay for inside information from some of the very people whose job it is to protect the rhinos.

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Bly Straub, the lead curator of the Jamestown artifacts, stands in a private storage and display room on Jamestown Island. Straub has traced the history of the artifacts to all parts of the world.

With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear

7:15pm May 14, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That's enough to flood the colonists' first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it's putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it's too late.

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A Vietnamese rhino horn user displays her horn, which was a gift from her well-to-do sister. Last year, rhino horn sold for up to $1,400 an ounce in Vietnam, about the price of gold these days.

Vietnam's Appetite For Rhino Horn Drives Poaching In Africa

5:42pm May 14, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.

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