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Tens of thousands of gray wolves would be returned to the woods of New England, the mountains of California, the wide open Great Plains and the desert West under a scientific petition now before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity say ...

Will clear-cutting forests increase global warming? That's a contentious issue as California, which is seeking to slash its carbon footprint, wrestles over rules to manage the state's private forests. The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group, this week filed lawsuits against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in seven California counties to halt logging plans for 5,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions. The group contends that the agency approved the projects without properly analyzing carbon emissions and climate consequences under the California Environmental Quality Act. "Clear-cutting is an abysmal practice that should have...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-medical-countermeasures-following-a-biological-attack Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release December 30, 2009 Executive Order -- Medical Countermeasures Following a Biological Attack ESTABLISHING FEDERAL CAPABILITY FOR THE TIMELY PROVISION OF MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES FOLLOWING A BIOLOGICAL ATTACK By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to plan and prepare for the timely provision...

SNIPPET: "A team of researchers convened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a series of tests today at 20 MBTA stations to determine how airborne contaminants would spread in a terrorist attack on Boston's subway system." SNIPPET: "The findings will help guide the design of future detection systems and help strengthen evacuation, ventilation, and other emergency response plans on mass transit across the country. "We hope to use the data from the two to come up with a model to predict the behavior (of chemicals) in other subway systems," Lustig said."

Catholic churches in southern New Jersey are taking extra precautions since the Diocese of Camden received a letter saying biological agents would be placed in holy-water fonts and ventilation systems, a diocesan spokesman said Tuesday. The diocese received an anonymous letter last week threatening to put biological contaminants in Catholic churches in New Jersey, said Andrew Walton, a spokesman for the diocese. The letter, which was mailed May 1 and has a Bellmawr postmark, was received in the Camden office May 4 and opened May 5. The letter has been turned over to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, which is...

The U.S. Homeland Security Department warned in a secret 2006 document that victims of a potential WMD attack might be few in number relative to people who imagine injuries resulting from the event, United Press International reported today (see GSN, May 1). The document states that low confidence in the leaders of an affected area could amplify public panic following a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. "Mass psychogenic illness (can) spread rapidly throughout a population," the document says, describing the ailment as a “phenomenon in which social trauma or anxiety combines with a suspicious event to produce psychosomatic symptoms,...

Video of a Kuwaiti "Professor" waxing poetic on his love for humanity.

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. (SNIP) AQIM, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, maintains about a dozen bases in Algeria, where the group has waged a terrorist campaign against government forces and civilians. In 2006, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on foreign contractors. In 2007, the group said it bombed U.N. headquarters in Algiers, an attack that killed 41 people. Al Qaeda is believed by U.S. and Western experts to have been pursuing biological weapons since at...

Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today. The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside. Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed. Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells...

INDIAN HEAD, Md., Jan. 7, 2009 – Standing before a muddy, mangled mess of concrete, metal and wood, a squad of combat-hardened Marines hastily planned the attack, their target waiting somewhere deep in the debris. Students in the basic course at the Chemical, Biological Incident Response Force remove debris at the opening as they try to enter a simulated building collapse in search of survivors. More than 400 Marines, sailors and civilians are assigned to the specialized unit that trains around the United States to decontaminate and extract victims from a disaster site. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker...

WASHINGTON – The terrorism threat to the United States during the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security, and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment...

NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY INDIAN HEAD, Md., Dec. 11, 2008 – The first active-duty unit dedicated to supporting U.S. civilian authorities in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack is wrapping up three days of intensive training its members hope they never have to apply in real life. Army Spc. Dale Soniger from the 3rd Infantry Division’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, uses the “jaws of life” to extract mock casualties from a damaged vehicle at the Raymond M. Downey Sr. Responder Training Facility in Indian Head, Md. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jared S. Eastman  (Click...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2008 – The Defense Department has launched a new Web site to educate the public about chemical and biological testing conducted from the early 1940s through the mid-1970s. “This is a new Web site that we have created to put together for all those who may have interest in everything that we have been able to uncover and understand about the chemical and biological testing of warfare agents done from probably the early 1940s up through 1975,” said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, strategic communications director for the Military Health System. He explained the recently launched Chemical-Biological Warfare...

University of Reading scientists have developed a robot controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. And this is a world's premiere. Other research teams have tried to control robots with 'brains,' but there was always a computer in the loop. This new project is the first one to examine 'how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.' As life expectancy is increasing in most countries, this new research could provide insights into how the brain works and help aging people. In fact, the main goal of this project is to...

Biological Link Between Pain And Fatigue DiscoveredImage of nerve endings in mouse muscle shows that ASIC3 (red) is present in pain receptors (orange). (Credit: Masahiko Ikeuchi M.D., Ph.D., UI visiting scientist from University of Kochi in Kochi, Japan) ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — A recent University of Iowa study reveals a biological link between pain and fatigue and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Working with mice, the researchers, led by Kathleen Sluka, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation...

Boys and their toys? It's biological, not social By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 07/04/2008 Boys prefer playing with cars to dolls because of basic biological differences rather than social pressures, scientists say. The males monkeys played with the 'boys' toys while the females played with 'boys' and 'girls' toys Researchers observed young male monkeys spent more time playing with vehicles than with cuddly toys. They believe this suggests that in most cases boys have an innate predisposition for masculine toys, which is then reinforced by what they learn from their parents, friends and wider society. Dr...

The explosion in the terrorist lab was unexpected and had spread contamination throughout the room. An RCMP officer, clad in a bulky suit designed to protect him from the blast as well as chemical, biological and radioactive agents, collapsed to the ground after the booby-trap detonated. Nearby, a group of Canadian military specialists, also wearing protective gear and gas masks, rushed to help the man, putting him on a stretcher and moving him away from the area now believed to be contaminated by some kind of chemical, biological or radioactive substance. His suit was hosed down with various chemicals and...

SIERRA VISTA — Fort Huachuca Garrison Commander Col. Melissa Sturgeon briefed the City Council and staff Monday, regarding the fort’s interpretation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion released last month. This new biological opinion, compared to the last one published in 2002 or the ones prior, better accounts for the post-9/11 military landscape and the ongoing war in Iraq, with regard to the fort’s mission in terms of personnel flux, Sturgeon said. Therefore, it can more accurately estimate and predict the fort’s water use, Sturgeon said. The new opinion consists of studies conducted by the U.S. Army...

Whoever named Surprise Canyon got it right. Mere miles from bone-dry Death Valley, the canyon cradles two unexpected jewels: a gushing mountain stream and what's left of a once-bustling silver mining town. Environmental groups allege that, before they won protection for the area in 2001, off-roaders destroyed the canyon by cutting trees, dumping boulders in the water and using winches to drag their Jeeps up the waterfalls.

FORT HUACHUCA — A federal judge has approved a lawsuit settlement in which the post and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will renegotiate a biological opinion. “Fort Huachuca’s proactive decision to re-initiate consultation was instrumental in the Center for Biological Diversity and the Army agreeing to settle the lawsuit involving activities at Fort Huachuca and the impact of these activities on the San Pedro River basin,” post spokeswoman Tanja Linton said Tuesday. Jeff Humphrey, a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman in Phoenix, said the settlement was signed Friday by U.S. District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson, who is assigned to...