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A new report argues that chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should be included in our branch of the tree of life. Chimpanzees and other apes have historically been separated from humans in classification schemes, with humans deemed the only living members of the hominid family of species

THE world’s deserts are blooming again because of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, according to Israeli scientists. Instead of global warming causing desertification, the researchers found that it is leading to the greening of deserts as the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere help plants to flourish. Vegetation creeping back into arid lands could be soaking up billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide that goes “missing” from the atmosphere. Scientists from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, studied the Yatir Forest, which was planted on the edge of the Negev desert 35 years ago. Their research,...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Angering both sides of the abortion debate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a fetus is a body part, akin to teeth, skin and hair that are eventually shed. The ruling unanimously upheld the conviction of a man who tried to induce a miscarriage by slipping his girlfriend labor-inducing drugs. Edwin Sandoval argued he could not be charged with attempting to commit aggravated assault because the fetus was the target, not the mother.

POLE POSITION: Gary Hererra, a "pond jumper" at Pacific Lumber Co.'s mill in Scotia, pushes logs through a water canal in this photo from 1999. A judge has ordered the company to temporarily halt its logging operation. Without a court-ordered stay, Judge John Golden said logging that could hurt timberlands and wildlife would continue. August 31, 2002 — 2:13 a.m. SACRAMENTO (AP) — Environmental groups on Friday hailed a Humboldt County Superior Court judge's unexpected ruling ordering a temporary halt to logging by Pacific Lumber Co. The company, however, believes the order will have no immediate impact, particularly if...

<p>For the first Earth Day in 1970, overpopulation guru Paul Ehrlich wrote a fictitious report for the Progressive presenting an eco-gloomster's portrait of the U.S. in 2000. The population had fallen to 22.6 million, 8% of the current population, and the diet was less than the daily calorific intake of an African. By 1974, Mr. Ehrlich and his wife, Anne, worried that "global cooling" would diminish agricultural output -- that the world was becoming unsustainable.</p>

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The devastating floods which have killed scores of people across central Europe are the wake-up call that could push industrial nations to act faster to stop the planet heating up, a leading scientist says. Robert Watson, now the World Bank's chief scientist since he was ousted from the chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) in April due to U.S. opposition, insists dramatic floods and droughts will become more frequent. "You don't have to identify each event with climate change. All you have to say is this is the type of world that may...

Public opinion research is a scientific enterprise. But in the service of activism, its scientific precision and accuracy can go awry. For example, with the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development throttling into gear, the company Politics Online has launched the "first ever Online Global Poll on the issues of the environment and sustainable development." The summit will be teeming with heads of state, government bureaucrats, business leaders, and all manner of non-profit activist groups. Politics Online seemingly wants to insert the opinions of ordinary folks from around the world into the cacophony of the summit. The most interesting results from...