Public

"A new study finds that girls are more likely today than in the past to start developing breasts by age 7 or 8."

"Pakistan floods have already affected as many as 12 million people and destroyed or damaged more than 600,000 homes, say Pakistani officials. That's already worse than the 2005 earthquake, but monsoon season is only half over."

"A revised 2010 hurricane forecast is in from the National Weather Service, and the agency is predicting another strong year for tropical storms. Four to six 'major hurricanes' are expected out of 14 to 20 named storms."

"Genetically modified crops are commonplace in fields across the United States, but a new study suggests that some plants have spread into the wild."

"NEW YORK -- A coalition of mostly institutional investors is demanding oil and gas companies disclose their existing safeguards and plans of action in the event of another offshore rig disaster and possible oil spill like the one experienced by BP PLC and other companies in the Gulf of Mexico."

"As the Deepwater Horizon disaster unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, public health practitioners are having a sinking déjà vu feeling. Once again, environmental disaster has struck, and tens of thousands of emergency responders -- some professionals, but many more volunteers -- have swung into action, potentially risking their health as they work to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Veterans of similar disasters are wondering if historical lessons learned can help keep the ?damage to a bare minimum. But a paucity of ?hard data on emergency responder health makes it difficult even to ask the right questions."

A lot of politicians have bet their futures on what they think the voters want regarding climate change, energy policy, and oil spills. Or what the politicians can make the voters think they want. The election season now underway is already providing data about who was right. President Obama may have reversed initial criticism of his Gulf spill performance and is now campaigning against the GOP as a spill villain. Media portrayed Republicans who voted for the House climate bill in 2009 as vulnerable to conservative vengeance -- but this has not proven true in primaries. One pundit says the public's disapproval for Congress' failure to act on climate, energy, and spills may turn out to fall on both parties alike.

"Much of the crude still in the Gulf and coastal areas more than three months after BP's blowout has permeated deep into marshes and wetlands, complicating cleanup."

"NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP finished pumping fresh cement into its blown-out oil well Thursday as it aimed to seal for good the ruptured pipe that for months spewed crude into the Gulf of Mexico in one of the world's worst spills."

"A federal judge on Thursday reinstated protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho, saying the government made a political decision in removing the protections from just two of the states where Northern Rocky Mountain wolves roam."