The office is becoming a major driver of climate change.

Despite ongoing efforts to improve energy efficiency in the workplace, the world's growing reliance on the Internet is leading to a rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Rooting international strategies in sound science means reviewing the role played by the US White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in enabling science and technology (S&T) to inform foreign policy, and overhauling the government's Agency for International Development (USAID).

Text messages will be sent to mobile phones in South Africa to encourage people to be tested and treated for HIV/AIDS.

After eight years of near-zero growth in atmospheric methane concentrations, levels have again started to rise.

"This is not good news for future global warming," says CSIRO's Dr Paul Fraser, who co-authored a paper to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

Asbestos, the highly toxic fire retarding mineral, will not be placed on a global blacklist and will be freely traded for at least the next three years, a Canadian parliamentarian said on Thursday.

Pressure from major producer Canada and several developing country importers will prevent diplomats meeting in Rome this week from adding chrysotile asbestos to a list of substances recognized as particularly hazardous, Pat Martin told Reuters.

Leading Internet companies, long criticized by human rights groups for their business dealings in China, are agreeing to new guidelines that seek to limit what data they should share with authorities worldwide and when they should do so.

Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion tons. Additionally methane rose by 27 million tons after nearly a decade with little or no increase. NOAA scientists released these and other preliminary findings today as part of an annual update to the agency’s greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world.

The world could eliminate fossil fuel use by 2090, saving $18 trillion in future fuel costs and creating a $360 billion industry that provides half of the world's electricity, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and environmental group Greenpeace said on Monday.

Japanese researchers have developed a new type of catalyst to help turn natural gas into plastic and alternative fuels more cheaply.

The new catalyst would help lower production costs because it helps reduce heat effectively and uses a smaller amount of platinum than what is used currently, said Keiichi Tomishige, associate professor at University of Tsukuba.

Science must take the lead role in economic development, says Chinese premier Wen, in an interview with Bruce Alberts in Science.

The former professional geologist also shares his experience of dealing with the Wenchuan earthquake, in which 80,000 people were rescued from the rubble, and the tainted milk crisis.